Ok, I last left you guys on July 4th, coming down the drainage towards Dunraven Lake. So to give more narrative to go with the photos, the picture of Tim in front of that peak about 2 entries back is No Name #3. This photo is one of the many lakes on our way down; see all that snow on the left heading back into the distance?? Yeah, that was fun.
And this is looking down on even more lakes, almost down to Husted and Lost.
As I mentioned, the snowfields were the best route down and much easier than the jumble of rock and talus. We were all exhausted but happy the weather actually looked pretty good straight ahead (to the east), and satisfied at our awesome hike. At one point, Jack, Tim and I stayed south of the stream; everybody else crossed over to the north side. I wasn't really sure which was best, or if it mattered since we were off trail, but lo and behold, us three had chosen wisely. While we were hopping amongst the alpine plants and wading through clusters of dwarf birch, looking back over our shoulders at the numerous high, long, delicate waterfalls cascading from upper lakes to the lower ones... the other folks followed the north side of one small lake and apparently couldn't see the cliff that would soon abruptly bring them to a halt. We sat on the south shore, laughing and Tim took plenty of funny photos. Each person tried to confront the inconvenience in their own way. Angie took of her shoes, hiked up her skirt, and, after clambering through a narrow slot between the main cliff and a huge boulder, waded the lake. This soon proved too deep, so Jack (who had since left us on the south side and went to the other side of the rock where they were stuck) gave her his waders and she made it across, pack on her head. Other people choseto rock climb - nothing I would do confortably, it was pretty tricky, slick, and sketchy! - up and over. Others chose to backtrack and take the less technical but longer route up and over. Any way you look at it, it took quite a bit of time. Tim and I just sat and laughed. :)
We stayed on our respective sides for the remainder of our trek, with Tim leading me through some dense trees, over some small but tricky stream crossings, and ultimately back to our starting point at Lost Lake, where we found the trail. Easy going home stretch! At this point, the clouds that had been patiently looming in this distance gave up waiting and the sky went dark. Our timing was perfect! It just barely started raining by the time we got back to Tarp Mahal at about 8 pm. So, we were gone for 11 hours. Not really that many miles behind us - 5? 6? maybe more? - but it was TOUGH and we were exhausted. That evening, I think we just did our own thing for dinner and sat down to drink some boxed wine as the storm opened up. Lightening and thunder, with the sound amplified and echoing from the canyons and mountains surrounding us... YEAHHH!! So, I went out there to try and take a photo. Guess what? It worked!
It was a pretty good show, but we were all beat and went to bed pretty early. They had to work in the morning; I didn't really have to do anything! That night, I couldn't have slept any better. I always tend to sleep better in tents than I do at home, go figure. In the morning, I kissed Timmy goodbye as he went off to work, and I rolled over and slept until 9:30. I didn't see any reason to go on any killer hikes for the 3rd day in a row, so I spent my day sleeping - with the pitter patter of rain on a tent, it is one of my FAVORITE camp things to do - reading, and pretending to fly fish. Pretending?? Yeah, I had absolutely no idea of what fly to use, or how to even cast it! That endeavor was short lived, as the weather was feeling frisky again. It was foreboding anyway when I noticed clouds forming by 9:30 am, so by the afternoon, another storm came upon us for a little while. I spent the rest of my afternoon reading "One Man's Wilderness: An Alaskan Odyssey" by Same Keith, a true story about a man named Richard Proenneke that leaves the lower 48 and goes to the wilderness of Alaska, alone, and builds a beautiful little log cabin. It's sortof a record of his journals for a year, going through everything from finding a cabin site to completing it. I kept eying the book at Tim's but never sat down to read it (instead, opting for my kinky vampire books.) No better time that a stormy afternoon in the wilderness! :)
Doug came back from work to cook dinner for everybody so I gave him a hand, which was the heartiest breakfast ever - scrambled eggs with EVERYTHING in them, tons of bacon and hashbrowns. We ate like starved animals and played a little frisbee. And I have never heard so many people be so polite and apologize to other people, yet curse their own names non-stop?? It seems like when you have poor aim with a frisbee, you can't help but be nice to the intended receiver as they run around trying to retreiver errant disks. By this time, it was probably around 7:30 or so. Guess what? Stormy Peaks proved its namesake and thunder, lightening and rain were upon us again. I think it may have even hailed, I can't remember. It was great. I can't get enough wicked thunderstorms! And finally, when the storm passed, a FULL rainbow with a faint double extended over our happy little camp.
It was, once again, a pretty early night. I don't think I have consistently gone to bed before 9 pm in years!
