Plans changed from Chain Lakes to Cora Lake as a base camp, and a day hike to Isburg Pass. So we crank along a nice road for 14 miles, then get into a horrendous road with potholes galore for the remaining 14 miles. Enough to discourage us from ever coming back.
Sunday afternoon we get to the trailhead. Take off for the 5 mile climb to the Cora Lake, struggle a bit to find anything that resembles a camp site. Locate a spot way off the beaten path and somewaht critter free.. Set up camp, eat and call it a day. We came from Tahoe, so we got into a campsite around 8:30 PM. Had a few mosquitoes to battle with but not too bad.
Monday - We take off for Isburg Pass. It is obvious there has been some very serious rain, the trail is showing torrents of water running down it. Mosquitoes are horrendous, even in the driest places we came across they were hanging in the air. My partner in crime(Works at REI) had a Picadarin based repellent that was beyond excellent. Repelled all the critters at a distance, the more aggressive would come up hover for a second or two and just fly away.
The hike from Cora Lake to Isburg Pass was 5 1/2 mile hike with a 1500 ft elevation gain. Isburg Pass is absolutely incredible and a must do.. pics to follow.