Hiking With Gadget Girl
It's All About The Adventure!
It was delightful to have an unexpected night off the trail. Dave deposited us back at Cottonwood Pass and we started up the hill.
It was mostly blue skies but with a little bit of high whispy clouds hanging around. We had heard that south of Cottonwood Pass was quite beautiful and we can confirm that to be true. It was a bit different from the soul sucking morning uphills and afternoon downhills we had been experiencing. Today it was like doing four mini passes in one day.
The views were gorgeous and we stayed up above treeline most of the day. Even though we didn't do a massive uphill today, by the time we finished the 16 mile day, our total elevation was 3,532 ft up and 4,591 ft down.
As we descended a mini pass we went around a big patch of snow and saw stones sticking up in the air. They looked like headstones in a graveyard. The trail then led us through a wet section streams flowed down the hills and created gorgeous rock gardens.
Fall is starting to arrive at the higher elevations and the colors are starting to turn on the plants and leaves.
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It was a challenge to get to the top of the final mini pass, switchbacks up a steep incline, hoping we would get over before the thunderstorms started. Took a celebration photo before we started down the other side.
The weather really rolled in and was mostly cloudy for the afternoon. It became quite cold and we put on extra layers. Our final decent was into the Woodchopper drainage and when we reached the bottom of the valley, we could hear motorcycles on the road that we crossed over.
We hunted in the woods for a flat campsite and finally found one that could accommodate two tents, didn't have any leaning trees above us, but the site did have a little slope to it. It was a huge day of ups and downs and we were exhausted.
NOTE: If you are interested in seeing more pictures of this day, click here.