MountainMinstrel wrote:Problem solved. I will be able to hit the trail fairly early on Thursday so I will have three days to do this. I will do my best to get all that way to Iceland lake on Thursday.
Well good luck with that!
![laughing :lol:](./images/smilies/lol.gif)
Just make sure you have eaten and drank/drunk/drunken/whatever your fill and rest a good few times on your way up because getting all the way there is not trivial. Now I am not as young as I used to be (I train nearly every other day doing 5 to 6 miles, 1000 feet gain with a 55 pound pack) and my stamina may not be what it used to be, but that is a major grunt just getting to the camp turnoff on Summit creek to head up to the lakes. It may only 6.5 miles or so to the camp, but it is about 3500 feet of total climbing just to get there, then there is the XC to the lakes after that. I have done this trail a few times in recent years. The last time I got as far as the camp, but not before a few miles back I hit the wall and took a mandatory rest (my body insisted). True, I had little to eat at the start (no lunch: a mistake), but it is a hump. Getting to the upper portion of the Res is not a big deal (nice camps off of Grouse Creek and the peninsula), but after that heading to Saucer Meadow there is a major switchback climb, and even more climbing after Saucer Meadow.
My advice: shoot for the camp on Summit creek at the turnoff. The camp is easy to find: after Saucer Meadow and the climbing, the trail will level off then descend to the creek: where the trail meets the creek (big level area and an obvious camp spot), that is where you head up to the lakes. Camp there, get up the next morning and head up to the lakes and you will have more than plenty of time to find a camp and explore. I think we got up there at about 9AM.
When heading up to the lakes following my route and you get to the 9000 foot point, just keep to the right of the stream (probably dry) and when it constricts, keep to the right corner and stay right till you are below the last ramp then head left over the summit of the pass. There is nothing technical about this: just good easy XC. Then traverse left staying level and you will hit a parking-lot like flat area of granite, and beyond this a ways you will see another flat area just above the one you are on. Get to that flat area and at the end you will find a nice game trail to follow for a good ways. Once you reach a big open area, be sure to aim for the low point between Iceland Lake and Ridge Lake.
Treat the place nice and leave it the way you found it. The area is a jewel. A fire is totally unnecessary and
real backpacker don't need them.
![nod :nod:](./images/smilies/nod.gif)
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