We start the day with a visit to the Backcountry office to get our permit reprinted. We have changed it so many times that the one we are carrying in no way resembles what our booking now is. We thought this would be a quick stop but the people in the office had other plans. They force us to sit and watch the safety video before they will give us our permit. Given we have already survived two bear charges and have been following bear country camping guided lines for a couple of weeks it seems pointless but you can’t argue with the city hall.

We stop at the post office and pickup our resupply box and some new stays for Yeti’s pack for Zpacks. By the time we have breakfast at the grill and get organised it is 11 am when we hit the road to start hitching.

We have our sign and almost immediately we are picked up by a pickup truck. He gives us a lift out to the main highway but unfortunately they are going the opposite direction so the drop us there and we put out our sign again.

It is a long wait with lots of cars going past but none stopping. After about an hour a giant RV stops and gives us a lift. The RV is hugh and even includes a cat hiding in one of the back bed rooms, yes I think it has multiple bedrooms back there!

It was afternoon by the time we start hiking and so we put in some extra effort to cover the miles. It is a good trail with some glimpse of the lake from the top of the hills. We emerge from the trees for our first view of Shoshone lake and it is spectacular.

We cross the canal that joins the two lakes and take a break to admire the view. We see a couple of kayaks out in the distance and envied them for the apparent easy they move across the lake. Our campsite is probably 3 miles by water from us but it will be a 6 mile hike up some reasonable hills before we see that spot.

We came to the original campsite we had been allocated for this segment and we were very thankful that we did not still have it. It was amongst the trees next to a small creek and the bugs were bitting with gusto. As we crossed the creek we heard some hikers coming towards us doing their bear call. We quickly set our calls off in greeting and we all had to smile when we met. We chatted for a while with the young couple. They had spent a week hiking around the lake and were headed for the campsite we had just passed. We wished them luck with the bugs and pushed on to our site.

Our camp site was incredibly beautiful and we were happy to get in with several hours to go before dark so we could sit and enjoy the view.

We had two unexpected guests, John and his son Gavin shared the camp with us that night. It was a very festive stop. Lots of time to enjoy the lake, a good Mexican dinner and new friends to get to know. We all ended the day sitting on the beach together watching the sunset and the moon rise over the lake.

This campsite was one of the most spectacular of the entire trip and we will have to come back one day.