Our second day took us from Peeler Lake to Arndt Lake via Kerrick Meadows. Bill's got an excellent post; you can read about it here.
My notes for posterity:
I got up as soon as I heard Dad stirring so that I could go fishing. Unfortunately, by the time I got my pole set up other people were also getting up, so I didn't get much of a chance to fish. I cast a mosquito out a few times, but all I got were a few bites. Too bad, since Peeler's fish were supposed to be pretty nice.
It's neat that Peeler drains down both sides of the crest. It's an interesting, large, and beautiful lake that would be nice to explore more thoroughly.
Juncos were singing all around the camp that morning, but the most interesting visitor was a female Black-headed Grosbeak. That had to be a wandering bird, as we were in pure coniferous forest at Peeler's elevation.
Kerrick Meadows were really neat - there were White-crowned Sparrows and Mountain Bluebirds around as well as the numerous Spotted Sandpipers and Dark-eyed Juncos that Bill mentioned. I really enjoyed seeing Spotted Sandpipers in meadows - there was one in a damp meadow near Arndt where there was no shore habitat at all; it gave a real arctic feel to the place.
Kerrick Meadows were also easy hiking - it's just straight for what seems like miles. It's really beautiful, but it does get a little monotonous because without any trees you can see exactly how slowly it takes to get from one end of the valley to the other.
Libby and I also found a young Hammond's Flycatcher in some firs along the bank of Arndt when we first walked in.
The mosquitoes in the meadowy portions of Ardnt were terrible. While we were waiting for Dad and Bill and Becca to get back from looking campsites, we were suffering!
After setting up camp, Dad, Becca, and Libby and I went for a little hike to the top of a promontory above our camp. From it, we could see down the canyon toward Benson Lake, and across to more of the granite domes in the area. We also found two baby flightless Mountain Bluebirds cowering under some tree trunks. They looked pretty pathetic! It was fun scrambling around on the granite.
It rained a little at Arndt, mostly over-night, but not enough to get the ground truly wet. It was enough to make noise on the rain fly, but that's about it.
More pictures are up on Flickr: Backpack Day 2.
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