She'll be comin' round the mountain when she comes

Backpacking: part TWO

So we made it up the switchbacks after much trial and tribulation. We hopped over logs and rocks, crossed streams, ducked under branches and sidetracked around fallen trees but we made it. And wow, the meadow that we came to up there was breathtaking...well not really or else we couldn't have hiked anymore and we still had like 3 hours to go...

This is where the snow really started to appear. First it was just in patches then in bigger patches anywhere from 2-4 inches deep, but luckily the path was generally clear, if not muddy. The view from our rest stop was amazing, I wish I had pictures but I haven't got them from friends yet. (The only problem with having an amazing and huge camera is you can't take it everywhere, either due to weight or the possibility of damage.) As we kept hiking, we came upon more snow until we were going up trails covered in snow or muddy from melted snow and I'm surprised we all didn't end up on our faces in it. (Actually Heather DID fall face first into the snow...I have to say, I didn't see it but still laughed when I heard it.) We saw a sign that said 1.7 miles until our destination...I'm pretty sure it was wrong. Everyone else agreed that it felt more like 3 miles.

When we finally reached the campsite around 5, everyone collapsed basically. We then had to rouse ourselves in order to set up camp. The old firepit used in previous years had to be moved due to the snow and slush everywhere. Similarly, finding tent sites was interesting. Most people just set up on the snow but Elisha, Heather and I found some prime real-estate right by the lake, pretty level and with no snow. So what if we felt like a leper colony being completely out-casted from the rest of the group and way off in the distance, at least we had a nice view and no snow!

That night we were supposed to have steak...it was still frozen solid. Yep, two days into the trip, both of them bright and sunny and we had frozen steak...therefore we had meals from a bag..."just add water!" No but really, they were actually SO good. Like, I never knew strogonoff from a bag could actually taste good but I had like, TWO helpings! It is crazy the stuff you eat in the wilderness!