Sunday, July 18, 2004
Some Days Have Their Ups and Downs
07/18/04
At some point during the night I was awakened with splashes of water on my face. I looked around. Spur's bright journaling was the only sign of life. I was convinced the trees would provide enough protection from the rain, but I was half asleep. Not long after I hear Apple Pie say, "Cupcake, it's raining pretty hard," and she expressed a desire to have me join her.
I prepared the stuff I was leaving behind for the rain to wash and carried my pads, bag and pillow over to my new home. I didn't sleep well for the rest of the night, but I did have a great dream about getting a commission to do the master plan for a wealthy private high school.
We got an early start so that we could make it to Rainbow Pass, about 19 miles away.
The most amazing and unexpected thing happened today. I was walking along through forest when something caught my eye. Wow. It was an erratic. l looked around an saw a few others, then I looked at the rocks at my feet: Granite!
Within the course of a short distance, we transitioned between the sedimentary/ metamorphic rock of the last 400+ miles to good ol' granite. I knew the Rockies had been covered in glaciers in the past, but to my eye trained in the Sierra, I saw few similarities. Then I untangled the mystery: the geologic basis of the contemporary landscape was different so the results of glaciation were different.
The area with granite also had larch trees, the deciduous conifers I first learned about on the PCT.
Today had lots of ups and downs, a lot of it very pretty. At one point I was working up a set of switchbacks which, on one side, had a very sharp drop off just after the trail's turn. High up I was approaching one of these dramatic turns when two fast-flying Clark's Nutcrackers split their synchronized path around me. I could feel the wind from their wings on my legs. I spun around to watch their diverging trajectories, one into the trees above, the other back into the vastness of the air in the cirque.
We reached Rainbow Pass, where we set up camp. The pass was the highest point yet on our hike, somewhere around 9,200'. In the morning, we'll decide if we are going to hike cross-country along the Divide, or drop down on the trail. I hope the weather will allow us this little adventure.
When the stillness of drifting off to sleep settles in, I sometimes experience a remnant of the physical sensation of the day. In Glacier, I'd feel my feet slipping away on the snow. Tonight, I'm feeling the annoyance of bugs buzzing my face.
Flowers today: yellow columbine with pink pedals, Indian paintbrush, lupine, rein orchid, penstamen, violets, and more.
