Unfortunately, we are standing at the takeoff point for our hike into Cougar Canyon.  I say unfortunately because the mouth of the canyon is almost 5 mi's away over the pass in the center of this picture.  Ordinarily, we would drive the 5 miles and parked just short of Cougar.  However, the park service, in it's infinite wisdom, closed the gate at this point along the jeep trail claiming it was unsafe to travel further, that a storm washed out the road... come on guys, this is 4WD territory.  Soooo, we had to put in almost 11 miles we hadn't planned on in order to do 3 miles in Cougar Canyon.