Cook Lake Cat Hike in the Black Hills National Forest WY

Cook Lake:  Louise had already explored a lot of this area, but it was new to me, and new to Leesha, aka, The Furry Purry, who was still relatively newly-traveled at that time. On our foray, we came to a spot Louise knew of called Cook Lake. It's way up in the dad-gummed mountains, and an unlikely candidate for a ..... TorNAdo! But low and behold, one tore through there last year. We haven't been back to see the destruction. But at the time -- in October 2008, it was an amazing little spot.

Cat Hike Begins:  Furry Purry eagerly hopped out of the rig to hike the lake shore. There could be mice. Over the river and through the woods -- or over a little lakeside creek, anyway. There was a great little kitty-sized path with a kitty-sized bridge, and we could walk right along behind her in case of hawks.

Fall Colors:  The aspens and other trees and shrubs around the lake were getting with the fall program big time. With the clear blue sky reflecting in the lake, it was a great afternoon. A couple guys were taking advantage of the warmth and relative calm on the lake to get in a little fishing off a dock. Furry Purry didn't care much for fishing -- her game is mice, and she continued on along the shore. On the hillside behind her, the leaves were a riot of color. Worth the price of admission just for the leaves. Louise walked with Furry Purry while I shot some photos of the lake and the colors. 

Serious Cat Hiking:  Furry Purry got very serious about the hike and really strode out to cover some ground -- as much as she can cover at 12 pounds and nearly 18 years old, anyway. All around the lake, the sun slid through the trees to illuminate sections of lake shore. While Furry Purry poked in the trail-side grass, I shot a few of those highlighted grasses.  

Since cat hikes aren't marathons and are usually of fairly short duration, Furry Purry found a bench for Louise and took a little break 200 yards into the hike. That bench pretty much marked the "high water mark" of the hike -- around turned the Furry Purry and she headed back to the rig. 

She stealthed through a narrow grass passage and had a very serious air about her. As I looked through the camera, I imagined doing the same in India as a tiger came out of the brush. You'd want to be high on an elephant for that one if they were anywhere nearly as fierce as Furry Purry looked. The trees along the shore were intense in the low sun as the cat hike started to wrap up. Overhead an osprey crossed in front of the sun and cast a shadow over the trail. Furry Purry didn't like that one bit -- she's not much of an ornithologist, although she does appreciate the titillating flutter of a song bird (but is too slow to engage) -- but ominous shadows are pretty much all ominous shadows. She didn't make much of the fact that a few minutes later the osprey had scored a reasonable trout and was about to eat it on a branch overhanging the lake. I was so far away, I got a few "fuzzy osprey" shots, so I put a filter on it in "post production" just to have something to show of the show he put on.
Coming around the corner close to the parking area, Furry Purry stopped to note a waving flower that I'd missed on the way to the turn-around point in the hike. It was swaying slightly in the wind, and one of the mouth-like flowers must have caught her attention. Nearby, a couple rose hips swayed back and forth in the slight breeze, and Furry Purry also stopped to make sure they weren't something to whack with a soft paw. The wind made them very hard to get in focus, so like the Osprey, they got a little filter treatment. It's kind of like doing some after-effect painting, so I don't mind doing it when "pure" photography is less than satisfactory. Sometimes it makes me feel all creative, in a faux-art sort of fashion. As Furry Purry neared the car, the light was starting to create some interesting patterns along the lake edge, and Furry Purry paused to watch the water dance. It is, of course, unclear as to what she found amusing, but I certainly found the play of light and ripples worthy of note. With Furry Purry tucked into the car, we headed back for Rapid City -- there was more to see on the way back because the light was still strong enough to back-light some leaves, but the cat hiking (and the cat hiker) were pretty much done for the day. 

Brian Text and Photos copyright -- Goin Mobyle LLC, 2008