Catching up from the Summer

All summer long I tend to be so busy that I rarely have time to write. But it's dumping snow outside, so I'm going to try to catch up on a bit of what I've been up to through the summer. Here's a look at the second backpacking trip of my year, early in the summer with my good friend Beth. 

The trail started off quite steep! 

Part of the way up, we took a break for lunch under the trees. 

Then we got up to a high ridge which was quite windy! 

Unlike most mountain hikes, the steep start led to a very mellow peak summit, but with stunning views. 

 Then we hiked back down and to a lake where we planned to camp. The rain, hail, and massive wind gusts started while we were trying to eat dinner. 

So we got in bed pretty quick and got a good nights sleep. When I woke up, this was my view out the door of my tent. Beth's tent is the slight more orange looking "rock" in the center. And it was snowing heavy wet flakes! We knew this weather was a possibility when we headed out, but were hoping there was a chance it wouldn't snow. 😀

So instead of doing the third day plan we were hoping for, which would have involved a lot of travel over rock that was now slick and icy, we decided to head back out. And got snowed or rained on most of the way. 

Above is water actively running down the trail, that's how fast it was coming down. 

And sometimes it was just thick fog. We made it back to the car and were glad to get home and be in our warm dry houses that night as it continued to snow through the night and next day. But it was still a fun trip!