The next day, I planned a fairly ambitious solo cross-country hike up the Stormy Peaks trail, which is the trail that heads from #1 to #2 on that map. Just past the #2, I planned on heading off trail to the west and going to the top of Sugarloaf Mt, which was the peak that we skirted around on our hike on the 4th. Then, I would head due Northwest just below Skull Point (not labeled) and ultimately wanted to hit that forked river in the green on the map, the South Fork of the Cache La Poudre River. There are some lakes that looked neat on the map; seemedlike a worthy goal. Then I would follow the Poudre drainage due North East, until I reconnected with the Storm Peaks Trail (near the S in Stormy). Hope that all makes sense. I got up pretty much with the trail crew as they hiked off to work. I was not far behind them, once I packed all my essentials for solo alpine backcountry hiking. The clouds were already thick but didn't seem ominous. I went from our campsite to the fork that leads up to the Stormy Peak Trail, which was a steep, wooded hike up through lots of switchbacks... and Tim's crew working. :) I got to check out the hard work they were doing, fixing erosion and moving absolutely monstrous rocks with griphoists and comealongs. They have their work cut out for them! Didn't stay long to admire my McDreamy's skills, and it wasn't long before I was panting and going up, up, up! Looking at the map, this was actually one of the steepest parts of my whole off-trail trip. Not very far up, the forest opened up and I found myself in an alpine bowl, with a small creek running down from Stormy Peaks Pass (the high point in the trail, and the saddle between Sugarloaf on the West, and Stormy Peaks on the East). There was still a bit of snow and the trail was pretty wet. I went slow, because I had already busted my butt on two other hikes, and it wasn't toooo bad getting up to the Pass. This was where I left the trail and headed west. The hiking up to Sugarloaf wasn't really that hard, just constant rocks to hop and scramble; but pretty consistent, and the slope wasn't killer. I made it up to Sugarloaf, where there was a sheer rock drop-off and a steep snow field leading down to a little lake. The view was awesome, and I could see all the way north to Pingree Park, the Koenig Ranch, and everything Tim and I had taken our motorcycles alongside on our first trip of the year. Clouds kept buildling almost directly above me, and I started thinking I wouldn't be completing the loop I hoped for. I did continue down the rocky sides, near Skull Point, going down to check out that drainage of the Poudre and maybe at least reach the little lakes. It was intensely sunny and, despite a cool breeze, the sun was baking hot! At one point, I took at step... and the "rock" below my foot exploded into a peeping mess of fluffy yellow feathers in every direction! It was a nest of ptarmigans, and they didn't make a noise or move until I literally nearly stepped on them! Scared the crap out of me, of course. I tried to geta photo, but they scattered and mom cackled and hid from me. I got low enough to realize that, by myself, and with the clouds looking iffy... the drainage looked sketchy, with thick trees - both that dwarf birch, which is tough to get through, and dense spruce - and sketchy looking rocks, and not knowing how wet the bottom was - I didn't think it was a good idea to chance it. It could have taken me quite a long time to just get to the bottom, yet alone follow the river to a bunch of lakes that I didn't know if I could get around, just to reach the trail again, and then have to go BACK up in elevation. So, I saw one of my little lakes from a distance, and then got even more bummed when my fluffy clouds directly overhead got angry looking. BAD place to be, up above treeline. And I didn't know it at the time, but the weird looking rocks with chunks taken out of them... they were BLOWN APART from lightening. Neat, yet uncomforting, thought.
I trudged back up the way I came, which sucked, because it was actually not a very good view, it was very rocky and pretty steep (didn't pay much attention on the way down!) and I just wanted to get down! But I had to go back UP to get down, because of that sheer rock cliff! It seemed like it took forever, but it really wasn't that bad. Soon I was skirting below Sugarloaf, aiming for where the Stormy Peaks Trail came up from the valley and met at my elevation at the Pass. An entire day of trekking the alpine without another soul around, and as soon as I reach the trail, I see two people. :) Oh, and yes mom, I carried a park radio in case I died. Though, it wouldn't be helpful then would it? ;) Tim and I did have a plan of me checking in by a certain point, so we took precautions.
Fueled by a caramel-filled Hersey bar and being chased by dark clouds, I sped down that nice bowl in no time and was soon in the trees again. Only when I turned around did I see just how nasty those clouds were. And they were exactly where I had been not even 1/2 hr earlier. Phew! Good timing again. Yet, the entire rest of the sky was beautiful blue. Stormy Peaks, I'm tellin' ya!
And this whole adventure really didn't last that long. I passed Tim and his crew again some time around 3 or 4, sat down and recalled my relatively timid adventure. Bummer I didn't reach my lakes, but it gave Tim and me ideas for other sweet overnight hikes. I was soon back in camp, threw down my heavy pack, and was soon helping Tim cook some elk meat and "slop". Ok, I really didn't do much, he had everything under control. :) But, I did go and filter water... with a huge delux size water filter, which was a little unruley but very efficient to pump lots of water. Then, I had to carry the water. It was heavy. Like, 45 lbs, and awkward. Silly girl! :)
I'm sure we played more frisbee, apologizing and swearing in the same sentence, and had an early night again. It never did storm on us that night; the storm stayed back over at Stormy Peaks Pass and went around us. That was how most of the storms were - the drainage was such that it would come straight for us, then get diverted just north or just south. We never got very wet, but always got a great show!
