HIGHLIGHTS
Miles traveled: 19.6
Lift Gain/Loss: 4200/3700
Learned element:
Fauna worth mentioning: White partridge with its 5 chicks!
Human encounters: Iceman; Bat out of hell; Puma
Low: The descent, ending segment 3 (this is becoming a thing; the descents from the passes seem endless)
High: Crossing 4-5 mountain passes and still having enough gas to do a 5th/6th at 6:30 pm!
Trail Diary
Today I realized that the cramps and pain in my legs have not been a problem for a few days! When I first started the trail, I would wake up in the middle of the night with leg cramps. I finally have my “hiking legs” (and I hope my “hiking feet” too); It’s exciting to see where they take me.
I started the morning with a hot coffee in my tent. After gathering enough warmth, I bravely unzipped my sleeping bag and threw my cold hiking clothes into the toe of my sleeping bag. Then I rezipped my sleeping bag and waited a few minutes for my clothes to warm up before putting them on. (They actually heat up pretty quickly this way, so I stopped sleeping with them in my sleeping bag.)
At 6 in the morning we were on the road again. We stopped intermittently throughout the day for snacks and filtered water.
Sunrise over Lost Lake (CW Segment 3).
Walking the ridges makes the climb a worthwhile step!
Lunch (My favorite chocolate bar)
Lunch continued (aged gouda I packed from the city)
Mother ptarmigan and her 5 chicks; They’ll be easier to see on my Instagram because in a still image, they blend in so well with their surroundings!
WE ADDED SO MANY PASSES TODAY. I think my favorite pass was the highest point on segment 3. We were greeted with purple flowers lining the trail and also a fairly flat trail around the basin, along the ridge.
We had been going up and down these mountain passes all day that when we finally had to descend into a valley in the middle of the afternoon, our knees were not ready for the transition. It was a brutal few kilometers into the valley; We arrived around 3:30 pm.
We decided to reward ourselves with an early dinner at North Fork Chalk Creek before filtering the water and heading out again.
We knew we had one more summit left before we reached our goal of “camping next to an old railroad track.” Some people discouraged us from going, thinking the last step was going to be too much.
We were surprised that we covered the 5.4 miles quickly and found the desired campsite at 7:30 p.m.
Descending the ridge below Emma Burr Mountain
Posing for a selfie at the summit with Iceman, Wild and me
Purple wildflowers lined the trail around the basin.
Early dinner at North Fork Chalk Creek.
Near one of the passes over Tunnel Lake.
Old railway and our camp for the night. Afternoon winds draw a significant amount of wildfire smoke into the valleys.
See you there
Britt
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