The next day was a layover day of sorts. We kept our camp at Lower Blossom and dayhiked up to the other Blossom Lakes. I think we saw 13 of the 15 that appeared on the map plus some other small lakes that weren't on the map. The lakes are in a wide glacially sculpted granite bowl and they are each more beautiful than the last. We sat and admired one for a while and watched juncos and hummingbirds fly around and over the lake. Once a hummingbird, presumably attracted to Candace's bright pink Nalgene bottle, hovered right in front of her face for a few seconds. She said she had never been so close to one! About a minute later I felt something on my hand which I had resting on my elbow and I turned just in time to see a Junco fly off. I guess it thought my hand would make a great perch!
We continued hiking and got to the big upper Blossom Lake around lunchtime. We ate lunch and then went over to the lake to soak our feet. Candace heard something and turned back towards our day packs and saw a furry tail poking out of my pack! She said, "Hey!" and turn and ran over to the pack and out jumped a marmot. He had gotten into my leftover cheetos! Brat :p Oh, well, it was my fault. That marmot will probably never be the same after getting a taste of junk food, sort of like the animals in the movie, "Over the Hedge," we joked. We named the marmot Mr. Cheetos as he came back several times to try to get more.
On the way back down to our campsite I saw a pika and we both enjoyed the views that stretched all the way down the Kern Canyon to the Needles. We also saw two fishermen but never saw where they were camped. Back at our campsite we saw another backpacker who set up camp near us but never came over to say hello. We called him the "Silent Backpacker." He made very little noise and ended up leaving early in the morning so it was if he was never there.
That afternoon I went for a swim then took a nap inside my tent. I woke up once startled to see a lizard that had crawled up between my tent body and the fly! That night I made a Thanksgiving-like meal - stuffing with chicken and dried cranberries. It hit the spot. It was breezy that night which was fine by me because it kept the mosquitoes away!
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