Originally, we’d had a five-day trip to Mount Whitney planned for the July Fourth weekend, but with no real opportunity to train for what was expected to be a strenuous trip, we canceled it in May. Few alternatives were available for the same dates, but Chris managed to snag a two-spot permit for Tyee Lakes, a string of large tarns in a hanging cirque northwest of South Lake near Bishop. Carter eagerly signed up for the ample chances to fish, and we left together from Wrightwood early Friday morning, arriving at the 9,100′ Tyee Lakes trailhead by 10:30am. Continuing our social distancing measures, we had chosen to each carry our own (2-person) tent, bear canister, and food, which meant with the extra gear we were both packing in excess of 35 lbs for the weekend, close to 10 lbs each over what we had with us on our Ritter Range explorations last Labor Day. We crossed the South Fork of Bishop Creek on the sturdy footbridge and immediately began gaining ground up open and rocky switchbacks – Chris especially felt the strain of the heavy load, the steep trail, the high elevation, and the warm day. By 3/4-mile in, Chris had had enough, thinking that our original plan of a 3.5-mile, 1,900′ climb to the highest lakes was totally out of the question – he suggested a Plan B, consisting of returning to the car, finding a campsite (which he thought doable being that it was before noon on a Friday and that space would be available), and then doing day hikes to fishing spots without the heavy packs. Carter agreed to the change, and we disappointedly retraced our steps to the trailhead. The next three hours consisted of us driving from campground to campground – literally every single one along the various forks of Bishop Creek – and finding absolutely no open spaces in any of them. We eventually went back to Bishop, driving north up Hwy 395 to Tom’s Place in hopes of finding something in the Little Lakes area, but, alas, no luck there either. This was getting ridiculous, and Chris felt horrible for bailing out in favor of a completely impractical alternative. A call with Jane convinced us that the best plan was to return to Tyee Lakes, take the hike as slowly as necessary, and perhaps choose a lower campsite – we got back to the trailhead at 2:30pm and began our second attempt up the trail. By this time, Chris had eaten something and felt considerably better, although his pace never quite reached even 1 mile-per-hour the whole afternoon. It turned out the steepest, rockiest sections were on the lower part of the mountain, and there were enough level segments to make the climb much more workable the higher we went. We got to Lake 1 (there are six major lakes, five along the main trail, numbered north to south) about 4:30pm, and Carter immediately broke out his fishing gear, catching a small rainbow on his first cast of the weekend. Inspired, we headed up past Lake 1 but quickly determined there weren’t any suitable campsites this side of Lake 2 and perhaps beyond – Chris recalled seeing open areas just below Lake 1, so we backtracked about half a mile to a wonderful spot about 50 yards north of the lake on a broad bench with partial views down the valley from which we’d hiked up. This turned out to be a sound decision, as the site proved to be a great base camp for the rest of the weekend – dinner was mac-‘n-cheese with bacon bits, and we were sacked out by 9pm. A very full day, despite hiking less than four miles all told…