The yearly camping trip to Utica Reservior

I always stress a little about the trip. I worried if our campsite would be available. Would there be enough room for all. Will the bears eat our food? It was OK. The campsite was waiting for us and there was plenty of room for our tents. Plus, the bears did not make a visitation this year. AND I don't have to do any cooking so I had plenty of time to draw.

There were chipmunks scampering all over the place. I'm sure they were just waiting for us to leave food in our tents. One watched me as I drew the granite boulders behind my tent. It was very attentive. Another one latter in the day kept a running commentary on how we were cooking dinner.

We needed a little exercise after all the eating we were doing so a few of us headed up to another lake six miles up the mountain. The walk is up mostly solid blocks of granite with a few trees growing out of the rocks. (I'm not sure how the trees do that) There is a creek that connects the two lakes that crosses the trail a couple of times. at the lower creek crossing it is shady and cool. At the higher elevation the creek runs shallow over the granite with lots of pools and slick sweeps of water. The sun beats down on it and I envision sliding down the hill in the water. I didn't do that. I drew it instead.