Album: journal:20110626 | ||||||||||
I'm quite pleased to have made it to this tiny alpine lake between Searle and Kokomo Passes. It is 35.1 degrees at the moment and sure to get colder but that's okay. I'll be warm in my sleeping bag within my thermal bivy sack. This is a great spot to start tomorrow's hike. I hope to be in Leadville tomorrow. I'd better be because my stove is out of fuel and I lost a hiking pole during a stream crossing this morning. Not only is that a hinderance when hiking through snow but I need two poles to set up my tent and now just have the one. Great hiking weather again today. As I left Copper behind I hiked up a valley to Jacque Creek. I'd been warn that the logs bridging the creek were icy so I decided to straddle them and scoot across. I'd need my hands free so I threw a pole across expecting it to fly gracefully end over end to the other side. Instead the end basically nose dived into the log bridge and fell into the rushing water. Doh! The next one I threw across like a spear. After that little mishap I crossed Guller Creek and hiked up the valley next to it admiring the high water and many beaver ponds. At about the 11,000 foot level near the head of the valley the snow drifts returned to plague me. On and off with the snow shoes a couple times before putting them on for good. I lost track of the trail again and before floundering around too much I exited the trees and took a direct snow route to the pass. Good snow and a straight forward trip up to Searle Pass. On the other side the trail appeared and disappeared between snowfields as it contoured around the cirque on its way to Kokomo Pass. That's where I am now below Elk Ridge. Now it's 33.6 degrees. Update: I woke up once during the night and checked the temp: 25.9 degrees. That's about as low as I can go with this sleeping setup I think. |
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