The Alpine Lakes Wilderness Thompson Lake Is Stunning
I had a chance to take a quick run to Thompson Lake, knowing all of the snow had melted and I could easily[1] get to the lake.
Knowing it was going to be hot day, I set out early to avoid peak sun. Almost all of my run to the lake was in shade (the sun was up, it was almost entirely obscured by mountains). And even though my plan mostly worked out, I drank an insane amount of water: 60oz on the trail and about 20oz more immediately after I finished (and I was still dehydrated).
The very first time I ran this one I made the mistake of running the initial segment of the trail (from the parking lot to the junction with the Granite Creek trail). This short section is just over one mile long and has an elevation gain of 888', making it impressively[2] steep. The problem with attempting to run it is that, by the time you get to "the starting point" (aka: the junction with the main trail), you're exhausted, and the mental game of "Can I actually run all the way to the lake / I don't think I can" begins[3].
Given all that, here are the vital stats on this one (they don't include the hiking data):
It's worth noting that, with the hiking data added in relevant stats become 9.95 miles of total distance and 3,714' of elevation gain.
And a couple of [possibly] useful links: Garmin data (short hike), Garmin data (there), Garmin data (back), WTA description of the lake.
Here's what this all looks like on a map:
As it turns out, if you walk out/across the boulder field that's just above the lake, you can get a photo of the entire lake. This is the only vantage point I've found from which this can be done.
When you're at the lake's edge, a bunch of areas of the lake are hidden (by shorelines, trees, etc), and the 2nd island can be difficult to see. A detour of just a couple hundred feet across the boulder field, approximately 150'-200' above the lake's surface yields a stunning view of almost all of the lake:
Also, the next photo is a panorama. As it turns out, my camera has a "panorama" function, and the photo I took using it came out really well (in truth, I took several photos and tossed all but one into the digital trash). The preview is below, with a URL to a high-rez version:
(Note those images are clickable for decent-rez versions)
As usual, I got some awesome photos. For the 1st time I left my Olympus TG-6 behind and brought a Sony RX100 VII, so I think the quality and resolution of these photos is better than usual.
