17.5 miles of hiking • 4000' elevation gain • 1 night
Nice area, although the bugs were pretty bad (didn't go down to the lake for this reason). All of the trails there are open to motor cycles & some for ATV's, but most of my hike was on Sunday and it's been perfectly quiet... When I go there again, will camp on the east side of Bishop Ridge (it's gorgeous!) & do whatever number of scrambles I'll have time for, and will likely skip the rest of the loop.
Blue Lake Ridge summit was very cool too, with a view of Rainier almost directly behind Blue Lake (although the mountain was mostly hidden in smoke), maybe I need to revisit it as well. There was some evidence of Mtn Goats. Ever-present, towering storm clouds really made up for hazy distant views.
JM
August 11, 2014
Nice!