Good tale. Have been there twice, both times from the north per the guidebook directions. There's quite a bit of XC but not much brushwacking, certainly nothing like your slog.

The first time, my buddy and I experienced the end times at Hyatt. A storm rolled in with thunder, lightning and rain, turning to snow. In the midst I decided "Great time to fish!" and was catching trout like crazy. Maybe it was success but it was definitely crazy to be fishing in a snow-and-lightning storm. We camped on the north side, just in the woods but still on the lovely, soft sand. One of the best sleeps I can remember.

Next morning we were awakened by an earthquake--holy crap, what's happening?!? It was a real shaker and during, we could hear rocks cracking off the cliffs and rolling towards the lake. Luckily, not directly at us. Things settled down after that, so no frogs or sacrificing of firstborn. (Quake was centered in Nevada and IIRC was around a 6, so no wussy rumble.)

Several years later I soloed there and found our old campsite had burned the previous year--the north shore was a charred mess. Considering the scattered timber stands I still don't know how that happened other than some very direct lightning strikes. Glad to hear it's recovered and there's camping--space was hard to come by on that trip. My camp:



Hiking out I sussed a much easier route than the guidebook's back to Roscosco Lake, which I'll take in should I ever return. That's the difference between having GPS and not.

Cheers,