The day dawned warm and friendly with a smattering of mozzies. I attempted to do more to get us going in the morning after I finished my pages. We took off at a clip slightly behind schedule. Shortly after our start, we came across a river and stopped to do river laundry. I managed to rig up a system on my backpack with a beaner and a cordalette. The next river crossing sent Kelsey into the river and one of her poles downstream. We managed to catch it. I decided to go further up to cross. We got to the other side for a bit of candy consumption then we hoofed on through lots of flowered meadows and over streams.
Once satiated, we plunged down the opposite side through thick snow slopes. We managed to find the trail again even though it was a bit like a river because there was so much water flowing along it. The trail climbed a bit up some switchbacks to the edge of the Granite Chief Wilderness. We hiked along a ridge line for a bit and snaked past the west edge of Alpine Meadows. It was strange to see the snowless ski area. It’s rare for me to be in Tahoe in the summer.

We kept to the ridge for a while longer then dropped rapidly to Five Lakes. At the river, we ran into a couple of SoBos (south bounders). K and T are NoBos (north bounders). K and T knew them from earlier on the trail. They had flipped, which is the trail term for when you skip a difficult section then go back to hike it later. They enlightened us about what the trail ahead was going to be like. Sounded like no more snow was going to be a reality soon. K and T were super stoked.

Saying goodbye, we trudged up to what we hoped would be Squaw Creek for the night. Made it within almost a mile and decided to can it for the night. We stumbled upon this super awesome site. A fire pit, a view, a river, a good tree for food protection, and flat sleeping spots. What more could we possibly want? I threw down my bivy then plunked down next to our ring of fire. We were up till past 11. How does that happen when you’re out and about?