A pleasant trip up to Poodle Dog Pass and Silver Lake in spite of the heat. Road crews were rock-chip-sealing the road, so a lot of construction slow downs getting to Barlow Pass, plus a late start on my part meant I didn't get to the trail head until 11. Lots of cars, but I saw only a handful of people on the trail. The road walk up to Monte Cristo was fine - the river is running very low, so the crossing was easy and dry. Huckleberries and thimble berries were ripe all along the road, which slowed me down a little. There were even a few black raspberries, if you look hard enough. And blueberries were ripening at the higher elevations.
About those higher elevations. The trail to Poodle Dog pass out of Monte Cristo is a bit rough. There is a lot of loose stone, a few decaying puncheons, and more than a few rotted stairs. It's not actually bad going up, but was a significant challenge coming back down, Bugs were pretty much non-existent until I reached the lake, where the black flies were pretty bothersome in spite of a pleasant breeze. The campsites at the lake are decent enough, if maybe a little overused. And the pit toilet at the pass is FULL. Yikes. Silver lake is lovely, with an iceberg or two still floating on the far side - wicked cool.
My only beef with this hike is in the details. The hiking guide relates an 11 mile total, but my gps registered 15 miles round trip. I know that my device is not perfectly accurate under dense trees or in narrow valleys, but it certainly felt every inch of fifteen miles. Even so, it was a lovely hike, with only the tiniest hints of heat exhaustion, ha ha. Just perhaps a little better suited to an overnight rather than a dayhike - I would have loved more time to explore.
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