Drove to the day hike trailhead ~7am. 60°F at 8800', comfortable. Parked at a pullout nearby. Put 2 bags of food with labels in the only bear box at the TH. The trail starts in front of a few cabins, part of Glacier Lodge. It follows the creek for a bit, in the shade. After this bridge, the trail bifurcates to north fork and south fork.
I took the north fork, enters a valley. I followed the lower trail to stay in the valley which climbs up to join the high trail in ~3/4 mile. The trail here is sandy, and sand was filling in my new shoes. The trail then zigzags up cascades made by Big Pine Creek to an upper valley. Then you can see Temple Crag's jagged silouette.
About 4 miles and 2500' from TH, another fork. I took the left one for Big Pine Lakes (the right fork is for Black Lake). Soon, I saw a beautiful blue lake. It's the first of a chain. 
I like the 2nd lake the most. Bigger, and right below Temple Crag. Took a long break here, scrambled up to the boulders to see both lakes.
Soon after, the 3rd blue gem is in front of you. This lake is a bit smaller and shallower.
I found a camp site near the next trail junction, in a cluster of trees, so my tent is mostly in the shade. ~10600'. I didn't bother with the rainfly: too hot. Washed my socks and shoes, and took a nap. Found many Mountain Coyote Mint nearby, which has a lavender smell.
I forgot to pack a book. Got bored waiting for the temperature to cool. Headed out south to Sam Mack Meadow in the same socks and shoes (already dried), packed microspikes. It's only 0.7 miles, really pretty even though the meadow was brown right now. ~11100'.
Here you see why the lakes have glacial color. The milky creek runs cold. A lot of white alpine gentian (much smaller than the regular deep blue gentian). A lovely place to camp, but I didn't see any obvious established campsite. There's a Sam Mack Lake above these steep walls, which I didn't attempt.
I retraced my track, crossed the creek and followed a trail zigzagging up towards Palisade Glacier -- the south most glacier in US. As I gained elevation, the view opens to the valley. The string of 3 bright blue lakes is so pretty. From here, I can see that only one other Lake is glacial blue, all other lakes are black (Lake 4, 6, 7, Black, Summit).
About half a mile up, the trail becomes faint. Follow the cairn(s), sometimes pointing to different directions. Traverse a boulder field east to directly above the 3rd Lake. Then, it's just going up on the morain field. I stopped from time to time to throw rocks out of my shoes. Eventually the trail ends ~1.5 mile from the junction, on the rock ridge, ~12400'. An icy lake below (already dark and I couldn't see any glacial color). A bit windy. I hid behind a rock and ate a bar. Headed down ~6pm.
By the time I got back to my camp, it was already dark. Sun sets ~7:30pm now. Brillant stars at night. Without the rainfly, I could see the sky lying down. My 20°F kept me warm.
8/31, Tuesday. Woke up as the sun rose. Cooked breakfast, headed out in a day pack with water and snacks to see lake 4-7. Instead of doing a loop and hike out via Black Lake, I decided to hike out the same way and revisit lake 1, 2, 3, because of their beautiful color.
Walked up the 5th Lake first. It has a bit of glacial color. This lake would be a nice place to camp, big, away from the main traffic.
The 6th and 7th Lake are 1 mile farther uphill. Both are regular color. The setting is quite pretty. Very meadowy. In fact, almost swappy between these 2 lakes. It's very dry now, which makes my travel easy.
Still my shoes got wet. In this heat, they dried up quickly. I took a long break for snacks at Lake 7, before return. It's not easy to find shade to rest here.
On my way down, met a group of 2 hikers -- first human I saw today. Took the 1/4 mile detour to see Summit Lake. Pretty setting. Normal color.
The 4th Lake has a meadowy shore. Quite pretty, but no glacial color. Met more hikers here.
Back at camp, cooked an early lunch, packed up and hiked out.
Took another snack break at the 2nd lake. On the way out, I took the "high trail", which has no shade except for one tree. Quite hot. Met a girl hiking in with a dog questioning about the dog's safety due to heat. Don't remember seeing this sign on the way in, so took a photo now. Back to TH around 2:30pm. Retrieved my food from the bear box, very warm. Drove down to the hot valley floor, ~4000'.
Later I realized that I forgot 2 tent stakes at the camp!
