8/2/18 I had time and energy for one more day on the trails, so I decided to do the Meysan Lake trail. It had been 15 year since the last time I was here, and it's still as beautiful and empty as ever!
1 When I woke-up in the morning, I wasn't sure I would be up for a hike today. But after a relaxing breakfast, I was feeling ready by late morning, and decided to do the Meysan Lake trail. I'm glad I did.
2 The first half mile of the trail wanders through a campsite, across some roads, and can be hard to find. But once you're on the main trail, it's smooth sailing from there.
3 Heading up the canyon with classic Sierra scenery.
4 Since I had a late start today, the afternoon thunderstorm hit while I was still at lower elevation. I got hammered with hail for a while, but it was a whole lot better at 10,000' than at 14,000' and without the lightning exposure. I had a light rain and distant thunder for the rest of the way, but that was about it.
5 You can hear the roar of the Meysan Creek cascades throughout the canyon.
6 It's a fairly long, steep climb up to the lakes.
7 Finally made it up to Camp Lake.
8 The lake is pretty small at the moment, but the bowl is nice and green. This is the end of the official trail. The weather is still borderline, and I'm a little worried about scrambling up the off-trail rock pile to make it to Meysan Lake.
9 Fortunately, the storm didn't worsen, and I made it up to the Meysan Lake bowl. You can't see the lake until the last minute though. Someone could actually mistakingly think this was the lake.
10 But that's the real lake. As awesome a glacial bowl lake as you're likely to find anywhere. I hadn't seen a human since near the trailhead, and I had the lake to myself the entire time I was here. A welcome change from the busy Whitney trail just a few miles away.
11 With uncanny timing, the sun finally started to break through right when I arrived at the lake. The lake was an amazing turquoise once the light hit it.
12 More turquoise lake views.
13 Playing with the polarizing filter on my camera. With the polarizer off, you can't see below the surface because of the reflections.
14 And with it on, amazing difference. Unfortunately, I couldn't lure any of the fat, friendly trout to shore that were here 15 years ago.
15 I love how these bowl lakes just hang on the edge of a cliff before the outlet creek flows down the canyon.
16 I could sit here all day. It's great to see some snow still hanging around in early August.
17 The only Marmot picture I managed to snag.
18 On the way back down, much better lighting on Camp Lake now.
19 I decided to take an offshoot to the aptly named Grass Lake, which we didn't go to the last time I was here. It was worth the trip. Another gorgeous little alpine lake.
20 Another view from a little further around the lake. Unfortunately, the sun was gone again.
21 I took the offshoot a little futher to see Peanut Lake. I decided it wasn't worth scrambling through the bramble all the way down to lake level, but it was still a cool looking lake.
22 Early evening view on the way back down the main trail.
23 One last view of the cascades.
24 The creek running through the Whitney Portal campground at the end of the day. Another awesome day in the Sierras, and a great trip overall!