Day 3: Lakes Basin Day Hike: 8.0 miles

We woke up to a beautiful day with no sign of smoke. We made breakfast and as I was exploring the vicinity I found a nice sized hole in the ground. It was out in the open but out of sight from our tents and just the right size and depth for a latrine. Another feature in our fabulous four star campground! We had breakfast and headed out for a loop tour of the lakes basin. As we were planning to stay in place multiple nights, we took off with just some water, snacks, and first aid in our packs. We also left some water out in a bladder on top of my black rain pants so we could have warm water to bathe with when we got back. We headed out to the trail in a different direction from where we came in in the hopes of finding a better way. We didn’t find a particularly direct route, but it was pretty close.

We headed clockwise on our loop and soon came to Crescent Lake, a pretty lake with a cute little island you can wade to in it. We lollygagged for a while enjoying the water and watching the clouds. Eventually we headed on, past Douglas Lake and little Craig Lake. We looped around Douglas Lake and in view of Moccasin Lake, we looked for an unofficial trail to Pocket Lake. We eventually found it and headed in search of yet another lake. The trail was easy to follow for quite a while until it came to a meadow. We searched for its continuation and found several trails all of which eventually petered out. Eventually we decided to give up and we turned back. We walked along Moccasin Lake and then came upon the east end of Mirror Lake where took the trail back up towards our campsite. We ran into a few of the folks from the big family was saw at Two Pan. They had camped above Mirror Lake and were heading to camp at the east end of the Lakes Basin so we knew we wouldn’t be running into them anymore.

We tried yet another way to the campsite and found a pretty good way in. Back in camp we found yet another feature of the campsite – there was a rock at just the right height to place the water bladder for a shower and there was even a small ledge the perfect size and height for a soap dish! We washed up and got the wine out. I was really starting to like this set up! I gave Karen my letterbox clues and she went to look for it. When I heard a howl of laughter, I knew she had found it as the stamp was just so appropriate for the letterbox. I hadn’t even carved it for this adventure – I had carved it years before for a different place and then decided not to use it. I stumbled on it shortly before the trip and realized it was perfect for a backpacking adventure. If you want to know what the stamp is, you’ll have to make the journey yourself.

We ate dinner and then settled down to making a letterbox. We weren’t fully prepared, but we decided we had to leave something on the top of Eagle Cap. We both carved part of the stamp and decided that baggies would be enough as our plan was to leave it in the summit log box. Soon we heard a helicopter. It flew almost directly over us. Our forest fire fears returned. We couldn’t tell if it was a fire helicopter or not but we stood and listened for awhile. Eventually it went away and didn’t return so we felt safe enough to go to bed.