Fire and Ice

Silver Lake above the magma

Sunset

Morning

I arrived in June Lake Village last evening and settled in for five days.  Two pictures from my window.

July, 2010

Today

In 2010, as part of what I called “Sharon’s Summer,” I came here to start hiking into the Sierras and came out in Yosemite Valley six days later.  Today I went back to two places where I had taken pictures in 2010.  They are both at Silver Lake which is a few miles from June Lake.  The comparison of summer and winter is quite striking.  

July, 2010

I was happy to find this lodgepole pine still standing, having made it through six winters and summers since I last saw it.

I call this Fire and Ice because even though Silver Lake has a thick sheet of ice on its surface, covered with a thicker layer of snow, it, like all the lakes in this region is underlain with magma not too far down.  liquid rock is near the surface, and it sometimes sends warm plumes of water up into an otherwise cold lake. 

So when I ventured out onto Silver Lake on Nordic skis, caution seemed wise.  The skis distribute my weight over the snow and ice, reducing the pressure on any one spot.  My only concern was the chance of a thin spot in the ice, weakening its support. 

I stayed close to the lake’s edge just in case.  And sure enough, there it was, a place where the snow had melted and maybe the ice too.  I inched around it, poking with the ski poles before each step.  

Why, you ask.  Why not just stay off of such a lake.  No one else had been on it, or I would have seen their tracks.  I’m still working on that.  Will get back to you.