Getting up before the sun while the moon still shines. |
But it got bright quickly. |
Still lots of snow patches around here, though none over the trail. |
I enjoyed that there were more flowers in this July trip than last year’s August trip. |
Here’s one of the springs mentioned in the guidebook. I didn’t get a picture of it last year. |
Just off trail are two deeper ponds of water where we actually collected from. Lots of insects in there and other debris, so it really needs to be pre filtered before putting it into a squeeze bag. |
Just about the last of the day’s snow sightings, just as the sun was starting to shine on us. |
The junction down to Mosquito Springs. |
The “old outfitters camp” at Mosquito Springs. The guidebook claims it is smelly, but I didn’t find it objectionable. |
Looked like a pretty nice place to camp, to me. |
The water was a bit downslope from the fire pit. |
A little bit past the junction, we ran into some other backpackers. The little white triangle next to Ambrose in the picture is their tent. |
Ambrose was actually hiking pretty fast, for him. Much better than last year. |
The moon was still out. |
Heading up, shaded by the ridge. |
I love those paintbrushes. |
Another burned out section, with more soap root flower. |
Someday I’ll follow that old trail and see where it used to lead. |
Heading up to the day’s high point. |
This section seemed a lot shorter than last year. |
I made it! |
This would be the spot for lunch. |
Ambrose made it! |
Switchbacking down. |
The trail gets really steep in these switchbacks. |
The permit box was all broken! We did tell the ranger about this back at Big Creek when we got there. |
Ambrose, out of the wilderness. |