We scrambled on, getting closer to the summit. There were a few sections of good snow along the ridge, and for these we got out our ice axes and kick-stepped up.
It wasn't long before we scrambled up to the little pointy summit of Hidden Lake Peak. It's a really neat top, with an easily climbed spike of rock that marks the very highest point. It is at the summit that we got our first look at Hidden Lake (it is indeed hidden until you get to this point) -- a beautiful large dark blue tarn surrounded by soild granite cliffs. We each took turns posing on the airy little summit.
Further south along the ridge, perched atop a lower sub-summit., we could see the lookout hut to which the church group was headed.
The high overcast had gradually drifted away as we had climbed, and a beautiful afternoon sun and blue skies had taken over. We drank in a bit more of the glorious view before heading down. We aimed to make this a semi-loop outing, so we continued down the south side of the peak, making our way towards the maintained trail that led to the lookout hut. Along the way, we stopped to filter a bit of clear snowmelt water.
Snow makes for easy descent
After finishing the scramble down to the trail, it was a straightforward matter of hiking back down to the trailhead. We'd told Caroline that we'd be at most 3 hours behind her, and we were running a little behind schedule. The upper part of the Hidden Lake Trail was very pretty, winding gently down through beautiful alpine terrain. We passed most of the church hiking group, who were still slowly making their way up to the hut. Some of the kids looked pretty beat!