I hiked to Summit Lake from the Virginia Lakes trailhead last weekend. Hiking out Saturday, the sky was partly cloudy, the temperatures felt like summer but the winds felt like fall. And, those winds stirred up enough cold water in Summit Lake that I didn't go swimming. Sunday...the strong winds went away, but the sky was hazy with high clouds.
Small streams still have water on the east side here, there is outflow from Summit Lake, and the upper reaches of Green Creek along the trail from Virginia Lakes have water. Water is flowing through the Virginia Lakes chain, as well as a trickle along the streamlet draining Moat Lake. The monsoon rains must have helped quite a bit in this area.
Driving up Sonora Pass Friday evening, there were a number of areas where the aspens seemed to be dropping their leaves before they had really turned. I did, however, get a nice color picture from the Virginia Lakes trail.
Summit Lake, from near the unnamed 11.1K ft pass:
Virginia Lakes valley, from the pass:
Hoover Lakes, in the Green Creek valley, from the trail coming down from the pass:
Late-afternoon view of Summit Lake:
Fall color: