I woke up before Kristen, unzipped the tent door on my side, and soaked in the sun creeping down the wall of the crater.

It’s hard to believe, but I’m even more of a morning person than she is, so I popped up, filtered more water, boiled coffee and made a big pot of hot cereal (my own mix of oatmeal, soy grits, flax seed, chia seed, cinnamon, salt and a couple sugar cubes) before she even got out of bed. Then she did the dishes as I broke down the tent. All in all not a bad system, and we were off again with a few parting glances of Lone Eagle Peak over Mirror Lake.

The next section was the most gentle of the whole loop, west along the Cascade Creek Trail. We went through a few sections of downed trees, we guessed from winter avalanches, saw another moose or two, tons of wildflowers, a few groves of aspen, and even a couple of other hikers. I don’t think it was until we stopped to chat with a group of old ladies that we realized how cool what we were doing was: Kristen from the West coast, me from the East coast, meeting in the middle. And yes, what a wonderful thing it is to have girl friends that you can get outside with. Made me remember, yet again, how lucky I really am.

We reached the lowest point of the loop and then turned up the Buchanan Pass trail as it started to rain. We were both feeling tired at that point (the second day is usually the most painful) and weren’t happy to be heading uphill again, but so it is in the backcountry. We were following an old mule trail and had vague directions to camp at the “Fox Park Hanging Valley.” Neither of us knew what a hanging valley was, but we knew it was close to the shoulder of the next pass. So up we went, hoping we’d know it when we saw it.

And then suddenly, after fording a swelling stream, the landscape opened up and there it was.  We had found the valley and miracle upon miracle, I scouted off the path to a little copse of trees and stumbled upon the most perfect little campsite. It had everything you should look for in a good campsite: trees overhead to protect from rain, but no dead limbs that might fall, the ground sloped slightly away to divert rainwater, it was lifted up enough from the valley itself that the coldest air would settle down around us, water source close by, fire pit 20 ft away. Perfection.

We were surrounded by foraging deer that came within 10 ft of the tent, and had a wonderful view of Sawtooth, an aptly named ridge that looks like a jack-o-lantern’s grin.

 

This spot is definitely among my top 5 favorite campsites of all time.

We had a beautiful sleep and woke up refreshed the next morning for our second crossing of the Continental Divide. We made good time and although tired, reached the pass with plenty of time to soak up the view. Most people do the loop in 3 days, but we decided to stretch it out into 4. We wanted to enjoy our time and we would have had to really push it to make the trailhead in one day. And anyway, look at this view from 11,837 ft:

 

From there it was a long, steady descent down into Coney Flats and the Beaver Creek Trail. There were still some big patches of snow on the Eastern side of the pass, and it was pleasantly warm and quiet once we got under the treeline, until we caught up to the mist. We passed a funny little parking area where I guess the Coney Creek Road ends, and continued along past numerous quiet ponds, turning south.

And then it was time to look for a campsite. We needed to find a suitable spot before we got into the Four Lakes Backcountry Zone, where overnight camping is prohibited. There is a spur trail up Mt Audubon which is about the border, and as we swung around I got nervous that we would get stuck on the shoulder with no good sites. The trail was getting rocky and steep, and the trees dense, and it started to rain. I had a mini breakdown and wanted to pop the tent in an awkward little clearing, but Kristen pushed us another few hundred feet to a better spot, nestled tightly between two trees. As I sent up the tent I was surprised to find a few tent pegs that a previous occupant left behind, and decided it must be a good spot.

 

We ate our last freeze-dried meal, chicken teriyaki, ate the last of the jerky, cheese doodles and carrots, and hunkered down early, listening to the drizzling rain against the fly outside.

The night was cold after we were enveloped in the mist, but as the sun burned it off we were treated to a breathtaking sunrise.

Our last morning everything was damp and we put off packing it up as long as possible. But then it was off, over the ridge of Mt Audubon, for our last expansive view of the Indian Peaks.

And there you have it!

I hope this post is welcome in your inboxes. I’ve gotten a lot of positive feedback from my posts in the wilderness all around the world and I didn’t want to leave this one out.

I’ve updated the look of my website, let me know what you think!

I’ve also just had surgery on my foot, which has apparently had a broken bone for the past 3 years, so this has been fun to get my mind back outside as I am cooped up inside for the next few weeks. I’m already looking for flights to my next adventures: Mexico, Costa Rica, California, and who knows where else.

Until then,

Cheers!