Burn areas are just another part of the forest lifecycle, but today it felt like we spent most of our time in them. I spent a lot of the day hiking with new people and it was really fun. We took more breaks than I usually do which was nice since today was so exposed.
Earlier today we had heard about a route from a sobo hiker that would help avoid the big climb we would have at the end of the day. This group loves shortcuts so they were intrigued. Generally I don’t like taking alternates just because their easier so I wasn’t planning on doing it.
When I got to the junction with where the alternate started I read more about it. This involved offtrail rock scrambling and some route-finding. Looking at the map, it probably didn’t even cut out much climbing. I met another hiker that was coming up from the alternate and he bailed, thinking he couldn’t find a safe way over the next pass. This made me want to do it even more.
This pile of rocks was the hard part. It took a long time to scramble to the top but it wasn’t particularly scary or dangerous. After getting to the top some instructions said I should find a trail. I did not find a trail, but it was a fairly easy walk down on steep grass and dirt. Eventually I made it to a lake that had a trail connecting to the CDT.
Where I met back up with the CDT was about halfway up the last climb of the day. I had cut out quite a bit but my earlier scramble made up for most of that difference and the off trail travel was a lot of effort.
After all that effort I wondered if I had saved any time or if everyone else would be waiting for me at the bottom of the pass at Johnson Lake.
The only person that made it to the lake before me was the only person that left before me. The hiker I saw that bailed on the route hadn’t even gotten down yet.
We got an InReach message that everyone had stopped at the bottom of Pintler Pass. I guess they didn’t take the alternate.