I’m so glad I got the beginning of that climb out of the way. Even on fresh legs it felt rough. It was over quickly and before I knew it was walking around the lakes just outside of the Cirque.
At Barren Lake I could see a lot of fish action on the surface so I decided to get out my rod. Some of the fish were close to the shore so I thought I had a chance.
I caught one! Sorta. Most people wouldn’t consider it a catch but I had it out of the water hanging from my rod for a few seconds. It’s better than I’ve done most of the times I’ve fished on trail. I spent a few more minutes trying to get a real catch and only got another bite. It was a nice beginning to the day that I need to take more advantage of.
As I was passing Shadow Lake I saw some move t out of the corner of my eye and noticed this weird thing.
It’s a porcupine! Its spines didn’t look very threatening until it turned around and showed me it’s butt. I guess that’s where the sharp ones are. This is the first porcupine I’ve seen while backpacking. I used to see them in Michigan occasionally, but I don’t think I’ve seen one since moving.
This section of trail is one I did last summer on my failed high route attempt. The CDT sorta drops out of the mountains a little, but you can see them off in the distance.
Eventually the trail made it’s way back to some forest and hillier terrain. It was about this time I noticed a thunderstorm brewing.
I spent the next few hours trying to keep ahead of it. I always seemed to be right on the edge, sometimes getting some rain, sometimes some sun. At one point some pretty large hail fell.
This made hiking stressful since the end of my planned day involved three small mountain passes. I was moving faster than I wanted to and was getting very tired. I didn’t want to stop to rest or eat because I didn’t want to get caught in the storm.
Around this time I was thinking about how few people I had seen today. Once leaving the area around the Cirque I had only seen a single person. An older man who said he had too much food and gave me some freeze dried strawberries. Then I came around the corner and saw a ton of people. Five were off hiking in the distance and there were another three groups making camp. It was kind of a jarring change after being alone all day.
I eventually made it up over the first pass and it seemed I had beaten the storm. When I looked back from the second and third passes I saw white fluffy clouds over a dark scary sky, but it had stayed right there, not coming any further. I thought about camping after the second one but pressed on and was rewarded with this.
This huge lake basin is one of the most incredible places I’ve ever seen. It was totally worth all that running up mountains at the end of the day to get this place all to myself. None of those other people I saw made it this far. There was even a nice breeze to keep the mosquitoes at bay while I hung out at Camp.
Remember those freeze dried strawberries? Since I had some extra time at camp I did an experiment. I lost the water flavoring I bought at the store so I thought I’d try making some strawberry water.
It didn’t work too well. The water tastes a bit like strawberries, but just barely. I think tomorrow I’m gonna try my Sour Patch Watermelons in a drink. They’re like, made of sugar, so I bet they’ll be good.
The breeze lasted long enough for me to cook dinner outside my tent. Then the mosquitoes swarmed while I ate and cleaned up. Then the sun set and I was treated to this view.
I still can’t believe I’m the only one out here. Sometimes it pays to walk the extra mile.