Walking along the pipeline which extends about 0.9 miles to its intersection with the Green Lake Trail. This is a 16 inch diameter steel pipe that carries water from the stream flowing out of the Green Lake Basin and dumps it in a stream bed near the Backpacker's parking lot at South Lake. From there the water flows into South Lake. If you have a good sense of balance, shoes with a good grip on the pipe surface, and the pipe outer surface is not wet you could make good time hiking up the gentle grade of this pipe to connect with the trail. Rubber tipped trekking poles might also help. But I don't have a good sense of balance and I was more than a little nervous for most of this section of the hike. I chose to take the trail route on my return.