HELLO FALL ON THE MOUNTAIN!!

The light has turned magical up at the cabin.

The air so fresh with the smell of pine wafting thru the air.

And the temp has finally dropped into the 70's during the day and the 40's at nite.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

Down below at home is a different story.

Once again in the 90's this weekend.

Yuck!

The kids (my son and his wife) 

joined us this weekend and they pulled out the hammock

and took turns in it.

We took a 3 mile walk around our Lake Gregory

and identified 3 different  mountain native plants and 4 different pines

pressing the flowers and needles into our little books.

But our biggest pleasure was finding a fresh water lobster...

or as Google identified it a crayfish or crawdad.

First Zach tried his hand at capturing it,

then Nicole took her turn,

both unsuccessfully.

The little guy was about 4 inches long and looked so much like an ocean lobster.

And man or man,

could he scoot and turn on a dime to get away from us.

A first for all.

So much fun!

STUNNING VIEWS

Lake Gregory,

about a block and a half from our cabin two weekends ago.

The area, originally known as Houston Flat, was developed by and named for its developer, Redlands citrus grower Arthur Gregory, Sr. Gregory bought and developed land in an area known today as Valley of the Moon.

Work began in 1937 under a Works Progress Administration (WPA) grant to dam the east and west forks of Houston Creek, whose waters drain into tributaries of the Mojave River, thereby "going to waste". The project was nearly completed by March 1938, but federal funds had run out. Gregory financed the completion of the project, lending money to the district for the completion. The eventual cost was US$225,000, of which US$160,000 came from the federal government, with the balance funded by the water district.

Heavy rains that March put the dam to its first test. It had been estimated that it would take three years to fill the lake. So heavy were the rains that the lake filled in only three days. An unconfirmed, but plausible urban legend claims that the construction equipment left on the lake bed in 1938 during the rains remains at the bottom of the lake to this day.

 There was more snow here then we've seen in the 2 years we've been up here.

It's 3 miles around and the walk is glorious.

We were worried this summer.

The lake was way low because of the drought.

But with the rains and snow we've had this season, 

it's starting to fill back up.

YEAH!