The next day, Saturday, I thought about hiking up to Mount Dunraven and, if I was really ambitious, going up to Hague, or Mummy. But that thought only lasted about 5 seconds. I took the day to relax, finish reading that Alaska book, sit in the sun on the big rock in the meadow, nap, eat... and pretend to fish again. I actually was going to give it a try though, and find a good spot to at least TRY to catch something. I picked a small fly that I had no idea was actually a wet fly (a midge, I was told later) and hiked into this wet willow and birch meadow to a spot along the North Fork, a small fast moving stream with little pockets behind rocks here and there. I took my little fly and really didn't do anything exciting - pulled out some line and just bounced it in and out of the water over a fish's head. I couldn't even try to cast, the vegetation was so thick. And I'll be damned! Got a hit right off the bat. The hard part is HOOKING the stupid things, especially with barbless hooks! I hooked the same stupid fish a few times, even brought him out of the water, only to have him wiggle off... and then, a miracle! I caught a small little 6-7 inch brook trout! He was so small and cute. But how the heck did I catch a fish?! Well, whatever I did, worked. I moved upstream to another little pocket. There was a big one that was lurking and bit at it a few times, but he didn't win the door prize. I probably HOOKED at least 6 fish that jumped off the hook before I landed them. But all in all, I landed 3 brookies. The biggest one was probably 9-10 inches. And they were so cute. :) So, I took a kissy photo with one. I was soooooo excited! I went back to base camp all happy like a little kid.
Everybody got back and it wassprinkling. Angela made some excellent brats as Tarp Mahal sprung MANY leaks and we all tried to find dry spots underneath. It rained for quite a while, and the boxed wine was gone quickly. Jack was happy for me, but bummed that I caught fish - not knowing what I was even doing - when he considers himself a fisherman and hadn't caught anything. He was trying for lakes though, which is tougher up here anyway.
My last night up there was rained upon but I didn't mind. It had been an excellent trip, I couldn't have asked for anything more... except more time! Soon Tim and I were curled up for the last time in the tent, rain softly falling.
In the morning, they went to work and I slept in a little. Gathered all my stuff and took my time leaving. Didn't want to! But eventually I was ready to go, and made one last stop up at the work site to see Tim and the crew. It was Sunday; they would be out Tuesday. The hike out went a lot faster than my hike in, and besides the biting flies, pretty uneventful. I never did see moose this time, though Tim did one morning. I had just missed them. I think I was back at the trailhead by 1, making it about a 3 hour or less hike out.
With all that said, I still can't describe what a great feeling it was to be up there, both with Tim and by myself, going on difficult hikes or lounging around sleeping and reading books about Alaska. And no 4th of July tourists or traffic!!
So, there. There's the story.
Lots more has happened since then, but let me sum it up. A few motorcycle rides, lots of watching the Cougars (Tim's softball team) get killed by the other teams, walking Logan, and getting sick. Yeah, I've been really sick for the past 2 weeks. Not to get too descriptive, but maybe hiatal hernia?? Stomach just freaking HURT, but I am finally feeling good enough to eat! While I got ill, Logan's shoulder miraculously got better! No more limping! I am psyched. Still taking it easy, in case he's faking it. :) But I think him and I may start jogging once I'm feeling 100%!
And also awesome, was that my Aunt Julie, Uncle Tom, and cousins Jenna and Katie, and Jenna's fiance Brian came out to visit for a day! They met Tim (Timmmmay!) and I took them through the park, up Old Trail Ridge Road. Got to see a bighorn and they absolutely loved the marmots... played in the snow (Jenna fell on her butt!) and had pretty packed day, for only a few hours! Hopefully they will come back some day! :)
Uhhh, Tim and I went to see Leftover Salmon at Red Rocks with Kim and Kevin last weekend. Awesome venue! I mean, natural rock amphitheater! Can't get much better. I can't even remember what else I've been up to except being sick. Besides that, it's been great! I got plane tickets for Tim and me for Brian's wedding in Seattle, which I am so psyched for. We are flying in early and going to hike to the ocean in Olympic National Park, camp out for a night, and then do all the wedding stuff. Yay! I'm even more excited that he suggested, if we both can swing it this winter with work and money and stuff, that we take a roadtrip with Log Dog and drive back to Michigan, stay with my folks for a little bit, then drive to Pennsylvania and meet HIS parents for the first time! And, my shepherd can play with his sister's shepherd, Thor! I really hope it happens. It would be great to see my family and meet his! Oh, and he is TRYING to go to Alaska in October and I am going to try to swing that too, but we'll see. He really needs to get working on his cabin, and I just learned how to do trim at work this week, so maybe I'd be useful. :)
Ok bedtime. Hope this is good enough for now. :P
