We've now walked back around the lake shore and are crossing the Highland Creek that flows in to the lake. Remember the earlier lake picture I mentioned where it looked like a substantial river was flowing into the lake? Well this is the actual amount of flow. What you saw earlier was just the lake waters backed up the creek some.
Dawg yawns as he watches grandpa figure his way across the boulders.
We have been hiking near the shore mostly off trail. You can't walk the shore as it has many 40ft shear granite cliffs and it seemed weird to walk the trail as it makes you feel like you are walking into the forest and leaving the lake. The water's edge is such a long distance from where it should be, I took a semi-trail, semi-bushwhacking route.
If you look carefully, I've put a tiny yellow arrow near the middle of the photo (didn't want to spoil the photo). That arrow points to the high water mark on that tree. You'll see those trees up close on the coming pages, and that will give you a good perspective for just how low the water really is.