July 22: Hobbs Lake to Lake 10,467

Seneca Lake marked our entrance into the high country.

We both slept in a little later than usual the next morning so we didn’t get off until 9:40. I couldn’t really tell what kind of topography we were in for on this day as the Earthwalk Press map was not very detailed. It looked like the trail would be fairly flat but I was soon proven wrong. Most of the morning was spent going up, then going back down again through mostly forested terrain---much to the displeasure of Yumi.

Our first real views came when we arrived at the western shore above Seneca Lake around 11:30. There we talked with Richard from Maine who was on his way out. We exchanged information about the trail ahead and moved on. As Richard said, Seneca Lake marks the beginning of the high country. The views were getting better and better while Fremont and Jackson Peaks were getting closer and closer.

Yumi enjoying the views of Island Lake.

An hour later we hiked above Little Seneca Lake and then down to a small tarn where we stopped for lunch and I tried my luck fishing again. In an unprecedented turn of events, I actually caught a small 10” Cutthroat. I probably should have gotten off my feet like Yumi ahd been doing because we had another good climb immediately after leaving our lunch spot. This time we were hiking under the sun instead of forest so things were getting very warm.

The climb ws worth it when we caught our first look at Island lake at 2:30. What a tremendous feeling it was for me to finally make it to the location I had been looking at on my calendar at work for almost 8 months. I was very tempted to find a place to camp right then but knew there would be something better in just a few more miles so we pushed on.

After another 250’ climb we were looking into Titcomb Basin. Yumi was getting tired and I didn’t feel like pushing on too much further so we hiked down to Lake 10,467, crossed the stream draining Indian Basin and found a decent site about 250’ from the lake. The site was in the open but offered great access to both Indian Pass and Titcomb Basin trails. All we had to do was decide what we wanted to do tomorrow.

Lake 10,467 and a look towards Titcomb Basin. We camped here two nights.

After getting camp set up Yumi took a nap while I climbed the small ridge behind our camp in hopes of getting a better view of Titcomb Basin. I was not disappointed. On the other side of the ridge was the lowest of the Titcomb lakes fed by a stream cutting through a narrow gorge. Good campsites were easy to find back here and I again felt I could spend a few days right here. I did notice that the air was hazy and smelled of smoke--probably from the Jim Creek fire.

After we ate supper we decided to head down to the lake so that I could try my luck with the trout once again. Things were back to normal as I was skunked once again.

When we got back to the tent we decided to try and get some good sleep. We had agreed to hike up to Indian Pass tomorrow and had no idea what the climb up would be like.

It had been a very good day and I was looking forward to the next couple to be as good or better.