Near the Sweetwater Trail, Folsom Lake

I’d been hiking north for more than an hour, and the day was getting pretty warm. In fact, the sun was high overhead, and my stomach was telling me it was time to take a break and eat my sandwich and drink some cool water. The trouble was, I was walking along the lakeshore below the tree level. There was no shade to be found, and I wasn’t very happy with the idea of sitting down for lunch under the glare of the sun. But I was in luck — just up ahead I spied three different driftwood shelters. Surely at least one of them would offer a reasonably comfortable place to rest.

The first shelter looked to be well constructed, but it didn’t offer much shade. I thought I could probably do better, so I walked on.

Okay — that one was definitely NOT going to work… unless I started gathering some driftwood and fixed it up myself. It offered no shade at all, and the seating arrangements left a lot to be desired. Luckily, I still had one more shelter to check out. Maybe I would get lucky.

It looked promising. At least there was shade here! Still, I did wonder why the doorway faced south rather than west and didn’t allow for a view of the lake.

Well, here’s a surprise — it’s actually got TWO openings, and this “front door” does face the lake! Someone clearly put a lot of effort into constructing this temporary shelter. I now had my lunch spot all picked out, and there was even a relatively comfy-looking log to sit on.

Phone cam: the view out my front door

Side entry, with cobbled flooring

Any place I hang my hat…

A rare passerby and his dog