Day: 071
Date: Tuesday, 16 July 2024
Start: Buffalo Pass
Finish: North Three Island Creek
Daily Kilometres: 34.8
GPX Track: Click here for Julie’s Strava & Photos
Total Kilometres: 2046.8
Weather: Mild and sunny in the morning, thunderstorms with hail and rain early in the afternoon, then mostly cloudy.
Accommodation: Tent
Nutrition:
Breakfast: Pop tarts/Muesli
Lunch: Snacks
Dinner: Rehydrated meals.
Aches: Dave - the usual niggles; Julie - nothing reported.
Highlight: The fabulous craggy/rocky mountains viewed from 11500’ on the shoulder of Mount Ethel were awesome.
Lowlight: The thunderstorms, accompanied by hail and freezing rain, that rolled through as we passed over the shoulder of Lone Ranger Peak at an altitude of 11800’ were very unpleasant. Dave saw a lightning strike in the valley below and to our right, which made us feel very exposed.
Pictures: Click here
Map and Position: Click here for Google Map
Journal:
The mosquitoes made packing up a chore, and we were glad to start hiking soon after 6am, wearing a coating of insect repellent. Otherwise, it was a beautiful morning and we were soon bathed in sunlight.
The early hiking was across quiet meadows and past perfectly still alpine ponds, though it seemed that we were always climbing. We were mostly above the treeline and began to have spectacular views to the east and west.
As we climbed, the trail became more technical and challenging. It was more a route, marked by cairns, than a maintained trail, and Dave found the going slow with his still heavy pack.
However, the higher we went the better the views and it was a rewarding ascent onto the shoulder of Mt Ethel and then onto a high treeless plateau for a few kilometres.
After some undulations we began the climb over the shoulder of Lost Ranger Peak and stopped for our lunch break as the skies became dark and the thunder rumbled. It didn't start hailing and raining until we crossed the shoulder, but we were still very high and the weather was unpleasant and a little scary (see above).
After descending from the mountain, we crossed a very soggy plain and it became evident that we had missed the worst of the hail, as there were impressive accumulations of hail on the ground for the next few kilometres.
The last part of our day involved a long technical descent, often interrupted by blown-down trees, that was a good test for tired knees, until we reached a forest road at around 8500’, off which we found a spot to camp at 6pm. Didn't get quite as far as hoped today, but the trail conditions were challenging.
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