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| Mistymoon Lake |
Just as I thought, sleep did not come easy though I did manage to doze off around 11 PM. Sleep, however, was short lived and fitful. Just after midnight I woke up shivering from the cold and promptly rummaged through my “pillow” to find my light fleece and hat. This was good enough to buy me another hour of sleep after an hour of tossing and turning to get comfortable. By 3 AM I awoke with my legs, feet and hands freezing so I depleted my pillow even further by putting on a pair of socks and swapping the fleece for the down sweater, and putting the fleece around my legs. Now all that remained in my pillow was an extra pair of socks, pant legs and rain gear. After another hour of tossing, turning and cursing Montbell, I was able to sleep until 7:30. Not a good night.
My back was killing me due to spending so much time in sleeping position. There was condensation in the tent and I had a wet sleeping bag. What fun, and to top it all off the mosquitoes were out in force already.
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| We were planning on spendinig the night at one of these lakes but Canadian Dude thought we could go higher up and find a suitable site. |
All I needed was a good breakfast to lift my spirits so I went to my new go-to morning meal: Backpacker’s Pantry Denver omelet mix and tortillas. Breakfast burrito’s, baby!
Not wanting to stick around our mosquito-infested camp minute longer than necessary, we were back on the trail by 8:30 and by 8:40 met our friendly backcountry ranger again who we figured was camped above Mistymoon where he could keep an eye on the place.
By 9:00 we were above the tree line and 10 minutes later arrived at Mistymoon Lake. Brad was quite taken by the sight of the alpine lake and of Bomber Mountain and Cloud Peak behind it. I have to admit to being excited myself as the last time I was here I blew past the lake trying to get to Lake Solitude.
We really didn’t have any idea of where we were going today though we did have a loose plan to hike up into the drainage between Bomber Mountain and Cloud Peak. My extensive Google Earthing revealed a few decent spots to camp near Lake 10,728 but any attempt to summit either mountain from here would require a longer approach so we nixed that plan.
Instead, we continued north past Mistymoon on trail 38 to a couple of unnamed lakes which would give us good access to Bomber. It was still early but we were looking for a dry, level campsite when Brad came up with the idea to hike 450’ up a wash in hopes that there would be a spot to camp.
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| Checking the next level up...too wet. |
As it turned out, the boulder hopping would be good experience for later and we were able to find enough level ground to put up our tents at 10,850’. Total solitude, no mosquitoes and a small stream made for a near-perfect camp. The only problem was that it was only noon.
Neither of us really wanted to climb Bomber today so we settled in and ate some lunch. Afterwards, we each decided to take a little nap. So much for high adventure.
With Brad sound asleep and I unable to achieve a similar state, I decided to climb above camp just to see w hat I could see. We were pretty much surrounded on all sides but I thought I could possibly get high enough to see Gunboat Lake which was directly east of Mistymoon.
I got up as high as I could but was unable to see Gunboat. I was, however, treated to a nice view of Mistymoon and all points south and west. I snapped off a few pictures and climbed back down to camp and a now-awake Brad. I convinced him to come back up with me to check it our for himself.
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| We found some level ground! (13T 324983 4913687) |
Once we got back to camp we decided to head off to a low pass to our west and check out the drainage to the east of Cloud Peak. It didn’t take long to get up to the top and reap our reward. The drainage was beautiful though dwarfed by the immense size of Cloud Peak. Across the valley we spied what we hoped would be a great camp for tomorrow. According to the topo there was plenty of flat space on a small bench. The only question was whether or not there was any dry real estate on the bench. Our new plan was to take advantage of that location and hike up to the Summit of Cloud Peak tomorrow.
Satisfied that our plan was a winner, we hiked back down to camp for dinner. Tonight I'd gorge myself on cheesy mashed potatoes and stuffing while having to battle mosquitoes which seemed to be thicker than the Glacier hatch of 2004.
By 8 PM we were both in the protection of our tents. I didn't know exactly why, but this was one of the beter days I'd ever spent in the backcountry. Maybe it was the short day or the fact that we had a killer camp site. Whatever the reason, I prepared myself for many more such days by bundling up and zipping on my pants legs before trying to sleep. There was no way I was going to freeze to death tonight.
As things turned out, I wound up removing the down jacket in the middle of the night but still managed to sleep like crap. Oh well, I'm sure the excitement of tomorrow's climb would provide enough adreneline to keep me going.
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