Another grand day, weatherwise, for what may be the best hiking day of the year. While it was a weekend, and the crowds would be in full force on such a day, I managed to start hiking at 9am on a bright cool morning. I got the first mile before I had to remove my sweater, but from then on in the sun it was warm and comfy. Only a handful of people coming down at that point, but I passed many people going up. When I got to the crest overlooking Snow Lake there was a group of maybe 15 kids heading down with chaperones. I’m guessing they were a scout troup but they weren’t uniformed so I can’t be sure. I promptly continued down to the lake and just kept going around figuring I’d stop and turn around when I felt like it.
It wasn’t far around the lake before I was away from everyone else and in quiet. An occasional person coming down from Gem Lake but it was just so nice that I couldn’t(didn’t want to) turn around, so I just slowing kept going. The trail was extremely muddy from the previous weeks rains but that didn’t bother my boots. Would occasionally splash mud up on my legs but that didn’t bother me either. I made it to Gem Lake at noon, and found my favorite flat rock by the water on the north side of the lake and plopped my self down to needed rest. I took my boots and socks off and enjoyed the warm sun and cool breeze. I had my sandwich and rested for an hour before “re-booting” and heading back. Not too many people up there at Gem so was perfect for both weather and crowds.
Got back to the car at 3:30 and was home by 4. A perfect 10 mile day.
I didn’t take any pictures on this hike. But the day was nearly an exact copy of the hike here that I last did on July 26 2009. You can find my blog post from then and see the three pictures I had posted.