Eggs 2 days in a row—I don’t think so. Pam tried to pull a fast one on me and get me to try an egg white omelet. Truth of the matter, it was my bad. I put all the meals together and was trying to get over my chicken partial birth aversion and I didn’t read the package when I bought this meal—it calls for a skillet and not just adding boiling water. We decided to give it a try anyway; how bad could it be? I’d rather eat ass. We ended up just having some oatmeal instead.
It was a grueling climb up to Gray Wolf Pass (remember, old flatlander talking here). As the crow flies, it was only a mile to the pass but the NPS trail crew managed to cram in 3.5 miles of trail so we had a few loop-de-loops in addition to a staggering number of switchbacks. For enjoyment, I kept looking over our shoulder at Wellesley Peak across the river valley to keep track of our progress. I eventually came to love this peak as it went from towering over us to being eye level.
As we were nearing the pass, literally, on the final approach having seen the sign just ahead of us for just a couple minutes, a lone female hiker out of nowhere just blew on by. She had to have been hiking about 4mph; snails in the trail were doing a wave in her honor (I only discovered this when we sped up the video afterwards, snails being snails). By the time we got to the pass, she had already hiked a side trail towards Mt Cameron to get a better view, came back down and bounced up towards Mount Deception, came down again and headed down the other side of the pass. If she had been wearing red and yellow, I might have thought she was the Flash’s sister.
It was quite windy on the pass so we opted to push on before stopping. We could see a few glacial lakes below so we decided to head down to them for lunch. The trail down the north side of the pass was every bit as bad as the trail up Cameron Pass had been, but Pam took off like a shot out of a cannon. I was a little intimidated by the trail, but she was over all her fear now. When we stopped for lunch at the lake, she admitted that she had been anxious about the climb over the last pass ever since “The Cameron Commotion” but now that all the passes were behind us, she was invigorated.
Soaking your feet in a glacial lake is very pleasant for the first 3 seconds, after that, they quickly turn blue. It was a relaxing lunch break. We saw all kinds of birds and some even plopped down close trying to get some free food—boy, were they disappointed because our hiker appetite had kicked in. We tried to get a 10 worm exchange for a cracker crumb worked out, but they wouldn’t go over 8, so no deal.
We still had another 3 mile hike ahead of us so we reluctantly got going. Not 5 minutes down the trail we heard an abrupt scream. We rushed on to see what was happening only to find ourselves in the middle of a real life version of pop-a-marmot. The trail runs right through the middle of a colony and they had lookouts station to warn of approaching danger. They were very cute popping out of one hole and waddling (apparently food is not a problem for this group) quickly to the neighbor’s house.
The rest of the hike was smooth sailing downhill. By the time we crossed the first footbridge we knew we were getting close. The camp tonight was filled with downed trees with a few clearings large enough for a tent. We set up camp and Pam unpacked while I went to filter water. While I was getting water, I met an older couple in their 70s that were doing a 40th anniversary hike of the first time they camped here. I ended up talking to them a little bit longer than I thought because by the time I got back to our camp, Pam was snoring. When I woke her up, she said she was worried because I was taking so long. So worried that she opted to take a nap rather than look for me.
I tried to talk her into going meet the old couple but she wasn’t moving. Her hip was bothering her from the run downhill today. We went to bed at dusk. As usual, about the time we get all settled in and warm, I have to make my first expedition of the night. On my second excursion, something new happened. Pam got up to pee in the middle of the night. In 5 years of being together, I can count the number of times this has happened on a single hand. I was so glad I got her to drink a large hot tea with supper so we could share this magic moment. The night sky was so crisp and clear. Absolutely no light pollution. Everyone should see the Milky Way so clearly.
