Back then the Thursday night hikes were toasty affairs and we made good use of the lakes and streams we came across. Treen dipped in the lakes and drank from the creeks. I restrained myself to just dipping my hat in the water.

The last refreshment on the way to the summit was Treen's secret snow patch. It's tucked in a dark corner on a north-facing slope where it almost never sees the sunlight. It was barely a sliver, but still enough for Treen to have a bite and a roll. She's a weird dog like that.

Being the middle of summer, the sunset was still several hours off so we headed down for another swim in the lake. Unfortunately, that put us in the trees when the sun finally did set. The hike ended in the pitch black, but in the company of an enormous toad that was just chilling in the middle of the trail. Staying cool, just like we were trying to.