Despite being quite tired from yesterday’s hike up to Lake 1, neither Chris nor Carter got good sleep. Both of us got out of our cozy sleeping bags about 7am, surprised to find our campsite already bathed in sun with a comfortable temperature in the high 50s. We made coffee, and Carter shortly announced he was going to fish at Lake 1 – he took his daypack with him, the plan being that Chris would catch up with him later in the morning after another cup or two (or three). We intended to hike up the main trail, successively visiting Lakes 2, 4, 5, and 6 as we made our way higher up the cirque – Lakes 5 and 6 would be something over 11,000′, and neither of us had yet been at that high an elevation. So, after some breakfast and more caffeine, Chris also packed up for the day and moved out, passing Carter perched on a rock near the western end of Lake 1 – he decided to leave Carter there and get a head start up the hill to Lake 2, expecting to be slow. Maybe it was a night’s worth of acclimatization, maybe it was a light load on his back, but in any case it was a new day, and Chris felt exponentially better as he started climbing up the trail. About 100′ below Lake 2, he came across a small waterfall off the trail and, as he was taking some photos, Carter came up the trail behind him. For the rest of the day, we traveled together, passing the shallow Lake 2 (Carter decided not to fish here, wanting to move first up to the next lake, the largest of the six) before working our way up the longest inter-lake trail segment, about a half-mile and 300′ of gain to Lake 4. Here, we crossed the lake’s outlet and picked our way west along Lake 4’s southern edge, Carter first fishing the pond near the outlet and then in deeper waters about halfway down the 1/4-mile long lake. We spent quite a bit of time here, Carter not wanting to give up despite not getting any bites on his line at all – Chris decided to move south over a large boulder field to wait on the shady trail above, and Carter followed suit after about 15 minutes. The trail above Lake 4 is pretty gentle, gaining just 100′ over 1/4-mile, and we quickly made our way past lots of colorful flowers up to a cleft in the ridge to Lake 5’s outlet – unlike the lakes below, the creek flowing down to Lake 4 was not at all visible, although we could hear water flowing swiftly below our feet as we climbed up the last switchback to Lake 5. Just past the cleft, we found beautiful campsites off the trail near the lake’s west end – this also would have been a wonderful place to stay, and maybe we’ll do so on a return trip. We proceeded to make our way south and then east along the shoreline, stopping for about an hour at some rocks above the water while Carter fished his third lake of the day. Afterward, we moved south up an obvious connecting boulder field to Lake 6 – although only a few feet higher than Lake 5, Lake 6 has a wholly different character, seeming like a true snowmelt mountain tarn, with a green tinge to its water and permanent ice fields below the cliffs above it. Twice while here we heard rockfall on the steep slopes above, and this lake in particular had a wildness to it that was missing from the other lakes down the hill. We had contemplated scrambling up to a tall saddle to the west in hopes of getting open views south and west to the Sierra crest, but we decided to leave that for a future visit and began heading back to camp at 3:30pm. The return trip was uneventful, taking only an hour, although Carter stopped at a few spots on our way to throw his line in the water one more time. Below Lake 2, Carter picked up the pace, and Chris unknowingly passed him at Lake 1 while he fished from the sandy beach there. We had an early dinner and just chilled out, doing so literally once the sun set behind the cirque’s western ridge and the temperature seemed to drop by 20 degrees in minutes – by 8pm, we were in our tents. We were very happy to have done the day with light packs and to have an inviting base camp to return to.