Barney Lake
When we came over the ridge between Skelton and Barney, and caught sight of Barney, the trail took a left around the east side of the lake and we took a right. At 2:30 we were sitting on the edge of a talus field next to a huge snowfield on the west side of the lake, eating lunch. It was getting cooler -- ever since the tarn with the rime ice there had been a cool breeze and frequent patches of snow left from last Saturday's storm. Keith originally sat in the shade to eat but moved into the sun to get warm.
| As we ate our lunch of turkey and cheese sandwiches, chips and a banana, we decided to go for Duck Pass. If we didn't make it, oh well, we figured the view from the trail would be worth it anyway. Barney Lake is at the end of the Mammoth Creek Canyon, and behind it the trail goes up a steep, nearly 600 vertical foot ridge to Duck Pass. We tried to pick out the trail from where we sat, with not too much success. We could see a couple of lines of snow that looked like they might be the trail, and could see logically where we though the trail should go. Up along that rock wall, over top of this hump and then that hump. It seemed like the trail should be pretty much a straight shot from the lake to the pass, and couldn't figure out the "switchbacks" that the guidebooks talked about. |
| The guidebooks also said that Barney Lake was very green. From where we ate lunch, it looked a very dark green. After lunch we headed back to the trail. We crossed the creek between Barney Lake and Red Lake, a small lake at the outlet of Barney. | 
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| As we got over onto the east shore of Barney, we could see that it actually had three lobes, only one of which we could see from our lunch spot. From this angle the lake began to look a lighter green. We passed a couple of folks who were fishing on the shore of the lake. The view back down the canyon was spectacular -- the backside of Mammoth Mountain was framed between Blue Peak on the left and the Sherwins on the right. | 
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