Tahoe Vacation Day 2

The owners of the cabin had left a great notebook describing fun things to do. Monday we attempted to go to the Angora Lakes for a hike and rewarding swim. The drive was really interesting as we got to see the devastation of the Angora fire and how the firefighters were able to stop the fire at the ridge, preserving the forest near Fallen Leaf Lake. Once we made it to the parking lot for the Angora hike we found it to be full. After idling in the truck for 10 minutes we decided to change our plans. Plan B found us driving back down the ridge, along the shoreline of Fallen Leaf Lake (just gorgeous) and to another (Glen Alpine) trail head near Lily Lake (which is really more like Lily pond). We found a shore side place to sit and eat our lunch (the kids were starving by then - it was a late lunch), then headed up the trail about 1/2 a mile. We could hear our goal - Modjeska Falls, but had to hunt around for the best way to get down to it. Kenny complained the whole way up the path but turned into Nature-Boy once his toes hit the chilly mountain water. We climbed and sampled the the pools below the waterfall, while Rick had fun playing with the timing and focus on our SLR camera taking many photos of the falls (and us).

Then, Rick talked to another hiker and learned you could climb up the side of the waterfall and swim in a huge swimming hole. Katie and I let Ken and Rick do the climb first (as a mom it was hard to let Ken attempt this 3o foot ascent with nothing to cushion a fall - but I knew it was something he'd be proud of accomplishing - as it was really cool). [check out the picture took looking downward from atop the falls] Katie and I finally got brave enough to make the climb (after seeing a 60 year old couple make it just fine) at around 5pm. Once up top we felt triumphant. The shadows of the falling sun made it hard to see the bottom of the pool, so only Rick was brave enough to get in and swim across (kneeing a few rocks along the way). We'd like to go back sometime in the heat of the day and really jump of the rocks into the deeper end of the hole. I was really surprised how easy getting down the waterfall wall was. There were so many nooks and crannies to choose from, any route down was the perfect one to take (while sitting on one's behind and sliding from elevation to elevation).

Once back to the cabin we BBQ'd up some chicken, potatoes and salad and ate on the back deck. We all enjoyed a dip in the spa, the Disney Channel (we don't get this at home) and slept well (all in one room).