Pharaoh Wilderness/Whortleberry Pond 8/7-8/8/10

I have spent the better part of two hours bring my blog up to day, partially because it needed to be done and also because I wanted to put up the pictures of our latest adventure. This was our second overnight trip to the Pharaoh Lake Wilderness. This time our approach was from the south and promised at least a 8.3 mile hike, more given a couple of detours.Ahhh trailhead signs...
And off we go. It was a claustrophobic hike, the undergrowth was heavy and mostly blackberry bushes, but it didn't slow us down. An attack by bees did though.
This was a rusted gas range left over from what looked like a camp. There were a lot of weird things this hike: a beheaded body of a falcon or owl in the middle of the trail, a random wicker backpack filled with empty beer cans and nobody in sight in the middle of the trail and a couple of odd people walking as well.
We detoured to a small pond off the trail for lunch. Behind Sal people were camped on the rocks.
Then Sal slipped. It was funny.
During the course of the hike we were taken by the variety of mushrooms on the trail. No clue what kind this was but wow, it was cool looking.
So the long and short of it, this is not Pharaoh Lake's far shore where we were planning on camping. When we got to Pharaoh Lake all the lean-to's and most of the campsites were filled. One guy had hung an American flag across the front of the lean-to and had a rifle leaning against the side. Weird. It must be hunting season or something. So we continued past Pharaoh Lake and tried to find the trail for Whortleberry Pond. However the trail was in such disuse we couldn't even find it but instead found the trail to the privy. Going past that we finally found the old trail. Our map showed the trail going right at the pond and only after climbing over downed trees did we find it again. Above is what greeted us.
We found what must have been a campsite but it obviously had not been used in at least a year. We had the whole pond to ourselves, a true treat. Heather found a huge set of wild blueberry bushes (perhaps originally called Whortleberries?) and we got down to picking and eating. I even showed Sal how to pick and eat them. Within minutes he was a pro.

Over the last couple of weeks my ears have been plugged up so I can't hear that well. That night Heather had to bare the burden of hearing all the wildlife sounds. We woke up multiple times for bathroom break and Sal's intense curiosity. Finally around 5:30AM I got up, started the fire and made some tea. It was stunning on the pond, mist had settled in and nothing but the sound of birds (or so Heather tells me).
I mean, how could you not enjoy this view.Sal certainly did.
A combination of campfire smoke and mist.
On our hike back Heather finally got a feather in her cap, so to speak.
In all we covered 10.6 miles the first day and 8.8 mile or so the second day. What was remarkable that we completed the return trip in 3 hours and 30 minutes. We were moving fast! By the time we got to the car we were all exhausted.Sal was even more so than usual and wanted to curl up with us in the front seat quite badly.

This was a truly stunning hike. I must keep the exact access to our campsite a secret because it is the first time we have found a spot no one knows about but it was wonderful to have some privacy and some peace. It requires a return visit.