We start walking, covering ground that we already walked the night before. All is well and Thousand Island Lake is just ahead. I'm excited to see it in the sunshine.
This is the log crossing we did a few times yesterday in the rain and hail.
Mmmmm....Perty!
We skirted Thousand Island Lakes, gazing at the serenity and beauty. Then we started the climb out up Island Pass. What a cute little pass this is, I thought. All warm and snuggly, I just wanted to pinch the cheek of this pass. It rolled along gently and didn't cause us any stress.
We mosied up the pass and then kicked up the speed going down the other side. We had to make it over Donahue Pass before any untoward weather decided to make an appearance. We killed it going downhill!
Donahue Pass sits at 11,050 feet so we needed to climb about 1200 feet. The section between Island Pass and Donahue Pass was the prettiest section so far. I thoroughly enjoyed it. One little meadow after another with creeks and streams flowing throughout, alpine wildflowers blooming gregariously along the trail, marmots and pikas frolicking. It was an alpine wonderland.
Marmot!
We stopped to have a foot soak - felt SO good! Unfortunately, as we were sitting there, we saw some dark clouds in the distance that seemed to be moving our way pretty fast. We wrapped up our foot soak and continued walking for a bit.
The storm was coming upon us fast. We debated whether to continue or hunker down. Donahue Pass is notoriously bad for storms and none of us felt like dying that day so we decided to sit tight. Ingrid went up into a stand of trees while Nancy and I pitched our tents in a meadow. And there we waited for the storm.
I sat in my tent, peering out, watching the thunder and lightening show. The lightening would crack and a few times I almost jumped out of my skin. Wow, that was scary! It poured rain for a couple hours. I just hung out, put some pants on, ate a bunch of snacks, and napped a bit. I had to pull out my quilt because I was getting cold. The temperature had dropped 15 degrees when the storm rolled through.
Once the storm passed, we packed up to continue over the pass. Ingrid came flying down towards us from her stand of trees saying "Wait, wait, something has happened!" I was like Huh, What, What??? She said "I've taken a bad fall!" I'm looking at her trying to figure out how bad this fall was; did you hit your head or break a bone? She fell on a slippery rock and landed badly on her knee, elbow and hands. Thank goodness no head or bone injuries. We plied her with ibuprofen and then continued walking! Man, that Ingrid is a tough cookie. She climbed Donahue Pass and down the other side, into the night, with not one complaint.
The two hour break did me good. I had a mental spring in my step. I'm sure I looked like I was still plodding along but I felt good and had a little extra pep.
Made it to the top of the Pass! There was no sign stating location or elevation though and I was very disappointed with that. Come on- it's Donahue Pass!
Then we began the descent down. We were shooting for Upper Lyell Canyon. I think at this point, I prefered going uphill to downhill. You don't breathe as heavy going down but, man, it shreds the quads and knees.
Down, down, down we walked. Holy crap, so far down. We took a wrong turn at a river and had to backtrack to the trail- it wasn't far though. Funny thing was, a thru-hiker followed us onto the wrong trail! We just didn't think we'd have to cross the river. It was the worst water crossing so far. The rocks were spaced so far apart. I should have just walked through the water like Nancy ended up doing. But I propelled myself over those rocks on tired and shaky legs. Ended up creating too much momentum and flung myself onto the far bank. We made it!
Then we continued down the last .86 of a mile to Upper Lyell. The trail switchbacked down into the canyon on loose scree with multiple creeks rushing right over the trail. If you're not careful, it would be easy to fall right off the side.
We rolled into Upper Lyell at about 9pm. My pep and spring were definitely gone! We threw up tents, ate a hasty dinner, and went to bed.
It was a full moon too. A Strawberry Moon.
Positive Thought
I do not at all understand the mystery of grace - only that it meets us where we are but does not leave us where it found us. ~Anne Lamott
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