Scenic Driving with a Dose of Meteor Gazing

Trail in Highland Lake area

Today Cooper woke to sore feet…running after friends over rocks and brush probably wasn’t his brightest idea.  We headed out for a drive along Route 4 through the California Sierra’s Ebbetts Pass and past numerous alpine lakes.  Along the way we stopped by Sorenson’s Cafe’ for breakfast and what a breakfast…French toast, bacon, fruit, eggs and sausage.  Along with the OJ and Cappuccino our breakfast tab was pretty expensive…but the location was beautiful so we splurged.  Copper waited and took a nap in the car.

We drove through the area last year, but decided that one particular area deserved another drive since the views and the road are so spectacular.  We had such an early start we could take a side trip down to see the Highland Lakes area.  Last year we reached it so late in the day we bypassed the area…glad we were able to return because the surrounding mountainside was beautiful.  The road was probably the best dirt road of the trip…fewer problem areas and a large number of camping sites.  A bit too far off the beaten paths for our tastes, but quite a number of people were camping.  Including a huge trailer which was surprising given that Route 4 recommends against trailers longer than 24 feet.

Upper Highland Lake

A short hike out to see the canyon views and along the lake’s shores and Cooper headed back to the car to rest his feet.  He did have a crazy fit running from side to side trying to catch whatever smell he could of the local rodent population.  We turned back after reaching Alpine…lots of people enjoying a very small lake in all kinds of boats.  However, no one seemed to actually be in the water...just like Tahoe…too cold.

Lower Highland Lake

Mosquito Lake

Once we returned to camp and fixed dinner Cooper once again headed for the comfort of his bed in the tent.  Little did he know that we’d be heading out to look at the meteor shower later (or early depending upon how you look at things) in the night.  We woke him up at 1:30 AM to walk out to the rocks. He really did not want to move…too chilly and early to be moving about.  We wondered what he must think of us once we made it to the rocks and stretched out.

Eventually he laid down on his blanket and started to snore.  We counted meteors…must have been at least 60 between us.  One stood out…the comet tail glowed long after it passed.  At least 3 to 5 seconds you could still make out the tail against the dark sky.  After an hour of watching we packed it in and headed back to the tent.  Cooper still confused immediately fell back to sleep once he got back to his pillow.

We woke to the ‘music’ of the garbage truck picking up the trash in the campground…at 5:50 AM.  Good grief what a wakeup alarm.  We packed up and headed out towards Elko, Nevada.  Word is that there is a glacier in the area…we’ll believe it when we see it.