A nice slow cruise climb to 10,500 ft yielded nothing but smooth air and a nice tailwind across the valley. Once above the haze layer, I noticed a few puffy's to the east of my route and wondered if my luck would continue. The smooth ride persisted until just before the descent into south lake, just a small amount of turbulence kicked up, if nothing else to remind me that I was in fact, in the mountains
After a nice dinner with the fam, and a shitty nights sleep on a hide-a-bed that more closely resembled a padded bowl, I decided to get going about 10 this morning to take advantage of the cool morning air. After BS'ing with a couple line guys about the local area, they told me about a strip to the west, but weren't sure about its condition. Since I wasn't in a real hurry, i told them I'd check it out and report back. It was a privately owned strip just south of Loon lake. Since I didn't get any coords, only a general description of the location, it took me a bit to find it. One of the guys mentioned it had a couple small saplings growing on it...turns out, though, they weren't very small
Unfortunately this strip was unlandable 
Following that little tangent, I headed for home, landing in Los Banos to bs with a buddy and get a little birdseed to get me home.
Perfect day on the lake
Since I wasn't topping off, I told him to just use the previously installed step ladders
Doesn't get much more blue than this...
Some glacier carved rock...managed to avoid the temptation to do some water skiing
The aforementioned "loon strip" looking south-ish
Looking north, you can see the "saplings" peppering the strip. Once I saw it was a no-go, I didn't bother to get any closer. It looks as if this strip has been unused for a number of years...too bad, cuz it would be a great place to camp, with reasonable hiking access to the lake...
Overall a great trip, wish I could've stayed a few days...stupid work...
