May, 2021
Lake Pondilla was only about a mile from our campsites. But one vehicle in the group drove to a parking lot about half way to the lake, and another vehicle in the group drove to a parking lot even closer to the lake.
In truth, the trail from our campsites to the lake was demanding. It had steep uphill climbs and equally steep downhill slopes. And sometimes it was right on the edge of the bluff such that even just a little slip would have meant a long, steep slide down to the beach. Not one of us was out to prove that we could traverse the entire length of that trail, so we simply stayed safe and bypassed the worst parts of the trail by driving past those parts. 🙂
Once we arrived at the parking lot (the big white truck is above), we still had a bit of a walk/hike to the lake, but it wasn’t at all treacherous. You can see we were in gorgeous woodlands that eventually turned into wetlands traversed by boardwalks. We then walked up to a trail that circled around above the lake.
What a great walk through the woods and around the water of Lake Pondilla.
Eventually we came down to the shore of the lake. We found seating nearby so chose to sit and enjoy the sunshine. How calm and restful. As often happens, since we were here in the middle of the week, we saw no other human beings … not another soul … and heard not another sound except the birds and the breeze. Even the dogs were quiet. It seemed to me we could hear the plants growing. For a moment I thought I could hear the heartbeat of the earth here, but maybe it was just that yellow Water Lily bursting into bloom in the photo below. 🙂
Beautiful. Love that comment about the heartbeat of the earth. One needs to be so quiet to hear that. 🙂
Indeed. And when that happens, it’s so spectacular. Thanks Judy Bee.
Me too, Judy Bee, it’s not often one hears the heartbeat of the earth.
It’s not often for me, Shawn, that’s for sure, which makes it all that much more amazing.
Love this blog, I just discovered it. Looks like you have great friends. 🙂
Thanks for being here Jamie. I do have great friends. 🙂
Great friends. Great photos. Fun blog, Ann — thank you.
You’re welcome, Tina T. Thanks for being here. 🙂
Great photos. Love your blog. Great friends indeed. 🙂
Amen! Thanks, Cindy. 🙂
Water lilies … I’ve seen so many of them in my travels and always wondered what they were and never thought to ask anyone. Thank you! Nice truck. 🙂
David, I must admit that I had to look the plant/flowers up on the internet just now to find out what they are. So much to learn. Thanks for the comment about my truck. 🙂 She’s a good one.
The lake looks bigger than I remember it. Maybe it’s grown or maybe it was just really overgrown. There was no trail around it back then. It seemed more of a pond than a lake. Is that maybe why it’s called Pondilla?☺
May have to go back and check this park out.
Thanks for the wonderful pictures. But where are the birds? You always have great pictures of birds or animals, (although I do have a fondness for pictures of trails leading to who knows where. They seem to speak of adventure. )
Anyway, thanks for sharing.
Ha! 🙂 I wondered about the name of the lake too, Fritzi, and made the same connection that you did to the word “pond”. Pretty silly, huh. Then I spent a bit of time online trying to find the history of the name of Pondilla Lake and I could find no information about the name/word “pondilla” in reference to the lake, or a Spanish word, or anything else that I could think of. It might be a misspelling of the Spanish word “pandilla” which means gang of criminals … maybe a bunch of thugs lived here, who knows? I did find info online that states Lake Pondilla is a “kettle” lake or a glacial lake. Those lakes form when a block of ice breaks off from a glacier, then starts to melt, and then creates a somewhat round depression as the water swirls and the ice digs the hole. I also found out that there is public fishing in the lake (only non-motorized boats are allowed) for smallmouth bass. So I found lots of info, but no info about the source of the word/name “Pondilla”. It may forever remain a mystery.
I didn’t get many pictures of wildlife on this camping trip, but a few will be coming soon. 🙂
Glad you drove there so no one fell off that cliff. Really pretty photos, thank you.
I’m glad we drove too. 🙂