Thursday, February 16, 2023

Lizard Lake

Interesting root system

Today Melanie and I went to Blanchard Mountain, one of our favorite places when the weather is conducive to a hike, meaning when it's not raining or too awfully muddy. Today, although it was cold, it was just right for a trip to Lizard Lake from the Upper Trailhead parking lot. There was not really a lot to capture for pictures, cloudy and overcast, casting everything once again in winter monochromes.

Trail to Lizard Lake

As we ascended higher on the way to the lake, we ran into a bit of snow. It was never hard to navigate and made for some pretty scenery. We covered six miles on today's adventure, and went up and down around 1,500 feet of elevation gain and loss.

Lizard Lake with ice

You can see that it was still rather cold at the lake, with a very shallow ice covering most of it. We took the time to have a quick snack, too. Of course Melanie brought a treat, these being her latest culinary exploit: linzer cookies. They were a lot of work, she told me, but she made enough to take to her dance class, and if they enjoyed them as much as I did my very own today, I'm sure everyone was very happy to be around, as I was, to taste them.

Melanie's linzer cookies

 Oh, they were good! I have two more, which she gave me to share at the coffee shop tomorrow. She made them for Valentine's Day and said they were not all that fresh, but I beg to differ: they were amazingly good and such a wonderful treat. They are pictured here sitting on a frozen, icy log at Lizard Lake. 

I am so lucky to have not only an excellent hiking buddy, but one that likes to bake really wonderful goodies!

:-)

13 comments:

  1. Those cookies look like the perfect Valentine's Day treat!! So nice of her to send some with to share. :)

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  2. A hiking partner wh bakes cookies! How could it get any better?

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  3. I really like that center photo of the trail--and Mel's linzer cookies look delicious, and textbook perfect. :^)

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  4. Elevation gains are tricky when it comes to hiking. As you show today there is snow and that could have been lots of snow.

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  5. Another good thing is that with all that hiking you can just walk those calories away.

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  6. It may have been one of your more ordinary hikes, but you always see such sights. And you get cookies.

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  7. Man, those cookies look good. May I have a bite?

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  8. You have the best of both worlds, Jan, with the exercise and the baked goods. Those cookies look so good.

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  9. I love Linzer cookies! I sent some to my granddaughter at A&M for Valentines...

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  10. What pretty cookies! The bit of snow looks refreshing along the trail:)

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  11. Yummy cookies to warm the tummy!! On such a winter's day.

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  12. I have never heard of Linzer cookies, but they are so pretty. What a really lovely day you had. You are both very intrepid.

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