​A 25 mile lollipop route into the Humphreys Basin via Piute Pass from the North Lake Trailhead with some of my best friends (defacto brothers) from high school. Thirty years on and Steve and the three Ryans (me, Aric & Gaska) still had a great deal to talk about when we could find enough oxygen to breath. We made camp at 11,200' near a small pond on a grus covered flat behind a small knoll. There were not many trees around thanks to our camp's very permeable soil, but the views were out of this world. We day-hiked to Desolation, Muriel and Tomahawk lakes and enjoyed the sun, marmots amd a few brook trout. Winds were forecast to gust to nearly 60mph on the Saturday we originally planned to hike out, so instead we packed up and came out a day early, goaded by a morning freeze and the leading edge of lenticular clouds from the impending storm.