September 9, 2002 31º-51º @UTY <- previous day | epilogue -> I was up early; and except for the water bottle in my bag still had to deal with some freezing. And since I had pretty much used up all the food, breakfast was a bit skimpy. But I anticipated the pizza slices at the store at…
<- previous day | following day -> September 8, 2002 26º-52º @UTY A cold morning greeted us. The only time on the trip, in fact, that my feet were cold. So cold that it took about twenty minutes of hiking to thaw them out. It didn’t take much motivation to get us going, since we knew we…
<- previous day | following day -> September 7, 2002 28º-43º @BSH The clouds had broken up during the night, and the weather was clear and cold. My water bottles were frozen solid. And all of our gear not under the tarp had a heavy layer of frost on it. We spread it out to catch the…
<- previous day | following day -> September 6, 2002 31º-41º @BSH Up by 8:00, we circled around the very long, and very popular Rae’s Lakes, where there is a Ranger station and a few bear boxes. After passing those, the trail immediately ascends to Glen Pass. We reached Glen Pass (11,978′) by 11:00 or even earlier….
<- previous day | following day -> September 5, 2002 38º-48º @BSH In the morning, we were both freezing. Fixing breakfast and breaking camp, packing our packs, filtering water, were not easy tasks as my hands were frozen. Got out of there by 8:15. Made it to Pinchot Pass (12,130′) by 10:00. Saw Tim and Cheryl there,…
<- previous day | following day -> September 4, 2002 40º-50º @BSH I wasn’t even able to make travel notes this day because for the first time on the trip the weather became a major factor. We left camp 15 at 7:45, and I had noticed a lot of clouds at dawn. Rather unusual, as I had…
<- previous day | following day -> September 3, 2002 42º-56º @BSH Awoke early to get down to the trail junction early, where the escort was to begin. We saw smoke when we got up, and we passed a campsite of NPS fire workers on the way. They told us they’d meet us at the junction. Took…
<- previous day | following day -> September 2, 2002 41º-59º @BSH We left Evolution Lake at 8:00, and made our way up around it, Sapphire Lake and Wanda Lake (named after one of Darwin’s daughters). I thought to myself there was indeed camping available at these spots, and perhaps we could have gone further the day before,…
<- previous day | following day -> September 1, 2002 41º-59º @BSH A 7:30 start and relatively easy 1,000′ ascent to Evolution Valley. Except for the spot where I fell into the river. One crossing was hard to find, I took a route across which relied on me stepping on a few small balanced rocks. Well, they…