***I tagged "Obstacles on trail" because of a surprise we came back to after overnighting at Lake George. On September 6 there was a debris flow associated with a local rain storm that ran down Dry Creek, depositing a ton of material near the parking area on Westside Road. The park closed access while they worked to move the material and restore the road. They did a great job, and we were able to walk through the area easily.
The surprise came when we were almost back to the parking area after backpacking. It had been raining all morning. The road was ENTIRELY flooded where there is a concrete swale and some berms the park service had built right before the parking area. Very much an "Oh sh--!" moment. My initial thoughts were "Oh dang, looks like we're going to have to wade" then "Wading is dangerous" to then "I think we can walk across this berm and stay mostly dry". We walked across the berm, which was shaky and there were spots slumping down into the water. We barely made it across, with some incredibly muddy shoes.
The parking area had water flowing across it, so it is advisable not to park too close to the barrier, as the water is flowing through there. There were a couple of inches of water flowing underneath the front of my car. Scary! ***
The backpacking was sublime otherwise. Very easy to walk up the road to Round Pass. The trail up to Lake George from there is also easy and in good shape. We got up there, set up camp, and relaxed. Our plan was to catch sunset at Gobblers Knob and maybe some stargazing if the weather was clear. Lake George is gorgeous as usual. The hike up to Gobblers was steep in places, but the trail was in good shape as well. Not much room at the top, but we did find somewhere to set up.
The sunset painted the mountain peach and red. There were some mid-level clouds but they dissipated. We ended up with some great stargazing! Wow! We hiked back in the dark, which wasn't difficult.
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