The next morning we got up and headed south for Big Pine, stopping at Looney Bean in Bishop for more coffee and some breakfast. At 10 we were at the trailhead just below Glacier Lodge, navigating the somewhat confusing maze of parking lots and parking our car in the backpacker’s parking lot. Before 10:30 we set off.

Shannon hiking along the trail with Palisade Crest high above. The first mile or so of this trail parallels the road before veering off up the North Fork.

From the trailhead one can just spy Middle Palisade and Norman Clyde Peak up the South Fork.

The trail wasn’t as busy as we expected and we made decent time, though the lower part was quite hot in the mid-day July sun. Fortunately there was relief once we got up to the section where it’s closer to the creek.

The flowers were in full bloom, including these Tiger Lillies.

At the trail junction where the trail splits and one branch heads up to Black Lake, we passed a couple of Forest Service rangers who permit checked us and thanked us for having ours available. They were out correcting misguided hikers (they said several parties had permits for the South Fork or a different area entirely) and cleaning up trash. While it didn’t sound like a great job, the scenery was hard to beat.

Looking back over First Lake from the trail.

The Instagram-famous viewpoint from Second Lake. There were a couple of parties set up in heavily impacted sites just a few feet off the trail here, and a group playing around in pool floaties down near the shore. We continued on, planning to get to at least Third Lake.

As we hiked higher, the clouds overhead got a bit darker and threatened. We found Third Lake also a bit crowded for our taste, and the views not quite as good, so we continued up to Fifth Lake, reaching a good campsite around 3:30. We lazily set up our camp and snacked on some food, feeling the altitude a little bit.

The Mount Sill - North Palisade group from our camp at Fifth Lake.

Some time after 4 a thunderstorm broke out and it started to rain, so we retreated to our tent and listened to a podcast until it abated.

A clearing thunderstorm over Mount Sill and North Palisade.

By the evening it had blown away almost completely and we were left with just a few clouds to be lit up by the sunset.

We made sure to cook and eat dinner before sunset so that we could climb up onto the little bump between Fourth and Fifth Lake for sunset. We had done the exact same thing on our previous trip, but it had been an all out war against the mosquitoes. Fortunately, the bug pressure was much lighter this year and the experience was much more pleasant.

We planned on Mount Winchell the next day and went through the very serious and scientific process of guessing how long it would take us to climb and when we’d have to get up in the morning. It didn’t look too far away, and the topo lines didn’t look like they were too close together most of the way, so we thought we’d aim to be up at 6 and moving by 7-ish. I imagine this is how parties on Mount Everest and other big alpine expeditions plan their schedules too.