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| Dorf successfully navigates another stream crossing |
We experienced another cold night but were spared the dreaded condensation, probably due to a light breeze which remained until morning. Up at 7:15, the sun was just starting to make its way over the ridge to the east. It was going to be another beautiful day.
I decided to make an easy breakfast and settled for a PB & J wrap and orange drink while the other two men fired up their Pocket Rockets for a hot breakfast. By 8:45 we were off on what would prove to be another epic day.
We'd decided the night before that we would try to get a little higher up on the plateau by heading up to lake 10,832 via Copepod and Cladocera Lakes. I really didn't have a clue what we'd find up there but assumed more snow and bouldering would be included in the day's activities. The truth be known, I hadn't even given this area a look on Google Earth since our original route had us hiking west to east about 2 miles south of our planned destination, so whatever happened would be uncharted territory
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Ward displaying cat-like agility crossing a raging stream
Views from Copepod and Cladocera Lakes |
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One thing I did know, however, was that we'd begin the day doing the one thing I hated doing to begin the day: Climbing. Today it would be a climb up the stream to Copepod Lake. From our vantage point at camp we knew it would be fairly steep and covered with patches of snow. We'd obviously be bouldering again, possibly on wet, slippery ones. What we didn't know was which side of the stream would be the best way up so a tricky crossing might also be on the menu?
So, with a lot of questions and no answers we started off at 8:45 by climbing out from Flat Rock Lake. Hiking mostly on boulders, we managed to make pretty good time while climbing about 400' but were soon "snowed out" and had to cross over.
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| Looking down on Flat Rock Lake |
Hiking on a mix of boulder and snow does not go well as anyone who has done this before can probably attest. During the daytime, the heat of the sun warms up the rock, causing snow melt which usually undercuts the snow below the rock's top surface. The result is essentially a miniature snow bridge which can easily be post-holed through. Legs can be torn up by sharp granite, ankles sprained, etc..
That said, the crossing would not be an easy one. Despite the early hour, the stream was flowing pretty good. I was glad I carried two trekking poles instead of the single hiking staff Ward was using.
Brad, who didn't have to change into water shoes, would make the first crossing, carefully probing his way across. I didn't think he took the easiest way across but Ward followed his route once Brad was safely on the other side (see movie link above for a short video).
In the meantime, I spied a way across that looked doable without going in over my knees. I was right, but that didn't matter. The water was ice cold and the current stronger than you might think. Add some very slimy submerged rocks and the crossing bordered on "sketchy".
Now safely across the stream, we continued to make our way upstream perhaps another 150'-200' vertical feet until we stood atop a small ridge looking down on Copepod Lake.
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| Copepod and Cladocera Lakes |
Looking more like late spring than the first week of August, snow was everywhere. Ice was still covering parts of the lake an. a few small tarns. We paused to check out the maps and tried to find the safest way up to Cladocera Lake
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| Looking back at a partially frozen Cladocera Lake |
and figured we'd be walking on snow no matter which way we went, so we might as well take the most direct line. W also figured that now was a good time for a break so we hiked down to a grassy patch and spent 15 minutes lounging in comfort without any mosquitoes tormenting us. Beautiful.
Our little trek on the snow was an easy stroll and we quickly found ourselves at the head of Cladocera Lake facing another climb (see video). This one would be much easier than the first and we figured to be up to Lake 10,832 within a half hour.
We would have been right except we failed to take into account that the higher elevation might just mean more snow.
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| The wall of snow en route to Lake 10832. We'd detour to Hermit Lake instead. |
And more snow there was. Directly in front of us was a huge wall of snow that may have reached upwards of 150' high. Under other circumstances we would have skirted around the road block or even climbed straight up. Not this time. The wall was steep and the snow was not yet soft enough to kick in good steps. Though the right devoid of snow, a near vertical rock face eliminated an attempt from that side. To the left was more snow and the grade not that steep. Let's check the map and see what's over that way?
Hermit Lake. Why not? We were going to head south at 10,832 anyway so we began climbing the much easier snow slope.
Hermit Lake was typical of the other lakes up there in that it was surrounded by snow and had large floe's of ice floating within its confines. We found some shelter from a strong breeze and decided to take lunch. We needed a plan for the night and after another check of the maps figured Big Butte Lake looked like a good candidate for a camp site.
The hike down from Hermit had us following another stream, again hiking on snow and hopping boulders. By the time we got down between Gravel and Till Lakes it was after 1:00 but seemed earlier. We continued to descend for a short while and were then treated to a broad view of the Beartooth Plateau looking west. Before us lay the very drainage we were originally planning on hiking. Big Butte Lake was directly in front of us with Desolation Lake further west and above. That would have been some mighty fine hiking had we been able to do it.
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| Looking east from above Big Butte Lake |
Once we got down to Big Butte the most obvious campsites would be along the east shore so we fanned out and started looking. Though grass was everywhere, much of the ground was wet or uneven or pocked with small rocks so we moved on down to Anchor Lake. Unfortunately, there wasn't anything suitable on the east side of the lake so we were probably going to have to hike down to the trees at Jorden Lake unless we could find something close by.
As luck would have it there was a small site located just across the outlet stream at the foot of Anchor. All we had to do was cross the stream and we were essentially there. By 3 PM our tents were up and we began our daily ritual of donning our mosquito nets and drinking lots of fluids.
For the first time on this or the Bighorns trip I decided to eat some commercial freeze dried grub for dinner. I had a craving for Beef Stroganoff and just happened to have a small portion with me which was fine. I've lost my taste for all but the pasta primavera which I didn't have with me.
After dinner I made the difficult climb up to our designated bear bag hanging rock face in my Crocs without falling just before we were pelted with light sprinkles. I was secretly hoping for one monster storm sometime during the trip just because I wanted to see how the contrail would hold u but it wouldn't come tonite. 10 minutes later the rain stopped and we all assumed our positions on various rocks to hash out the world's problems and, of course, battle the mosquitoes.
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| Our camp at Anchor Lake (12T 601619 4989971). |
Our talk centered on how incredible the hike had been so far and the possibility of coming back the next summer. I was a little bummed because I thought Yumi and my 2006 trip to the Winds was as good as it could get. Then the 2007 Winds trip with Reed and Ward easily topped that. I'm sure Ward was probably thinking nothing could be better than that when he signed on for this one, and so was I. So why was I bummed? I was already feeling the pressure to come up with something better for '09.
There was some vague talk about maybe going to the San Juan's in Colorado (which is on my "Wish List") and maybe an offtrail exploratory behind the continental divide in the Fitzpatrick Wilderness in the Wind River Range, but we seemed to be stuck on the Beartooths. Secretly, however, I was thinking hard about Colorado just because it would be something to get me out of the Wyoming-Montana "rut".
By the end of another incredible day in the backcountry the sun had poked through the clouds which were starting to break up nicely. Again, we studied the maps before deciding we'd hike down to Jorden Lake, pick up the trail for a couple of miles before heading back up to the Crystal Lake Basin for night 5. I'd circled this part of the map months ago and was looking forward to camping at one of the lakes in particular: Alp Lake. tomorrow we'd finally get a closer look
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