It's odd what's satisfying out here, but for me just getting out of camp quickly and efficiently is great. The cousins could start their own show they're so good. So after trying a few tricks that they suggested I can now peel out of camp in 10 minutes with minimal fumbling and swearing.
I may leave camp first but I meet people very quickly since half the folks out here are speed demons and all I ever seem to catch is a wave and their backs. So it was fun after only an hour of hiking to have our group run into the Bobcat camped farther up the trail and we stopped and had group snack time.
The climbing today was intense, I think we did over 5000 ft of elevation gain and 2000 ft of loss. But man was it pretty country. Huge trees, soft sandy dirt trail, shade and wind! Too bad all the water was still at least a mile of trail (unless you like sulfur water, I myself am not a fan so I walked the extra half mile for tasty dirt water). Seriously though Fobes saddle had good water, just go for the creek not the trough...
Plus there were chairs in a great little grove if you wanted a break after your water detour.
Hiking with people is different than most trips I've been on. I technically hiked only a few short hours actually talking to someone else but spent hours at water breaks, snack breaks, impromptu snowball fights and camp (sense a theme, we really like our breaks). However you phrase it today I got to chat with a whole lot of great people.
Our map tells us that 21 miles of continuous snow are common starting at mile 169 (where we were today)this was the snow we ran into today...
Got to love a low snow year for that :) hope its stays this good.
Snapper and the 2 guys from the Yukon camped a few miles behind us, Dancing feet pushed on to Idyllwild and the cousins, moss, bobcat, opus, and joe are all camped at mile 175 with me. We had plans to camp at 166 (Apache springs cutoff) but the wind was horrible, didn't escape that one up here either. Once we passed our planned campsite it got a little tricky.
When that's your trail for miles campsites are awfully limited. I can usually find a small spot not on the map but I would prefer not to roll off a ledge in the middle of the night. So here we are, bundled up, and yes there is someone in that sleeping bag.
Biggest difference between these mountains and the ones I'm used to? No chipmunks but lizards everywhere!
Oh and I only seem to make videos on windy ridge tops in bad light but enjoy.
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