8-05-2018 I was a little scattered but made the 6 am start. Soon the sun hit us as we headed up the McGee Pass trail. There were some nice wildflower meadows along the way, but mostly I just tried to keep up with whoever was around (mostly Kim and Sean for a good ways). After passing big and little McGee Lakes we left the trail and followed a bunch of people up a big talus slope and then up a big loose gully (they were far enough ahead that they were out of the gully by the time we got to it (at this time we = me plus Robert and Kim). We probably took the more adventurous route at the top but eventually made it to the ridge where it wasn't smooth sailing to the top, but at least it felt a little more solid. On the summit we learned that coming over a number of false summits from McGee Pass wasn't all that quick or easy either.
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There was a cold breeze on the summit but the views were nice. The descent wasn't so great looking and I seriously considered heading back down the ridge and then dropping off to the east - that probably would have been quicker, but I couldn't see the entire route, so it would have been a bit of a gamble. Instead we dropped down diagonally to the NW and then down into the basin once we cleared some cliffs. It was tedious and the rocks were mostly too big for scree skiing but too loose for comfort. On the way down we could see others traversing across above us to get to the summit. Once we hit the trail we made good time down to Big McGee lake where we took a refreshing dip.
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The hike down from there was mostly long, somehow it seemed longer than the hike up (this isn't uncommon in the Sierra Challenge), but we made good time (hiking with Kim and Sean).
I spent some time chatting in the parking lot before driving home to throw in some laundry, shower, and get some real food before heading to the next trailhead.