It was the last day of our little trek. After a night of little sleep and lots of Kovas’ snoring, we all woke up at the buttcrack of dawn to pack up. I was psyched. It was crappy diner food time. Day one had been an ordeal. Day two was less so. Day three was our shortest day. Nothing could go wrong on this day where we were retracing our steps from Wilder Lake to the Highline Trailhead, right?
Wrong.
From Taylor Swift and Luke Bryan tickets booked months in advance to Outdoor Retailer, August was a pretty jam packed month for me. I took a look at my calendar, saw one free weekend and knew I had to capitalize on it or be sad forever. I texted my friend Bobby and put together a game plan. We were going to head to Mildred Lake up Convict Canyon for some epic and mellow backpacking.
My little brother just got back from a brief stint of backpacking through Europe. With his heart still full of adventure, he asked me to take him out somewhere, anywhere. He didn’t give me any criteria and said he was down for whatever, but the first time someone goes backpacking will obviously make or break their experience. After much hemming and hawing, Meiss Lake in Mokelumne Wilderness was my pick.