Big Five / Little Five Lakes Loop

With Sawtooth Peak above and meadow below, the trail arrows towards the pass into Columbine Lake. The trail goes through the trees seen on the canyon walls at the center of the picture.

Upper Lost Canyon

Big 5, Little 5 Lakes Loop and Sawtooth Pass, August 4th to 7th, 2000.

It was still very early and I did not feel much tired at all. The hiking day turned out to be a short one, which meant I probably could of went to the lower Little Five Lakes and camped, and still had plenty of time to see some of the upper Big 5 Lakes and get to a spot close to Sawtooth Pass. In that case, I may of never have seen the upper Big Five Lakes. Oh well.
Sometimes it is just nice to have a short day to relax, read, and explore. So I made camp, cleaned up, and went for a walk. Feeling good in my warm dry clothes, I began to look for a good place to cross the stream up-canyon for my route the next day. Looking up, I worried that my camp was situated below a sheer granite wall. If there were an avalanche, that would be it for me. It would bury my camp, trees and all. There were huge rocks scattered about, not erratics, but they were mostly across the stream from me. Perhaps nature would spare me.

The haze was from a wildfire somewhere to the west. In the foreground is a medial moraine covered with storm blasted timber.

I found a good stream crossing and memorized it, and thereafter found the trail. It was now a sandy groomed looking path broken by sections of flat rock and wet areas. I followed it a ways to be able to see the entire end of the canyon, which turned to the left before meeting its headwall. To the right was the slope and low u-shaped depression in the headwall where the trail climbed up to Columbine Lake. Below that pass was a small collection of trees and, I was told, a small camp.
I returned to my camp after a time to blow off the day sitting around, enjoying the views, reading, and generally goofing off. It was swell.
The evening was an impressive show of alpen-glow on the Sierra Crest down canyon, which required some effort and a little hiking to see. I stayed up long past bedtime to see the stars before finally giving it up and crawling into my sack. A fun day.