Day: 090
Date: Sunday, 04 August 2024
Start: Upper Jean Lake
Finish: Green River Lake Campground
Daily Kilometres: 33.7
GPX Track: Click here for Julie’s Strava & Photos
Total Kilometres: 2630.1
Weather: Mild overcast morning, then warm and partly sunny with a few showers in the afternoon.
Accommodation: Tent
Nutrition:
Breakfast: Pop tarts/Muesli
Lunch: Snacks
Dinner: Brisket, corn & salad
Aches: Dave - the usual niggles; Julie - nothing reported.
Highlight: At the end of our day we reached the Green River Lake Campground where we were planning to find a tent site and stay the night. While orienting ourselves we walked past a cabin, apparently owned by National Forests, and two of the occupants came out and asked if they could be of assistance. To cut a long story short, they provided water and took our trash, suggested we camp on the hill behind the cabin, which they were renting for the week with friends, and invited us back to share dinner with them in the cabin once we had set up camp. We had a lovely evening enjoying an excellent meal and chatting with them.
Lowlight: Nothing in particular.
Pictures: Click here
Map and Position: Click here for Google Map
Journal:
After a mild night, disturbed only by what we think may have been a coyote howling, and the smell of smoke, which we think was probably from a wildfire up ahead, we reluctantly dragged ourselves out of bed at 5am and were hiking by soon after 6am.
After a short distance, we had to choose between the Shannon Pass Alternate and staying on the CDT. The Alternate was shorter but involved more climbing and some boulder scrambling. We took the Alternate and climbed over the pass (11600’) before descending through bare rocky terrain and across taxing boulder fields, surrounded by towering steep rocky mountains. It was awesome scenery and made up for the slow difficult hiking. It took us just over three hours to cover the eight kilometres before we rejoined the CDT.
Most of the rest of our day was spent following the aptly-named Green River, translucent green because of the glacial sediment it carried, downstream throughout lovely pine forest. The river alternated between rushing roaring rapids and a slow meander across grassy meadows as we followed the relatively good trail. One either side towered, cathedral-like, massive steep grey rocky peaks. It was never-ending awe-inspiring scenery and many photos were taken, none of which will do the scenery justice.
In one meadow, we encountered a mother moose and her calf grazing, unfazed, on the riverside vegetation.
After skirting the scenic Green River Lakes, we reached our target campground at about 5:45pm, where we met a group of friends who had rented a cabin and insisted we join them for dinner after we had set up camp (see above). It was a lovely surprise ending to an excellent day.
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