After spending time in Mammoth Lakes and visiting the Mono Arts Council gallery where one of my photographs had been displayed for several months, I drove out to the June Lake Loop and the Parker Lake trailhead, glad that I wasn’t subjecting my Camaro to the unmaintained road that only gets worse each year.
The trail to Parker Lake is an easy 1.8 miles, with a first ¾ mile segment that includes all of the elevation gain in the full glare of the Sun. My pack was lighter today, and I was soon entering the forest that would carry me to the lake shore. As expected for a Sunday afternoon, the trail was busy, but I’d started late enough that most of the foot traffic was in the opposite direction. By the time I reached the lake and entered Parker Creek barefoot near my chosen campsite, only a handful of artists remained. One by one, they followed the fleeing light downvalley, and soon I found myself the lone overnight guest of the lake. Sunset at Parker Lake begins with the descent of the Sun behind Parker, Koip, and other peaks to the southwest, and, for a while, slivers of sunlight find a way onto the distant shore of the lake. Then, light fades altogether, and night gently falls.