NYHiker, I don't know if you have considered this, but with all your experience, I think you could pull it off:
Instead of retracing the PCT back to Soldier Lk, if you carried your pack to Trail Crest, you could then drop off from Discovery Pinnacle heading x-country to the southeast, over Crabtree Pass, directly to Sky Blue Lake. You could then camp overnight there.
I know people have covered that territory -- the slope off Discovery Pinnacle is quite a sandy talus slope, so descending would be no trouble.
I would sure like to do that route sometime.
