[pct-l] guitar lake

[Phil Baily]

Hi,

I was just skimming recent PCT-L items and saw your request and the replies. On Labor Day weekend in 1993, my son and I camped alongside a small tarn located next to the trail and a short ways above Guitar Lake before the trail starts its serious climb to Trail Crest. Guitar Lake had many people around  and we were the only people camped at the tarn. So we had a quiet night and handy water and were adjacent to the trail. We started early avoiding the crowd and enjoyed our walk to the top.

I believe it is now against the rules to camp as close to the trail as we did, but if my memory is correct, you can get far enough away on flat ground on the far side of the tarn to be legal. In 1993, one of the passes (Muir?) still had snow alongside the trail in late August, but probably not as much as this year. That tarn may be larger and the surrounding flat land may be mushy now.

I hope this dated and non-definitive info is useful. It was one of our better campsites at the end of a two week trip.

Pieces