May, 2021
Lake Pondilla was only about a mile from our campsites. But one vehicle in the group drove to a parking lot about half way to the lake, and another vehicle in the group drove to a parking lot even closer to the lake.
In truth, the trail from our campsites to the lake was demanding. It had steep uphill climbs and equally steep downhill slopes. And sometimes it was right on the edge of the bluff such that even just a little slip would have meant a long, steep slide down to the beach. Not one of us was out to prove that we could traverse the entire length of that trail, so we simply stayed safe and bypassed the worst parts of the trail by driving past those parts. 🙂
Once we arrived at the parking lot (the big white truck is above), we still had a bit of a walk/hike to the lake, but it wasn’t at all treacherous. You can see we were in gorgeous woodlands that eventually turned into wetlands traversed by boardwalks. We then walked up to a trail that circled around above the lake.
What a great walk through the woods and around the water of Lake Pondilla.
Eventually we came down to the shore of the lake. We found seating nearby so chose to sit and enjoy the sunshine. How calm and restful. As often happens, since we were here in the middle of the week, we saw no other human beings … not another soul … and heard not another sound except the birds and the breeze. Even the dogs were quiet. It seemed to me we could hear the plants growing. For a moment I thought I could hear the heartbeat of the earth here, but maybe it was just that yellow Water Lily bursting into bloom in the photo below. 🙂
