Fifty Mountain
6/16/04
My second day on the CDT was great.
The moose were on the lake when we set out hiking. Saw wolf tracks, grizzly tracks, black bear tracks, elk tracks, and a whole bunch of other tiny ones as we made our way south.

We are camped at Fifty Mountain campground. It's a backcountry site AND in winter conditions, which means we are camped on snow. I'm not really prepared to camp on snow, but we'll see how my efforts go. I used fallen bark from burned trees to create my first layer of insulation.

50 Mountain Camp in the snow

Next is my ground cloth, a piece of spinnaker cloth, then various pieces of what I won't need while sleeping, then on top of that is my 3/4 length inflatable pad. Just below my pad, I have my backpack under my torso, my shortie sitting pad under my feet, and my insulated food cozy under my head.

Me, exhausted but happy

Outside the rain is turning to snow, but not flakes. It's more frozen balls that are not hail.

The hiking was good today. The photos can only begin to describe what I can not and what the reality of being way up high in this landscape is.

A tiny glimpse of the scenery and grandeur of today's hiking

Because today was such a short day (reserverd campsites) we got in early. We practiced using our ice axes, which was fun, fun, fun. I hope none of us needs to use our arrest skills in real conditions.

Gottago's image of Cupcake attempting to self arrest

- posted by JustSit @ 8:03 AM