Over the winter into spring, Chris had obtained four different permits to backpack in various eastern Sierra locations, and, for a semi-comedic series of obstructive events, ended up having to cancel each one of them in turn. The last of the scheduled trips was to be a loop out of Mammoth Lakes over Duck Pass in early September – after canceling that reservation, Chris found the same trip available for this mid-October weekend and booked it. However, as the dates drew close, we realized the high-elevation temps were going to be in the low 20s at night, and we decided in the end that those conditions would test the comfort limits of our gear. Sigh, a fifth cancellation. With the weekend now free, Chris and Pedro decided to spend it camping near Bishop with two of Pedro’s co-workers, Dusty and Daniel – we drove to Bishop Friday morning and found a nice double site at Bitterbrush Campground on Highway 168, somewhere about the 6,800′ level that wouldn’t be so cold (or so we thought). We got camp set up early enough that we had plenty of time for a hike before dinner, so we drove up to North Lake for a walk up the Lamarck Lakes trail. The campground at the trailhead was already closed for the season and the road gated at North Lake, so we parked at the lake and walked the level road westward for a mile. From the campground, the Lamarck Lakes trail passes quickly through a small meadow before starting a series of switchbacks up the north side of the ridge to the south. There was a fair amount of snow here on the shady side of the mountain, although whatever was remaining on the trail was inconsequential. The trail gradient was consistent on the steeper side of moderate, climbing 600′ over 9/10ths of a mile to a junction – here, we could continue upward 700′ to Lower Lamarck Lake about 3/4-mile away, or we could descend 200′ to Grass Lake just a 1/4-mile distant. A little winded from the ascent, we chose the latter and were rewarded with gorgeous late afternoon views of the beautiful lake. The surrounding meadows were lovely, and the sun lent a golden hue to the entire scene. We made our way around the north and east sides of the lake, picking up the Grass Lake trail that would take us back to the cars. After crossing Lamarck Creek, we followed its south bank northeast through a shallow valley, eventually reaching some switchbacks – some of them a little icy – that dropped us down into a meadow we had previously walked past on the road, oblivious to this fairly obvious trail at the time. Meeting the road, we followed it eastward back the parking area – Dusty’s dog, Apollo, had hurt his leg on the descent, so the others waited at the trail’s end for Dusty to come back with the SUV and pick them up (Apollo was fine by the next day). Reunited, we drove back down the road, paid a quick visit to the dam at Lake Sabrina, and returned to our camp for dinner as the sun set. Once the sun was down, it quickly got quite cold – Chris slept comfortably in his bag, but Daniel (in a single-wall tent) reported a ton of ice had condensed inside overnight. So much for a warmer clime in which to spend the weekend, but it was certainly warmer than it would have been at 10,000′ near Duck Pass.