Nearing the Rafferty Creek trail fork, we cross the Lyell Fork of the Tuolumne River. We had left the car at around noon and this bridge is about a mile and a half down the trail.
Having walked many miles along the Rafferty Creek Trail, we stop for a photo. Fletcher Lake is at the base of the mountain on the left and Vogelsang Lake is nestled between them. We are nearly to the second fork shown on the map. At that fork, we have to decide whether to press on to Vogelsang Lake, or bank right and head to the closer Boothe Lake. As we approach the fork, our packs begin to assist in the decision making process.

Worn out from our heavy packs we hiked over to Boothe Lake and made camp. The next morning I shot the lake in the morning sun before the winds disturbed the surface. Boothe Lake sits at only 9850ft, so aside from our time in Lyell Canyon, this is the lowest spot we camped. No fires are allowed in this area and the nighttime temperatures during our trip were expected to range from the teens up to the upper twenties. This made bouncing out of the tent in the early morning hours a bit uninviting.
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