Independence and North Lakes — Wednesday, Aug. 2, 2017

Intended to get to North Lake if my son (8) was feeling up to it.  This was his first overnight trip so we only made it to Independence Lake on the far side.  Road was good, I drive a Toyota Matrix with terrible ground clearance, had no problem. As soon as we opened the car door, in goes about 20 flies and a hornet.  Hornets and bees were doing their thing, but OMG the FLIES.  Didn't know if they were biting (or if there would be mosquitos too) so we just did a good coat in DEET and went for it.  Bugs were bad all day on the trail and at the lake until about dusk then they mostly disappeared.

Smoke from B.C. wildfires obscured the views in most directions up the hillside, but not a lot of smoke right by the lake (I'm guessing the cliffs on either side protected us a bit).