We left SF the day before and stayed in an Airbnb near Pinecrest, which is near the Crabtree Trailhead. After a quick breakfast, we drove up to the Summit Rangers District and picked up our backcountry permit and continued to the trailhead. It was the first weekend that the trailhead was open since the winter, so we were expecting decently large crowds. The actual parking lot was closed due to hazardous trees that were being removed, so we parked along the side of the road. There were about 20 or so cars, but it was still early in the morning so more were probably arriving soon.

The weather was amazing, the bugs were reasonable, and Camp Lake was prime for swimming. We stopped for a nice break in the middle of our relatively short hike in to Bear Lake. Camp was set up quickly. Some naps were had while Ben, Stani, and I explored the ridge to the north of us. 4 miles and a hike up to 9000 feet prepped us for dinner and bed. Matt and Jrah had a firepit and wood ready for an evening burn. We sat around the fire munching on our backpacker meals while Matt played with his light stick. We were in bed by 10.

We enjoyed our backpacker breakfast meals and instant coffee (and puppy kibble) in the morning sun. After a quick teardown of camp, we headed back along our inbound trail. We made another stop at Camp Lake for a soak. Stani went swimming for the first time. She was baited into the water with her favorite nature toy, a pinecone. We laid out on the granite slabs and dried in the sun.

We made good time on the last 2 miles of the hike, and were back at the car by noon.