Rich and I started off around noon from the Billy Creek trailhead at Huntington Lake. The trail started off fairly steep and due to being out of shape, I got tired fairly quickly. The trail leveled a bit off after about a mile and continued up at a more gradual slope. The hike up to the Hidden Lake fork was relatively uneventful. There were still a few patches of snow on the ground and there were some nice flowers along the way. After a couple hours we reached the fork to Hidden Lake and took that trail. We still had to go over Kaiser Ridge. The trail up the ridge wasn't too bad. We got to the saddle around 3pm, took a short break and then went down toward the lake. This is where things got a little difficult. The trail on the other side of the ridge was relatively nonexistent. There were some ducks (stacked rocks) along the way, so we went a little ways then had to look around for the next duck, and sometimes there wouldn't be another in sight. We eventually found our way down to the lake and got there around 4pm. We set up camp then went for a little hike around the lake and then up to a cliff near the lake. There were a few mosquitoes, but they didn't bother me at all. There was a nice little meadow just north of the lake, and then a steep drop to the south of the lake.
Also, near our campsite, there were several trout swimming in the water. I
counted about 11 of them just going about their business. They didn't seem to
notice us. It was nearly a full moon that night, so the stars were not very visible. The following day we packed up and found our way back over the ridge to meet the other trail. However, instead of going down to the fork, which was the way we had gone up, we went over a little hill to the east of the saddle and found the trail on the other side. This saved a little distance and also saved us from having to go down and back up. Shortly after we caught the trail, we started going up rather steeply. There were some nice views out north towards Mt Ritter and Banner Peak. The trail did level off near a tarn, but then climbed up steeply again. After climbing some more, we finally got glimpse of Line Creek Lake. We went down, set up camp, and rested for a bit. After a little rest, we climbed up to Kaiser Peak, enjoyed the view for a bit, and then went down to George Lake and then Upper Twin Lake. We didn't stay there too long however, since we had to climb back over the ridge to Line Creek Lake. We slowly made our way up to George Lake, then the cross-country route up to the saddle (this time we went the correct way both down and up). After a long steep climb to Kaiser Peak, we took another short break at the peak and then went down to Line Creek Lake. There were thunderheads building up all day, but we were lucky and didn't get any rain. Although it did look like it was raining near Lake Edison, not too far from us. It was rather cold that night and a little windy. It took us a long time getting the fire lit, but finally we got some matches and lighters to work and got a nice warm fire going. After dinner and enjoying the fire, we went to sleep. The following day we ate breakfast, packed up and then went on the hike down the mountain. It was a long hike and we were relieved to finally get back to the car.
