Townsend Mountain (Barclay Lake Trail)

Sept 27, 2015. Gorgeous day, bright, sunny & crisp. Started from Eagle Creek fisherman's trail. Crossed creek at Eagle Lake outlet, followed shore (very brushy) to a campsite midway along length of N shore of lake. This leads to a very nice, minimal-brush climbers trail up a boulder field & gully, ending at slabs at ~4600', at which point cairns ended. We tried ascending the slabs by angling slightly left, directly towards a saddle on the ridge - this was not the best route; some slabs were difficult (T4); once we got above slabs and on heather, we could see that the route would have been easier if we angled further L on the slabs. Route from ridgetop to summit is straightforward. Due to limited daylight and being behind schedule (and knowing that Eagle Creek was in low water condition), we descended the heather and boulder fields directly S from the summit. This was a good descent route until we reached the final 200' of descent, at which point the brush became ridiculously thick. But was good decision, as it got dark right as we reached Eagle Creek for crossing. Returned to cars by headlamp. Drove home on Road 6514 and got an extraordinary view of the lunar eclipse.