We ate wild onions and hiked short bits of cross country. We swatted mosquitoes and swam under cloudy skies. We talked and relaxed and explored.

Two years ago we backpacked Lewis Lake in Emigrant Wilderness. This weekend my uncle and I drove out to McGee Creek Trailhead on the east side for another summer trip. I’d been here before, with a broken shoulder, on a trip with Charlie in 2009. He carried most of my stuff to Iva Bell and Devil’s Postpile.

It was a quick turnaround from last week. Five days at work and then a Friday afternoon drive back to Inyo National Forest. Bill and I got started early and made it up and over McGee Pass our first day. I utterly crashed, sleep deprived, once we made camp. I sleep so well outside. I can nap before dinner then go back to sleep once the first star comes out. It’s glorious.

Sunday, we hiked from Lee to Cecil Lake then back to pack up camp. I found some obsidian tools.

Dropping down into the Fish Creek drainage, we walked another one of those scarcely traveled Sierra trails. From Tully Lake we explored for a short while up in the Cotton Lakes area. We took a dip in the biggest of the lakes, then packed up with clouds overhead to boot it back up and over the pass.

It was my vote to position ourselves closer to the car so that I’d get home a bit earlier on Monday. Crossing back over McGee Pass it started to rain. Low clouds were gathering further down the Silver Divide. Rain gear on, a nip of bourbon, we walked slowly, savoring it, down to Big McGee Lake. We pitched tents and I fished.

On the drive home I picked up four hitchhikers. Three were PCTers and the fourth was a local. Two of them rode with me from Lee Vinning to South Lake Tahoe. Darn good people.

Darn good trip. Darn good time with Uncle Bill.