Clear Lake, the end

Tuesday, our final day -- we could definitely see and smell a bit of smoke in the air, and were happy to know we were headed home in the afternoon. But first: we ran and biked on the trail for ~4 miles. Liesl's bike had an unexpected flat tire, so she rode Seb's mountain bike (which I had brought for myself because it has better shocks than my gravel bike). It was a little big for her but she persevered.

There were chipmunk holes under the trees surrounding our campsite, and Jasper was absolutely dead set on catching one. He chased them to their holes repeatedly and then used his paws to dig and his nose to snuffle out the critters. Obviously, he didn't catch anything -- they followed their holes to other holes and trees, and probably were laughing at him from above. In between laughing at Jasper and eating lunch, we packed up food stuff and sleeping stuff - and then headed back to the lake for our final paddle.

This is Liesl trying to gear herself up for a dunking. The water is so, so cold -- it takes your breath away and numbs your feet and hands immediately -- but it's our tradition to get in at least once. She did. So did I, after packing up the boats and getting all hot in the process.

 

And then we drove home. Another year in the books.