Weather: 77ยบ, sun and clouds
About this Hike: One year ago today I first explored Babe Haught Trail to Knoll Lake. Looking for something to do today, and remembering this to be an enjoyable hike, I opted to try it again.
The parking lot was the fullest I've ever seen it at the Hatchery Trailhead. This may be spurred by the closure of Horton Creek parking lot for on-going construction.
While I saw a few other hikers today, I wouldn't call the trail crowded by any means. But then, with multiple spurs of Highline Trail branching from the same parking area, surely not all hikers were on Babe Haught.
For some reason I enjoyed this hike a lot more last year. It wasn't bad by any means this year, yet it just felt different. Maybe it was the fact that it was still uncomfortably hot today. Maybe all the orange ponderosa pines were getting to me too...
I can't tell if the ponderosas are dying or experiencing intense seasonal needle drop. Most of them still have plenty of green, punctuated by some clumps of orange. Photos taken and analyzed by AI tell me its just seasonal needle drop. But then with the beetle outbreak in recent years, I never know what to believe.
Knoll Lake is still low when you compare the bathtub ring to its current state of fill. However, with a good monsoon this summer, it is higher than a year ago. In fact, there wasn't much lake bottom to walk along. Even if it was just a few inches of murky water, the lake level is definitely higher. Hopefully El Nino brings us some solid snowpack this winter and fills up the rim lakes.
