Things happen even before morning. At 2:47 AM I stuck my head out of my tent (cold, but not freezing) and looked up. The sky was clear and THE STARS WERE GREAT. The stars were like dust, and the great thick band stretching directly overhead was The Milky Way.
You know this morning's hike up to Indian Pass is going to look AWESOME in Google Earth:
I like getting up-and-out as soon as it is light (for today, that was 7:19 AM). These mountains are pretty RAW:
Fremont Peak on the left, Jackson Peak on the right:
Yes, there are some pretty flowers up here, even if they are right below a snow bank:
Yes, at 10 AM, the trail goes across a snow bank:
Looking south at the Harrower Glacier:
Looking southwest, back down behind me:
I made it up to the top of Indian Pass at 10:20 - with its weird naked tree trunk stuck in the ground:
I went over the Pass and stared down into the Fitzpatrick Wilderness:
To my right was Knife Point Mountain, with the Knife Point Glacier spreading out beneath it:
In the full light of day, on my way back down, Indian Basin looks beautiful:
Say goodbye to Fremont Peak:
and this morning's hike ended at 12:30 (9.11 miles in 5 hours 11 minutes).
I rested for about an hour and a half. Two Rangers were replacing Trail Signposts, and I went down to thank them for their work. They appreciated the gesture, and then one of them said "Um, is that your tent up there?" I knew where this was going, but I said "Yes". He said "Do you know about the set-back rules?" [No camping within 200 yards of water, or 100 yards of a trail.] (I was spitting distance from the trail.) I said "Yes, I do." and he said that he was going to have to give me a ticket - $50 violation plus $30 processing fee. It was all very good-natured - I knew that I had tried to get away with something, but that I had been caught, so I should pay the price. We parted amicably.
Around 2 PM I started hiking up Titcomb Basin:
It turned out to be a really nice afternoon hike - not a lot of elevation at all:
30 minutes up the trail, a nice couple took my picture:
I kept going farther in/up:
and even went "beyond where the trail ended":
Beautiful view back down the Basin:
with a guy fishing in the upper lake:
5 minutes later, looking back at him fishing:
I like having people in my photos because it gives you perspective on how big and vast this all is.
I was only hiking with a small day-pack, and was back at the big pack by 5:30, so I picked it up and headed down the trail. As in the Beartooth, I figured any mile I hike now is one less mile I have to (get to?) hike tomorrow. So I continued from Island Lake to just past Little Seneca Lake:
An additional 3.61 miles, making this afternoon's hike 11.84 miles.
I had made another mistake, this one regarding "power management". I have a battery-backup for my iPhone, which works Great (I can get almost 2 full charges out of it). It, in turn, gets charged from a set of solar-charged batteries. Unfortunately, when I hiked Titcomb Basin, I should have laid out the solar panel and charged that battery pack - I didn't. So finishing today, and all my hike tomorrow, I was on very low/dead iPhone power.
Thank you God for these Beautiful Places, and for giving me the body that allows me to get out and explore!
Of course there are no "driving albums" today, but I did bring my iPod and little Boom Cube speaker, and in my tent before going to sleep I listen to:
the Grateful Dead - Reckoning, 1981 acoustic album
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