Day 6, September 11, 2017 - Virginia Lake to near Chief Lake

Day 6.  Last night was very windy and cloudy. Made for a poor nights sleep as I did not want to use ear plugs for fear of getting rained on and not realizing it. As mentioned in yesterday's entry, I cowboy camped. Yesterday's long day paid off in a lazy morning at Lake Virginia. I tried fishing, but no luck.  I am thinking that there are not fish in this lake.  Another fisherman we came across later in the day had supporting data as well.  Lake Virginia was the buggiest place so far, but the mosquitoes were really not that bad.  Mark did some laundry, went for a swim and tended his many blisters in the morning.  


We left Lake Virginia heading toward Silver Pass around noon. As we left, the view toward the outlet of Lake Virginia provided us a preview of Silver Pass.  



The hike away from the lake again provided scenic views of the nearby mountain ridges, including Red and White Mountain.  


Eventually we began the big drop into Tully Hole


We ate lunch at Tully Hole. After lunch we continued to hike down along Fish Creek to Cascade Valley.  When we turned out of Cascade valley, the rain started.  We hiked in the light to medium rain for half an hour, then the clouds cleared (temporarily) and we hiked in the sunshine. We got to camp at five or so, which was near the trail junction to Goodale pass just above Squaw Lake. Squaw Lake is a very beautiful area, which unfortunately is currently closed to camping due to people not treating the area well.  


Also unfortunately, not everyone obeyed the directions on their wilderness permit, and there were several people camping there.  

Our camp area was nothing special, but our cooking area commanded a 360 degree view of the entire area.  




















We could see north all the way to Mt. Banner and Ritter, located in the center of the skyline below.  


The evening clouds over Mt. Ritter reminded me of Mt. Doom from LOTR.  We ate dinner there and then watched a great sunset 


followed by land equally impressive display of lightning in the distance. When the lightning got closer we abandoned ship and went to our tents. Rain started in earnest at 8:20,thunder and lightning in the area. Rain ended around nine, or at least that's when I dozed off to sleep.  There was still some thunder/lightning in the area. 

Our inreach location for the day is here

Day 7 page is here

Daily Statistics
Miles hiked:  6
Elevation gain:  1400'  
Elevation lost:  900'
Precipitation:  About a 1/2 hour in the early afternoon, then about an hour in the evening
Morning low temperature:  did not measure, likely high 30s.