Clear Lake

I looked ahead of myself, letting my feet do the work for a moment. The trail

seemed so distant and lengthy in front of me. The blue sky filled with scattered puffy, white like cotton, clouds. The long grasses tickled at my legs, which were covered with nothing more than my shorts.
My boyfriend and I were on our annual hike to Clear Lake. Clear Lake is icy cold from the glacier run-off, but after a two day hike up a mountain ridge it always seemed enjoyable and refreshing. The lake itself is surrounded by magnificently smooth boulders which, I was told, became so soft to touch from glaciers.
The water was undeniably clear and inviting, covered by small pebbles at the bottom and little ripples on the surface. On one side of the small, clear lake was a discreet beach, away from the trail. But the lake itself was very discreet; at the most I would see maybe one or two people in a day. Jack, my boyfriend, and I lay on the beach as in the years before, in each other’s arms....