Our plan today was to hike over to Lake Reflection, an area I had read about and seen pictures of, but never visited. We planned to climb the Painted Lady en route to Glen Pass in the morning.

Catching one more beautiful sunrise at the southern Rae Lake.

The Painted Lady poking through the trees.

Morning light from our campsite.

One last shot from the Rae Lakes basin.

Standing atop the Painted Lady, overlooking Rae Lakes. The Palisades are poking out in the background.

Rae Lakes from above.

Descending the Painted Lady. The climb wasn’t too difficult, but the middle ~300 feet was a little bit steep and loose, so we climbed and descended individually through this stretch. It made for a nice side-trip, and the summit views were well worth the extra effort.

The west face of the Painted Lady the saddle/plateau just to the west. We ascended the face south of the visible gully and rock bands to the summit ridge and then strolled to the top.

Looking back over Rae Lakes from the saddle below the Painted Lady.

Mount Rixford looming above a tarn in the basin just east of the JMT.

Looking south from Glen Pass towards Mount Brewer, and Lake Reflection.

Looking down the switchbacks ascending the south side of Glen Pass. A train of NoBo JMTers passed us atop Glen Pass.

Overlooking West Vidette and the Bubbs Creek Drainage from the switchbacks below Bullfrog Lake.

Descending the Bubbs Creek trail towards East Creek, which joins in the valley at the left of this picture. The willows and aspens were just beginning to change color, hinting that despite the warm days, fall was just around the corner.

Continuing down towards East Creek.

Looking up at the Bago Spires from East Creek.

After leaving the Bubbs Creek trail, we had to cross Bubbs Creek to join the trail up East Creek. This crossing was not bridged and the creek was flowing well, even this late in the season. I suspect this crossing is impossible in early-season and still difficult even mid-season.

Panorama of East Lake. We considered stopping for the night here, but had a bit more daylight so we pushed on. Another pair of hikers rolled passed us as we stopped for a snack. I thought that I recognized one of them.

The last light of the day on Mount Jordan from the Lake Reflection outlet.

The trail above East Lake fades to nothing and frequently disappears beneath talus fans. It wasn’t difficult to follow, as it’s ascending a canyon to a lake, but beginner hikers might find it a bit adventurous.

We debated between setting up our camp across the stream just northwest of the outlet, or on the peninsula on the east shore. We opted for the peninsula, mostly because we didn’t want to cross the relatively deep outlet stream twice. We found a sandy site among granite slabs on this peninsula and set up our cowboy camp. The other group, a trio with three tents, had set up at obvious sites a bit lower on the peninsula. We fell asleep for the fourth consecutive night sans tent, under the stars.