25 July 2020
Fish Creek to Duck Lake Outlet
(6.5 miles, +1,900/-1,400 feet).

As of today we were about 7 miles ahead of our planned itinerary, so we decided to slow down to enjoy a series of lakes today and then set up to arrive at Reds Meadow tomorrow afternoon.

We had another cozy fire to start the day.

We then hiked to Tully Hole and climbed 1,000 feet of switchbacks to a pass above Virginia Lake

It was really nice to slow down today and just listen to the still waters.

Our next lake would be Purple (even though it didn’t really look that color!).

We found a spot by the shore to eat some lunch and swim.

After lunch we had one more small climb back up to the ridge to get to the Duck Lake outlet.  It gave us nice views of Long Canyon, where we did a day hike to Beetlebug Lake last year.

When we got to the Duck Lake outlet we found a nice spot to camp.  It sprinkled on us for about an hour, so Half Cookie and I hid in our tent.  But soon it passed and we had time to explore and do laundry.

Finder, Bee’s Knees, and I decided to hike about a mile up to Duck Lake, one of my favorite lakes in the Sierra.  It didn’t disappoint!

Finder loved it so much, she decided to hike by herself farther around the lake.  Bee’s Knees and I took some more photos and then headed back to camp.