This was the Reunion Trip. The trip happened to coincide with our 20th high school reunion, so a bunch of folks flew in from out of town to attend both events. So, in addition to myself and Alex, we also had Eric, Mark, and Bill. Because of the large crowd and the difficultly in scheduling time off, we had to restrict the trip to four days. However, everyone enjoyed the so much they might make it a regular thing!
From the valley containing Chewing Gum Lake we headed up a medium-sized hill will great views of
the chimneys across the valley. We stopped for lunch overlooking the Y Meadow valley, then descended
to Whitesides Meadow before turning off onto the side trail to Toejam Lake.
We'd planned to go as far as Leopold Lake the first day, but with full packs on our first day we
were all pretty tired and agreed to stop early at Toejam. We spent the late afternoon swimming
and relaxing by this beautiful, if oddly named, lake.
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Our intention this day was to move camp to someplace closer to our exit so that we'd have an easy last day.
However, after only a mile of hiking, we were so overwhelmed by the beauty of Leopold Lake
that we decided to camp there instead. We then had most of the day to swim and relax, which we did very
effectively. The lake has a bunch of beautiful islands, plus a shallow, warm inlet.
Nearby is a great viewpoint looking South over Gem Lake. We had lunch up there and then went back
up for the sunset. Smoke from nearby forest fires turned the air gray and red.
We started this day early because we knew we had a long way to go. The first step was a cross-country
descent of Tom's Canyon. This is a really nice, isolated canyon with a meadow, some lovely
tarns, and a huge granite edifice halfway down. The upper part of the descent was harder than it should of been
because we didn't stick to the recommended route. The lower half was easier and well-ducked.
While coming down Tom's Canyon, we'd noticed that Bill's shoes were starting to fall apart -- he'd worn running shoes instead of boots. We patched them with duct tape as best we could, and they held for the remainder of the hike
Almost all the way to the bottom of the canyon we found this incredible forest of ferns.
Once we hit the main trail at Piute Meadow, the hike out was pretty straightforward. There were a couple
of grinding hills and the trail was very dusty and full of horse crap, but there were some great views.
We passed by Camp Lake as well, which is really beautiful but too overused for any nice actual camping.
Back at Crabtree trailhead, I got this great shot of Bill's worn-out shoe next to a brand-new one he'd just put
on.
And don't let's forget our unexpected stowaway, Haygook:
