Lake in the mist

On Saturday, after we had breakfast in Idyllwild, we drove by Lake Hemet just to stop and take a few photos. As my fellow desert dwellers know, when we are clear down in the desert valley, the clouds sometimes will hang on our mountains. Such was the case on Saturday. These clouds were drifting by Lake Hemet and moving swiftly. It was eerily quiet when we stopped in the National Forest area of the lake.

A bit of advice for those of you who wish to visit Lake Hemet: If you take the side road (not in the campground), be prepared to show a National Parks Adventure pass or risk a ticket! When I pulled in, there were two dead fish on the ground by an open parking space. I pulled in and was soon confronted by a park ranger. He demanded to see my Adventure pass. I explained to him that hubby (who had wandered off, taking pics) and I were only there long enough to snap a couple of photos and were then moving out~! He picked up the dead fish and I explained that they weren't ours! By now, he was really getting hostile with me, so I offered to dig out my pass and I also explained that both hubby and I were over 55 (not that THAT made any difference with him!)...FINALLY, after talking to him for a bit(I DO have an adventure pass that we purchased last August, when we visited the Grand Canyon), he apparently believed me and did NOT give me a ticket. He explained that there was a posted sign on the way in, but we were so busy looking the OTHER WAY, at the lake, that we both didn't see it! So, on the way out, we both cranned our necks and yup...there it was! So, a warning to you...be SURE you have your pass. He got out his ticket book and was ready to give me a $100 ticket before I explained to him that I actually had said pass and would readily dig it out of my purse! I knew it was there because I put it in my purse last summer (since I paid the $80.00 for it myself)! Not exactly an enjoyable visit to the lake, so we drove home from there, but the fog and clouds were pretty!