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We hiked 7.5 miles, gaining 1160 feet and passing beautiful Cascade Falls to the North Inlet Junction campsite (elev. 9,600 ft.) where we set up our tents. Not long after we made camp, a hail storm came over and we hunkered down inside our tents while pea-size hail pelted our camp. I woke up at 1:30 in the morning, very cold, and ended up putting on every piece of clothing that I'd brought before I got toasty again and went back to sleep.
Wednesday, September 6: We were on the trail at 6:30 a.m. and climbing steep switchbacks to visit beautiful Lake Nakoni and Nanita (elev. 10,780 ft.). We didn't see anyone on the trail, which was typical for our hikes. When we reached Lake Nakoni the wind picked up and we had to break out our parkas.
We left our backpacks and tents at camp because we'd be passing them on our way back down from the lakes before going to the next campsite. It felt good not to have the 40 pounds on my back, especially during the steep climbing (1,180 elev. gain). Mt. Ptarmigan dominates this area. It was incredibly beautiful. As I hike, I ordinarily hum a hymn, and this day my theme song was "Great Is Thy Faithfulness." As I climbed the switchbacks, I wrote an additional verse:
"Clear rushing stream flowing down snow-capped mountain,
Thy Holy Spirit refreshes my soul;
I feel Thy power through Thy glorious creation,
Washing my cares away, making me whole."
We returned to camp about 10:30 a.m. and started the process of packing up our wet gear to move to our second campsite. The packs seemed very heavy, but our second campsite (July, elev. 10,760) was very beautiful. Total mileage for the day was 9.2 miles. Someone had busted the privy and set up two of the walls edgewise. With only two walls and no roof, I called it the privy/wildlife viewing station.
July campsite is just below the tree line where the oxygen is thin but the wildlife is abundant. A huge 12-point elk, along with two does and four babies, freely walked through the camp and were obviously unintimidated by us. Our campsite was sloped. I woke up about four times during the night scrunched into the foot of my tent.
Thursday, September 7: Woke up at 6 a.m. It was 43 degrees. When I crawled out of my tent there elk were wandering around in our camp. Everything was wet so it took forever to pack up. We left at 8 a.m., and started a steep, 1 ½ hour climb up the switchbacks to the Continental Divide. As we huffed and puffed we watched the sunrise. Near the top, we ran into a 12 point elk and his herd. Once we got up to the top we simply took a long walk through the tundra. The views were phenomenal.
We saw no people until we got to the Tonahutu Junction. From there, we hiked to the top of Flattop Mountain and looked down on the other side of the Continental Divide, where we had an awesome view of Dream Lake.
Next, we wandered over where we could look down into the gorge containing beautiful Lake Odessa. It was like looking off the edge of the world.
We continued our hike through the tundra through an area called Big Horn Flats, finally passing Ptarmigan Point (elev. 12,363 ft., for a total elev. gain of 1,603 for the day). We saw park personnel repairing trail with shovels and pickaxes.
There is very little to block the wind up on the top of the Continental Divide, so Bob and I were wearing our wind gear. Temperature was in the high 40's, but the wind chill made it seem considerably colder than that. On the way to our third campsite (Lower Granite Falls, elev. 9760 ft.) the trail gradually sloped downward and eventually went below the tree line. As the elevation dropped, the temperature climbed and I was soon back into my hiking shorts. On this day we covered 10.7 miles.
After setting up camp, I decided to hike back up to lower Granite Falls. No one was there, and the falls were spectacular. It was the first evening that we did not have any rain. About 9 p.m. Bob summoned me out of my tent to look at the moon. Where the moonlight broke through the trees, it looked as if a giant spotlight was shining down from heaven. It was 48 degrees when I went to sleep.
Friday, September 8: Woke up at 1:30 in the morning, and it was pouring down rain. My tent was dry inside so I rolled over and went back to sleep. We woke up for good at 5:45 a.m. to a crisp, 45 degree morning.
After breakfast in the dark, we packed up all our wet gear. By 7:30 we were on the trail. The miles of hiking and climbing had taken their toll. I was sore all over and my toes had gone numb as they did when I climbed Long's Peak. The 8.1 mile hike out was downhill all the way, and featured beautiful meadows with glistening dew as the sun rose. We passed two broken down cabins which we later learned were used in the late 1800's to store hay harvested from the meadows. The steam rising off of the stream which meandered through the meadow was beautiful. We also saw a large wooden aqua-duct which was used many years ago to bring water from Tonahutu creek to the Grand lodge. Total miles for the hike: 35.5 miles.
