Day 1: We headed out on the Green Creek Trail in the early afternoon. A pleasant, well-maintained trail, it gets more rocky and picturesque around Hoover Lakes. There was a good amount of water, making a few of the crossings more interesting. We were less than a mile short of Summit Lake when it started getting dark, so we chose a nice, anonymous campsite along the creek.
Day 2: We passed Summit Lake and reached beautiful and green Virginia Canyon. Here we dropped our packs and started our day hike. We were about to leave the trail further up the canyon, when we ran across several abandoned items spread around the trail: food packages, a shoe, a sock, underwear, a broken phone, and some toiletries. We took a few photos, and were typing up a message on my friend's Garmin, when a couple of trail runners came by. Since they were headed out, we handed them the phone and the onus of informing the rangers. As we left the trail to follow Return Creek, we came up with several theories, none of which felt convincing.
We had our bagel lunch at Return Lake, and decided to try to reach Soldier Lake. The most obvious route was interrupted by a snowfield that felt too dangerous without any traction, so we opted for the (still somewhat sketchy) boulder field to its right. After we made it past the saddle next to Grey Butte, a view of Soldier Lake opened up, with several iconic Yosemite peaks in the far back. As we started to descend towards Virginia Canyon, we wondered if more of those steep, unstable rocks awaited us. I tried to reassure us both, pointing to the green on the map: by the time the slope got steeper, we should be able to reach easier, wooded terrain. My optimism turned out to be founded, as we easily made it back to the trail.
We collected our packs, went back up the canyon, passed the suspicious scene once more, and decided to camp somewhere below Return Lake, with plenty of water, greenery, and peaks all around us.
Day 3 was a day of rest and contemplation in our newfound oasis.
Day 4 we hiked out on the unmaintained trail through Glines Canyon. The most fun (as well as slightly scary) part was past Virginia Pass, sliding down a snow field on our butts (a first for me). Back to civilization, we dined on garden burgers from one of the fine establishments in Bridgeport, and drove home.
I called the Bridgeport Ranger Station to offer our photos and any information that might be helpful. They said that there were no missing person reports for the area, but that a crew was en route to investigate...
