Hidden Lakes Hike

I was not able to upload more pics-don't know what is happening-but I'm putting the rest of the pictures on our photo album blog.
Last Saturday I was lucky enough to steal Stella (Sky's boss' golden retriever) and take her and Howie on a hike. We headed up to Portal Creek-drove about 6 miles on a crazy off road to get to the trail head of Hidden Lakes. The trail definitely headed up into some deep wilderness and I definitely had bear spray out and attached to my backpack. Of course right in the beginning of the hike Stella turns a corner and starts growling and barking. It ended up being a false alarm but it took me about 5 minutes to peak around the corner to know that! The rest of the hike I was whistling, singing and clapping!!! I must have looked like an idiot, but I'm still here! This has to be one of the most beautiful hikes I have ever done. I couldn't even capture half of it's beauty. The landscape traveled through tall skinny strait trees, mossy covered stones, cliffs, creeks....it was just so dynamic! Once we got to the lake I saw people fishing and I was relieved to see human life. Stella is a WATER dog, no doubt about it; even on the way to the lake-she would "frog" in the creek. Stasia informed me about her "frogging"; which is bobbing her belly in the creek with all legs out!