On Friday, Robert asked me if I had any interest in visiting Pickering and Joe Devel out of Horseshow Meadows. As my only real goal was to sleep high in my continuing struggle to acclimatize, I said, "Sure." So at 5:00 a.m. the next day we were waiting at the trailhead. Except due to a miscommunication, some of Robert's other friends, for whom we were waiting, had headed to a different trailhead. However, by the end of the day we'd visit both Joe Devel Peak and Mount Pickering, along with Mount Newcomb, Mount Chamberlain, and Crabtree Crags, all while enjoying a relaxed pace interspersed with some enjoyable ridge traverses.

One of the two things I appreciate about Horseshoe Meadows is that the trailhead is high (around 10,000 feet). The other that there are a bunch of large meadows around, which makes for some relatively unique views in the High Sierra. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the trailhead itself is located directly next to a large (and I presume destroyed through overgrazing) meadow, which we walked along on the way to Cottonwood Pass.

At my urging, before ascending Joe Devel Peak we stopped at Rock Creek to get some water, as I thought it would be the last water for a while. As Robert's backside shows, the area was not short on mosquitoes. Luckily, neither of us had bothered with insect repellant or mosquito nets, so we were completely prepared for such an eventuality. Especially because as we were standing at trailhead earlier in the day I commented how I kept not bringing mosquito stuff, how I kept not running into mosquitoes, and how every week it gets closer to when they'll be out in force and that my lack of preparation for mosquitoes would bite me in the ass any day now.