I got up a bit late this morning (guess I'm still on Pacific Time) and couldn't decide what hike to do. I really wanted to do one with a little climbing, nice views and some water for Abbey, but they were all a bit long. I finally decided to give Sawtooth Lake a shot even though it was 10 miles roundtrip. At least there was another lake about a mile before that we could always stop at and cut off a couple of miles. It was hot again today, but there was a nice stream a good part of the way so it was bearable. The first lake, Alpine Lake, was really nice. 
We stopped to take a break and I would've eaten my lunch except for one minor problem. I realized I left my sandwich back in the refrigerator in the RV. I was pretty bummed, but luckily I had brought along some snacks. After a good rest we hiked up a bunch of switchbacks to what I thought was Sawtooth Lake.
I finished off the rest of the snacks while taking a break there, but then started to wonder why the lake was so small. It was supposed to be much bigger. So we headed on further just a little ways and came to the real Sawtooth Lake. For you sentimental republicans, the mountain in the background is Mt. Reagan.
I named the first lake Faux Sawtooth - kind of like a false summit. The lakes were all beautiful. This was really my kind of hike with the scenery I love '? alpine meadows, alpine lakes and mountain peaks all around. Abbey had a great time going in all 3 lakes and it really helped revitalize her after a tough climb up. It turned out to be 11 miles, the farthest we've hiked by far, so I was a little worried about her leg, but it seems to be fine. In fact, we found a new campsite heading south. It's by a stream in a dispersed camping area and it's real quiet. When we got situated I let her out and she still had a lot of energy. We walked around quite a bit through the woods, across the stream, up a hill and she still didn't seem tired. And her leg seemed fine so I was relieved. Tomorrow we're starting to make our way towards Colorado so we'll have a lot of driving the next two days. I'm meeting up again with Dan Gibbons, who lives in Loveland. We're hoping to get some nice big hikes in. His wife and kids don't like to do the more strenuous stuff so we are both looking forward to it.