A few deer greeted us in the morning as they strolled through our campsite. After breakfast, we packed up and hit the trail. The hike along Bubbs creek in the morning was cool and beautiful and we arrived at Junction Meadow after about two hours. This beautiful meadow is the junction of the Bubbs Creek trail and East Lake trail and it is full of wildflowers. From here we could see up both valleys – one towards Glen Pass and one towards the Kings-Kern Divide.
Deer in camp 
Log crossing by camp 
Charlotte Dome 
Junction Meadow
It was now a moderate climb and only 3 more miles to East Lake, but first we had to cross Bubbs Creek. There were no rocks to hop across here, so we just waded in and braced against the fast-moving thigh deep water. Jeff and Chris took off their boots while Ellen just walked through the water in her trail runners. The water was cold but refreshing!
The trail followed East Creek up the valley with its many waterfalls and glaciated rocks and the scenery was amazing! Looming ahead we could see the high peaks of the Kings-Kern Divide and looking back we saw the valley we came from and the mountains beyond that contained Glen Pass and the Pacific Crest Trail.
We arrived at the north end of East Lake around lunch time and set up camp. Ellen’s sleeping pad had been losing air so she decided to dunk it in the lake to find the leak … no luck. However, the water was refreshing and with a gorgeous view of the divide.
After a rest, Ellen and Jeff decided to day-hike 2 miles further to Lake Reflection. Ellen had been in this area when she was introduced to backpacking during high school and she was eager to see Lake Reflection once again. We expected a maintained trail but it all but disappeared in places and for a time it crossed a giant boulder field … there was no trail, so we crawled and climbed through it.
Boulder field 
East creek flowing into East Lake 
Lake Reflection
We finally made it to Lake Reflection but only spent about 10 minutes there. The mosquitoes were swarming, it was getting late, the clouds were ominous, and we had told Chris we would be back by 6 pm. We hustled back to camp! The clouds continued to grow as we made dinner and we were certain we would be rained on. But only the high peaks got the rain and we stayed dry. It was a beautiful evening.
Journeys with Jeff and Ellen 