Barclay Lake, Eagle Lake Fisherman's Trail & Townsend Mountain — Friday, Jun. 26, 2020

Made a weekend trip up to Townsend Mountain via the Barclay lake route. I for one could not be happier that the road to the shortcut hike to Eagle Lake washed out. I prefer the Barclay trail and very much enjoy the extra solitude at the cabin and lake knowing anyone else there also endured the obscure bushwhacking trail to get there. 

The trail to Barclay is fine, but the trail leaving Barclay up to stone lake is more overgrown than usual. There are some orange markers to follow, but the trail fades in and out until the boulderfield is reached. We camped at Stone lake the first night and had a small fire to fend off the bugs. Day two we made it to eagle lake and stashed most of our gear to make a summit run to Townsend Mountain. It felt like we were climbing in a cloud the entire time, the trail is very overgrown and I've never felt so wet fully clothed before. There used to be Cairns to follow through the slabs, but they are almost all gone now. Just trend up and to the right to make it to the ridge without cliffing out. Summit provided no views but was still a great trip to the top. Only about 5 other entries in the summit register since I was last here 2 years ago. 

Camped in the cabin next to eagle lake the second night which was an absolute savior for how wet we were. It has been cleaned out very well since the last times I was here, even had a pretty well stocked cupboard with food and essentials for whoever might need it. Barclay was packed on Friday but we didn't see anyone else all weekend until we got back down to Barclay lake again. Snow free with the exception of a couple small snowfields in the Meadows before eagle lake that will melt out soon.