Loch Leven Lakes are a very popular destination, since the trailhead is very easy to get to from Interstate 80.
So this Meetup organized trip happened on Tuesday/Wednesday - when we figured most of the Memorial Day crowds would be gone. They were.

We left the trailhead about 9:15, waiting a few minutes past our 9am start for two no-shows. So four geezers headed up the trail.

Here's the info from the Forest Service about the trail:
Trail Length:
1.1 miles to railroad tracks
2.5 miles to 1st lake Salmon Lake trail
2.8 miles to 2nd lake
3 miles to Cherry Point trail
3.6 miles to Upper Loch Leven

Here's a link to their description of the trail.

The trail is mostly up from the road, with large and small rocks making a kind of evil staircase. A very long, very evil staircase.
Several large trees were down, necessitating creative bushwhacking to get around (one of the worst (and nearest the trailhead) was helpfully chainsawed apart by the time we returned the next day).
Some of the trail was across granite slab, liberally strewn with rock markers. Some was on dirt.

On the way back, I somehow managed to repeatedly catch my hiking skirt and poles on Excessively Friendly Vegetation - usually covered with stickers that Did Not Want to let go. I was borrowing my husband's old Black Diamond poles, with the flick locks, as my Gossamer Gear poles are on their way for repair. The EFV was overly fond of the protruding locks. LET GO!!

We stopped for the day after 2.8 miles as one of our members was repeatedly overheating in the mid 60 degree weather. (Our original destination was the Upper lake).

The campsite we chose at Middle Loch Leven Lake was perfect - several choices for hanging with a nice view of the lake. I was the only hammocker. One bivy and two one person tents.

I tried, again, to not take too much food, and I believe I finally managed it. There was the possibility of leaving after lunch, but the group decided to leave in the morning. So I had one sandwich and a bag of fritos left over. Which I ate in the car on the way home. Also one Tanka jerky bar. And one more bite of a KIND bar left. Not too shabby.

I used a Ziploc bowl with a screw on lid (leaks when inverted, if you want to know) to rehydrate my Mary Jane's Farm Alfredo Pasta meal. Very tasty. Needs 15 minutes in the cozy. Worked nicely for my oatmeal the next morning as well. I made a cozy for the bowl.

Fire restrictions are not in place yet, so I was able to use Esbit fuel. I used 1/2 a tab for each meal.



I slept pretty well in my Warbonnet Blackbird. I'm not sure I needed the sock at night when the wind dropped, but it was nice for the afternoon loaf when the gusty wind failed to bring any rain showers. We were close enough to the lake for some condensation on the tarp, but it was still not too bad inside the sock. A DIY Argon sock I made.

My temperature dangler registered 3.8 deg Celsius for the overnight low under the tarp. About 39 degrees F if you must.
I had put a new battery in the dangler before I left, resetting it to Fahrenheit and the correct day and time and all that. While trying to remember how to invoke the max/min temp at camp, I managed to reset the whole thing. And turn on a stopwatch function. While trying to dismiss the stopwatch, I then set an alarm. AARGH -electronics! So I pried out the battery and started all over again. I need to bring the directions, I guess.

I'll repeat my gear list, which is also in this blog post (more pictures!), but I'll annotate this one a little bit.

Pack
G4 - DIY - carried well, as usual. I eventually swapped the bottle to the other shoulder strap to balance things out a bit better.
compacter bag liner
snack bag - DIY
bottle holder - on strap
mesh potty bag
Ursack and 2 liners

Sleep
MacCat Deluxe
Groundhog stakes, ridgeline, spare line, Dutch clips
Warbonnet Blackbird hammock
hammock sock - DIY
Crowsnest underquilt by Hammock Gear - yeah - old but still rocking! Overkill for the 40 degree, but I love it.
Shenandoah top quilt by Jacks R Better
Prolite extra small sleep pad
Visqueen - scrap of plastic nearly 40 years old. I'm sentimental, what can I say. My girlscout troop used it under our superlight weight (ha ha) Eureka Timberline tents back in the day. It has my dad's handwriting on the corner, "Tent Side".
Nite Ize lightup zipper pulls - useful for finding hammock after midnight excursions, also for reading the dangler.

Clothes
REI Revelcloud jacket
windshirt - DIY
rain chaps
Packa - combo pack cover and rain jacket (no rain, actually)
Marmot wrist warmers
Navy surplus wool watch cap
Smartwool hikers socks
lycra exercise shorts
midweight longjohns - Ibex wool
spare panties

Clothes (worn in and out)
wicking short sleeved shirt
Mountain Hardwear kilt, Lycra shorts
Inov8 Roclite 295 trail runnners
Injinji toe socks
Dirty Girl gaiters
Tilley w/ DIY bug net on crown
Pearl Izumi arm coolers
panties
Moving Comfort Fiona sports bra
thin glove liners - REI, finger tips cut off. Sun protection for hands.

Water
1st Need filter - don't argue with me. Takes out viruses, tastes better than water from my friend's Hiker filter.
Outdoor Research folding bucket - didn't use. I'll sub an extra folding bottle instead.
Camelbak Eddy bottle, 25oz - nice size
Nalgene soft bottle - for storing filtered water in camp.

Cooking
Firelite Ti stove, windscreen, paperclip
Esbit tabs - brought 2, used only one
BIC and matches
Pot from esbit kit
bowl cozy - DIY
fire permit
REI plastic soup spoon
Ziploc screwtop plastic bowl

Hygiene
Neutrogena baby sunscreen stick
SPF 20 lip balm
first aid kit
dropper bottle of soap
toilet paper
Wisp tooth brush

Tools
map and compass
pocket knife
Petzel E light
potty trowel (snowstake)
cotton bandana
Dutchware plastic utility hook
ID in fabric pouch
paperback
Canon point and shoot camera
Black Diamond trekking poles (my Gossamer Gear poles are in for repair) - in addition to catching the locks on everything, the very padded wrist loops gave me a blister! Bad Loops! No biscuit!!

Food 1lb 9½oz total
2613 calories total
We decided to walk out after breakfast so one sandwich and one bag of Fritos came out along with an uneaten Tanka bar.
2 lunch, 1 bkfst, 1 dinner, 2 snacks

2 Almond butter and jam sandwiches - 450cal
Umpqua oatmeal in ziploc - 273cal
Mary Jane meal - 580cal (2 servings)
2 snack bags of Fritos -160cal each
2 Kind bars - 200cal each
2 Tanka bars - 70cal each

Thanks for reading!