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| Campsite all cleaned up at Chamberlain Airstrip. We’re ready to go. |
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| No wrong direction this time; we’re headed straight to Red Top Meadows. |
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| We came down here the prior day to get water. Now we’re going to cross on those convenient logs to the left. |
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| The moon is still out! |
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| No hiding behind ridges from the sun this morning. |
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| It’s break time, Ambrose! Have a seat. |
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| Chamberlain Creek below the trail. |
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| It seems like we reached this stream crossing in record time. |
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| Sure, I can walk across logs. Just not these logs. |
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| Ambrose walking across logs with my hand trying to cut out the sun glare. To be fair, there’s no sun glare in the photo, just a chunk of my hand. |
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| Onwards to the meadow. |
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| I could totally cross on this log. Okay, it’s a little narrow, I’ll just do a sit and scoot. |
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| Nope. I tore my pants wide open at the crotch and bailed about halfway through as Ambrose watched (graciously not laughing). I took my boots off while on the log and then let myself down into the thigh deep water. |
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| We stopped here for a break. I sewed up my pants and lost Ambrose’s sewing needle, but, by some miracle of sunlight, I managed to find it just after I gave up on looking. |
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| One of those notches on the horizon is our route up to Fish Lake. |
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| Gotta follow this sign. |
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| But maybe someday we’ll go explore what lies beyond our turn off in the rest of Red Top Meadows. |
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| Going up. |
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| Just enough shade on the trail for lunch here. |
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| A lunch view overlooking Fish Creek. |
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| The light triangle near the middle of the frame is Sheepeater Mountain, and the tiny dot on top of it is the lookout. |
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| Snake carcass! |
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| That’s enough shade to take a break in, especially in the early afternoon when shade is scant. |
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| The trail seemed greener this year. That might have been because we were traveling in July instead of August, or because this year was a heavy rain/snow year. Or both. |
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| What a lot of shade, perfect for a break. The longer you’ve been backpacking, the more dirt looks like a comfortable seat. |
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| Oh, oh, we’re almost at the Fish Creek crossing. |
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| No fish, but I did find a frog in the creek. |
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| Ambrose about to cross Fish Creek. He did see some fish in it while getting water for our last push up to Sheepeater Lake. |
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| Fish Lake! |
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| Break time. This shade had the bonus of some logs on the side of the trail that were perfect for putting my feet up. |
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| We ran into a group of three people and a dog after the break and before crossing the outlet. They were from Utah and hiking the opposite direction. It was a surprise to find people on the trail. |
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| We made it to Sheepeater Lake – and before dinner! |
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| And this year, instead of wandering around lost in bogs, crossing logs, I followed my instincts and turned away from the lake on what looked like a path. There, I found an old fire ring, proof that others had used the spot for camping. |
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| Dragonflies at the lake. |
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| Ambrose filtering water at Sheepeater Lake. |
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| Patches of snow lingered around the rim of the ridge. |
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| Ambrose has discovered an incredible tool for getting a flat spot for our stove – a problem that has vexed us both for years. He took the top from our pot, which rarely gets used, flipped it upside down and set the stove on it. Genius! |
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| Not a bad pitch for the space constraints. I did have to clear out a lot of pine cones from beneath the space, but it worked out well. We felt reasonably secure, even though we could hear wolves howling across the lake. |