Day 320: There's more than one kind of "bear" in them thar woods! Even though it isn't quite September yet, when the occasion afforded itself, I decided it was time for my annual bath. After hiking around Naches Loop (a popular and therefore populated trail), I clambered down into Ghost Lake just off Cayuse Pass for a quick skinny-dip dunk. The lake is set in a bowl, and the angle of slope deters most casual visitors from making the descent. Nor is there an established trail, so the route tends to be a little brushy. It seemed to me that there were more downed trees to navigate over, under, around or through than the last time I paid a visit, and the lake was a little low and the water was cold. I stood waist-deep for some time, gathering the courage for the final plunge, but once I was committed, I paddled out from my "marker" rock and back a dozen or so times before I was satisfactorily "cleansed of the dross of humanity," as I like to say of this ritual. Good for another year, I then faced the unavoidable consequence: what goes down must come up...back to the car and Longmire, where I spent the remainder of the day in the office.
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