Trailhead View (taken post hike)

I arrived at the trailhead the evening before my hike and slept in the car. It was quite warm during the evening and the air was full of skeeters. Sleeping with the windows closed  just made the night time temps even warmer.

Small pond or tarn at the beginning of the hike

About as soon as I noticed daylight I was on my feet and preparing to hike. With a full parking lot I had expected to see more people, apparently I was the early bird on this day.

Passing by Chocolate Peak in the early light

Seemingly I was taking my time, but it became apparent later on I was moving quite fast. Maybe I slept better than I thought?

Long Lake , Bishop Pass and Mount Goode

Soon I was thru the trees and upon beautiful Long Lake. The early light danced on the still water. Still, no other hikers observed on the trail, but now I am beginning to see tents around the lake.

Picture Puzzle Peak

The sun was rising as were the temps. I stopped to peel off my light jacket and get a quick drink before proceeding. As it happens, during the half day I was out, I only consumed about one liter of liquid.

Spearhead Lake

The thing about this basin, above South Lake, the valley is full of beautiful lakes. As I meandered on the even trail, I didn't give the name or location of each lake too much thought.

Timberland Tarns (or so I think)

Did I happen to mention the many and varied lakes? Anyway, by now I have seen a couple of hikers on their way out and even more sleepy heads exiting their tents.

Saddlerock Lake

Really, I don't recall taking so many pictures, especially of lakes. Soon I realized I was nearing Bishop Pass which didn't do much for me. So instead I got to thinking about looping around Bishop Lake near the base to Mount Goode.

This is "the trail"

Bishop Pass and Mount Agassiz

Here I met a few people heading out as I pulled out a map to assess what direction I might travel next.

Backside of Mount Goode

Next thing I know I was scrambling up the base of the backside to Mount Goode. While I was concentrating on kicking steps in a snow field, this annoying sound caught my attention.

Search and Rescue Ops on Mount Goode

Next thing I know I find myself sort of eye to eye with a pilot of a CHP helicopter hovering in front of me. I soon learned that they are actively searching for a hiker named "Rick" that had ascended Mount Goode a day or so earlier. Realizing I was interfering with the SAR ops more than anything else, I headed off the hill and back to the lakes.  In doing so the helicopter buzzed immediately overhead two more times?

Exploring yet more lakes

Not long thereafter I was down from Goode, explored around a little, talked with a few campers about the SAR effort, then headed back down the trail.

Trail view above Long Lake

Heading out seemed effortless, it was still early in the day and many others were now heading in as I was exiting.

Unhappy Camper?

Seems there were masses of people heading up the trail. Everyone one of them greeted me with a friendly "good morning". Only one unhappy camper was observed, who could blame the guy, carrying everyone's supplies and all.

The end.

Post Script:

On this day a Search and Rescue operation began for San Diego resident Ric Devan. Apparently Ric had hiked into the area with his wife and daughter, who were to camp at Treasures Lakes while Ric scrambled from Goode to Johnson and then rejoin them the next day. When he did not arrive as expected, his wife reported Ric as missing on July 4. While I couldn't resist doing my own mini ad hoc search around the base of Mt. Goode that day, I knew my attempts were futile given the magnitude of the situation (not to mention I had little to no info to go on at the time). Ric's backpack was subsequently found by a volunteer searcher near the base of "Mt. No Goode" about two weeks later (on the left of the picture below). The SAR team arrived the next day to find and recover Ric's body. While I never knew Ric, I somehow became emotionally attached to the search efforts as they unfolded. My heartfelt condolences to the Devan family and friends.

A Summit Post thread about the search is located here.