Tickets for the Flume and Tram were bought at Visitor's Center at the entrance to the Flume. Inside on display are two moose intertwined in a fight left eventually left them locked together until their death. A hiker discovered the moose in the woods and donations allowed them to be mounted like this. This gives you an idea of the size and power of these animals when you stand next to them. A naturalist told us that he was much more afraid of them then the black bear found in the area.
The entrance of the flume contains many of the "glacial erratics," huge boulder left from the last ice age.
The flume itself was essentially a large gorge that was fitted with a boardwalk and steps to allow you to view the inside. Like so much of what we have viewed on hikes on this trip, it is an excellent example of the power of years of erosion. There's the teacher in me coming out, I guess.
Since it was kind of foggy, we decided to save our tickets for the aerial tram for the next morning. Instead we chose to go on a hike around the basin area. We actually didn't even see the basin the first time we stopped there. It is essentially a large natural whirlpool. It is supposed to be 15 feet deep.
We continued on a neat hike across one of the rivers and eventually to a waterfall area.
At this point, we had a choice to continue on 3 more miles to Lonesome Lake and then to the campground or head back one more mile to the van. Luke and Rogan wanted to turn around while Greg, Lilly, Mikah and Jen wanted to actually see Lonesome Lake. So we split up with Beth and I taking the boys back. The way down was quite slippery - both Rogan and I fell at one point. Nonetheless, everyone made it back to the campground safe and sound.
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