The creek never receded to the point that the park was reopened. Since we were tired of being restricted to 10% of the park, we were happy to move on. California has been having abnormally low temperatures and very wet weather. Lucky us! When we pulled in the slide, a thin sheet of ice fell off the canopy. 28 degrees last night! Good thing our heater works well!

On the positive side, all the mountains have snow caps, and we are hoping this means a plethora of spring flowers! And the weatherman is calling for a return to normal temperatures!

When we pulled into our new park, we were asked if we were here for the mountain bike race. We had no idea that we were going to be at a full park with a million kids and bikes. Oh joy! I don't want to sound like the old person who screams "get off my lawn," but they were some of the rudest people we have encountered while camping. We nearly got run over by bikes every time we tried to walk anywhere. They were jumping curbs, tearing up landscape, and building moguls by the bathrooms, and no parents appeared willing to keep any of these teenage boys in check. One young man drove his car over to visit the kid next door and since this is a pretty tight park, decided he should park right in front of our RV, snug against the front. We were there but he never even asked if that was okay! Enough of my old person rant. We left early in the morning for a nice long walk, escaping most of the first day craziness.

We walked around the entire lake, 10+ miles! I figured that must mean that the lake was the size of Mackinac Island, since when I rode a bike around that I was told it was 9 miles. It was a beautiful 65-degree day, and we were surrounded by snow-covered mountains.

The lake had a lot of white pelicans and other water birds.

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Pelican landing

Osprey taking flight from the dam control tower

We were able to do some geocaching (mostly fruitless), watch some mountain climbers, and enjoy the beautiful scenery all while being able to be almost completely oblivious to the bikers for a few hours.😄

Serene

On the way back, we stopped at the marina store for a well-earned ice cream bar!

On the following day, Trevor drove over to hike up to the mountain peak with us. He drove us to the trailhead on another glorious spring-like day.

Near the top

Trevor at the peak

Near the top, campground in the background at the left

Denny and Trevor on the way up

When we got back to the camper, hoping to have an adult beverage before taking Trevor back to his car, we discovered that Denny had left the RV keys locked in Trevor's car! So the guys set out on another hike to the car while I stayed at the campsite since my short legs would only slow them down. Kismet had seen us return from her window spot and spent the entire time they were gone meowing at me to come in and feed her! When they returned, the sun was setting and Trevor had to leave. 😢 Though, he did leave us some excellent Salvadoran pastries from his corner bakery! Since he is leaving later this week for a trip to Thailand, we won't be seeing him again for almost a month, right before we leave California.