Hiking With Gadget Girl
It's All About The Adventure!
After yesterday's brutal hike (there's that word again), I was a little leery on what this day would bring. It started off quite cold, with frost lying on plants and open areas.
I was looking forward to Lake Ann as I had heard and read so many comments about this lake and the pass itself. It started off much easier than yesterday and yes, it had its uphills but they were much easier to deal with. We've been hiking a lot in treed forests except when we get above treeline almost to the top and can see the views. We ran into a Colorado Trail crew and spent a few minutes visiting with them. Three of them were PCT thru hikers and they recognized our gear as "one of them".
Continuing upward, we arrived at Lake Ann and yes, it was beautiful. The water was like the color of jade.
Still quite windy and very chilly. Had a snack, filtered some water and then continued switchbacking to the top, elevation 12,588 ft.
There were two guys sitting in their camp chairs, drinking a beverage and enjoying the view.
Continuing down the other side, we had a view of a long flat valley with a huge Reservoir in the distance. Part way down I noticed movement on my right side, stopped and watched as a curious Pika decided to see if these humans would be so kind to drop a morsel their way. Pikas are usually quite shy and stay at a distance so this was quite a treat to see one up close. Of course we're snapping pics just hoping one would turn out.
We continued downhill and it seemed to take forever to arrive at the bottom. Meanwhile, a section of this side of the mountain allows dirtbikes so a long length of trail was torn up, water sources were muddy, big ruts were in the middle of trail, and just plain made a mess of things.
Finally arriving at the bottom of the trail, we didn't want to go any further but couldn't find a good campsite or water.
Looking at the maps it looked like the trail continued along the open marshy meadow. Maybe we would luck out in the next half mile. On we went, then suddenly, we both see a MOOSE out in the marshy meadow! Wow! I finally saw my first moose!
But I was so glad that she was far away from us. She kept her eye on us as we kept our eye on her as we slowly hiked past. Also saw a beaver mound/home. Unfortunately the water had dried up.
Found a little campsite, not the best, so we kept going. Another 2/10's mile we see a nice campsite but it's already taken. I gathered my courage up and asked if we could pitch our tents alongside theirs? Absolutely, and by the way, is one of you Gadget Girl? Well, that floored us! Wow, I'm known all the way to the Colorado Trail! Actually, they were resupplying in Buena Vista and ran into Dave who said that there was a possibility that they might run into us. And we did! A very exciting 16 mile day, much better than yesterday. I think I'll keep hiking....
NOTE: If you are interested in seeing more pictures of this day, click here.