We made it all the way to the lake and were going to go around the far side until we got a good enough view to realize that the lake jutted back in the glacier a good distance, and the glacier was heavily crevassed for another good ways back. The prospect of a several mile hike to get around to the other side of the lake, and then a long hike up the side of the mountain before there was a flat camping spot (from the looks of it)... well, it just wasn't enticing, even though the tradeoff for going around the near side of the lake was a good-sized stream to cross at the end. We turned around to hike back and get off the glacier on the near side, which we had already passed. The sun was getting lower and the light was beautiful, but we'd been hiking for 10 hours and my legs were so incredibly beat that I couldn't enjoy the view too much. I had to keep moving because if I stopped, I wasn't sure I could make myself start again.
I did pause long enough to take this picture, though. The big rocks that get stranded on the surface of the glacier shade the ice beneath them, so it melts slower. The rocks end up on these pedestals of ice.
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