On the eighth day, after our day of rest, and my regrouping, we headed out for a day of adventure with van assist. The plan was to drive from lovely lake to lovely lake and play along the way. We drove past one lake, before little e threw up, so we stopped at the next spot, Sand Pond, and stayed their for most of the day. Sand Pond is a man made body of water caused then they removed the tailings left over from mining at the beginning of last century. Since it is a small body of water, it was warm and lovely to swim in. The water that fills it comes from the lower Sardine Lake (the body of water in the photo) with the Sierra Buttes above it. Sand Pond was a wonderful place to play. We walked half way around it, and had a little secluded area to ourselves. The wildlife was phenomenal for such a popular play spot. Their were frogs and bullfrogs everywhere. I saw the largest tadpoles of my life.. the bodies were larger than golfballs! Big E saw a little water snake catch and eat a frog! I was in time to watch the little guy swim off with the frog's legs sticking out of its mouth. Amazing! I used to swim in ponds and lakes a lot as a child, but I've never had nicer freshwater swimming than on this trip.