We had talked about various options for our third day, including staying another night since Chris had added it to our permit just in case – in the end, we decided to head out today. Jane still had her heart set on a fish lunch, so we came up with a plan to try and address that – we’d leave Lake #4, head back east cross-country from Lake #3, drop our heavy packs near the main trail, then walk northward down to Lake #2 with light daypacks and a couple of stoves so Carter could fish there. The Lake #2 detour would add at least a couple of miles and about 300′ of additional loss and gain to the day, but we figured it would be more manageable without our full packs. In an odd absence of normal managerial behavior, Jane spent the morning drinking coffee with Dani on some rocks in the water while Chris and Carter packed up the camp. That process went quickly enough, and we all looked forward to hiking out with significantly lighter packs – we had brought way more food than necessary, and we had given some of our excess to the Boy Scouts the previous day and the balance to the group camped next door this morning. It was almost 10:30am by the time we headed out, and we quickly covered the half mile to Lake #3’s outlet – Jane had seen a duck on the trail somewhere below here on the way in, and we figured it probably signified the off-trail route we’d tried to follow two days earlier. We found Jane’s duck at the end of the first switchback heading down, and there were more beyond once we left the trail – the route finding was pretty intuitive from here, although we added a few ducks of our own in places where directions were unclear. Thirty minutes later, we came through a narrow passage in the brushy gully to find ourselves at the exact spot on the main trail where we’d left it on our way in – our issue had been missing the path through the brush, otherwise we’d have been totally good. We found a shady alcove to stash our packs, pulled out our strategically-placed cooking items, daypacks, and a few snacks, and we headed off again, this time down more switchbacks on the main trail. Sooner than expected, we came to the junction with the upper lakes trail we’d left earlier, and we continued down a gentle, shady section for a quarter mile before emerging into a sunny, open segment that felt twenty degrees hotter – we regained the shade after a couple of hundred yards and soon found ourselves on a natural spur trail extending directly to the eastern shore of Lake #2. There were several tents pitched to the north and no good sitting spots in the vicinity, so we followed a faint use trail southward around a shallow cove and out onto a short peninsula – a fairly stiff breeze was blowing eastward over the water, so, after refilling our bottles and Carter making several fruitless casts, we moved further south down the shoreline to where Carter could throw out his line across the wind instead of against it. Unfortunately, Carter had no better luck here – we munched on the snacks we’d brought and, collectively concluding a fish meal wasn’t in the cards this trip, we began our walk out, Jane leaving some trail magic (lemons, fresh butter, and some herb seasonings) in the campsite (which was absent its occupants) on our way past. The trip southward passed quickly enough, although the sunny sections were really warm and uncomfortable, and we soon arrived at our pack stash – reluctantly, we re-shouldered our loads (that seemed so light in the morning but now seemed crazy heavy again at 1:30pm) and started climbing the remaining 200′ up to the saddle. Jane and Chris had gotten a head start here, but the youngsters caught us just before the top, and we’d see little of them the rest of the way out (anticipating this, we’d given them the car keys in advance). Once over the saddle, the next two miles down into Little Lakes Valley were enjoyable, the sandy trail not nearly as bothersome as when we were trudging uphill through it. We were back at The Turn in less than an hour, and, now walking southward, we started to pass through far more open areas that were, as expected, quite warm – there was an intermittent breeze that helped keep us cooler through these last two miles, which entail a net gain of about 250′ over their rolling profile. We reached the last switchbacks above the Rock Creek Road by 4:00pm and found Carter and Dani at the car with the AC running at 4:15. After a couple of stops near and in Bishop (we first showed the kids Jane’s grandparents’ old house in Swall Meadows, followed by gassing up and getting dinner), we began the long drive southward, not arriving in Wrightwood until close to 10pm. In all, we had a great trip – the lakes themselves were wonderful, although the trail to and from left a lot to be desired. We’ve got another permit for Cottonwood Lakes over Labor Day weekend, so we’ll see if this team can reunite for another adventure…