We started at Agnew Meadows near the Devil's Postpile National Monument. The government tax office rips you off $10 to drive to the trailhead and
charges you a fee for overnight camping on public land. Funny how it costs money to hike on my own land, but I digress.
We planned to hike to Summit
Lake and camp for one night before making
our
permanent basecamp near Rush Creek. The Rush Creek drainage is known for its beauty. We only saw a
few sets of hikers and only two guys that looked like they might stay overnight. This was a good sign as we really enjoy the solitude backpacking can
offer and unlike many of our trips, this is a relatively popular area.
The trail starts with a steep ascent and we quickly got ahead of Dave and George. As the trail leveled off we stopped for a photo.
When we reached the Shadow Lake overlook, we stopped for lunch. There was zero snow at our current elevation. Very unusual for this time of
year. We stayed west of Shadow Lake when Rick came up with us years ago.
Andra took this panorama of the mountain range with Shadow Lake as the jewel in the middle. Even after pausing for lunch, we still saw
no sign
of Dave and George.