Sprite Lake 7.12.04

Today's goal was for a summit of Paddy-go-south peak which lies just south of Sprite Lake. I brought along Armando for the ride. Our bumpy ride down the Salmon La Sac Rd was punctuated by a flat tire just as we reached the Paddy Go Easy trailhead. So I spent the first 15 minutes of the trip changing the tire. I haven't been on this trail for nearly 15 years, but I still remember the sign at the start of the trail that say "" MOST DIFFICULT"". The first time I did this climb I would have agreed, but now I would hardly call it above average. It was quite warm and I wasn't sure what to expect from Armando because I had never done a hike with him. Armando set a great pace and we were soon at Sprite Lake. The bugs were so bad that we decided to stay only for a short while. I erred a bit in judgement and I led us to the point more westerly of Sprite lake that tops out near 6400ft. I had a feeling we were a bit lower than where we should have been. We returned to the pass and pressed North doing a bit of scouting for a try of Paddy Go North. There seems to be a few different approaches that might work. I decided that with our water supply running short that heading back was the right call. We descended to the truck and were off to the Brick for a cold beer and some good food.