4th of July Lake

This was an 'adventure' hike with the Monday group. 4th of July Lake is normally done from either Woods Lake or Carson Pass. Due to the STEEP climb back out, we tried the back way. We didn't quite make it to the trailhead on Forestdale 'Road' because none of the cars had 14" of ground clearance. So we added an extra 1/2 mile walking up the road. Then another 1/2 mile because we missed the trail (it was under a patch of snow - that's our excuse).

After clearing the ridge, the trail begins a gradual descent towards the valley.

With the sparse vegetation, the trail is pretty easy to follow. The views along the slopes of the valley of the rugged, bare peaks are pretty spectacular.

Following the obvious trail we missed the tight switchback that was the real trail. In our defence, many others must have missed it before us because the path we followed was actually more pronounced than the switchback. Or it was until it became fainter and finally disappeared among the granite scree!

After a scout was sent out, the trail was located and the careful descent down the rocks was undertaken. After we all got to the trail, we took a breather then set out at a brisker pace than we had managed on the rocks.

Following the real trail, we got to the floor of the valley and stopped by Summit City Creek for lunch. After a debate over lunch, half the group turned around and headed back to the cars. They were afraid that we couldn't make it to the lake and back before it got dark. The more daring (and perhaps overconfident) decided to press on.

The trail to the lake was well defined and wound up the slope for about 1.4 miles and 750' of elevation gain. Looking back up the valley was impressive (we came from where?)

The lake itself sits in kind of a hanging valley and is on the smaller end of the scale. We stayed for only a short while before heading back out, this time, much more sure of the proper route.

As our shadows lengthened, we climbed back over the ridge and headed back down the road. We did indeed reach the car before dark, and were back on the pavement before we needed to turn on the headlights.