I should have realized I was in trouble when I didn’t have to get up to pee in the middle of the night last night. Instead, I congratulated myself on not having to crawl out of my toasty sleeping nest on what turned out the be a wicked-cold night. Guest houses give you a roof … More Expedition Poked-Everest, Day 13: me and the glacier dehydrate
The last time we got up stupid early to cross a pass, I was still battling jet lag, and hardly even noticed the evil hour. Apparently, I’m over that now, because 4:30am really hurt today. I turned up in the dining hall for my pre-hike hot tea unprepared to face cheerful Surya, who has not … More Expedition Poked-Everest, Day 12: Cho La Pass
Personally, I mean. Kala Patthar isn’t exactly a peak, but it is really high. Yesterday, we’d discussed switching our Base Camp day and our Kala Patthar day so that we could see the high viewpoint in the afternoon, with the sun shining full on the mountains, but the weather opted not to cooperate. The unfortunate … More Expedition Poked-Everest, Day 10: we peak
I came, I saw, I poked. We started our day in Lobuche, along with about six trillion fellow mountain-hunters. We left the guest house around 7:45, somewhat later than the bulk of the crowd. Still, before long, we found ourselves in trekker traffic jams that left me gritting my teeth and questioning how badly I … More Expedition Poke-Everest, Day 9: Mission Accomplished
Today was the day I broke. I am pleased (and will eventually be proud) to report that I did not break at any of the expected moments, but waited until about an hour after we made it to our guest house for the night. Today’s hike, as previously advertised, took us over Khongma La pass … More Expedition Poke-Everest, Day 8: eighteen thousand feet
“If you don’t stop picking huckleberries, we’ll be late for dinner!”
“So we’ll have huckleberries for dinner!”
“You burned, like, 6,000 calories today. If you eat huckleberries for dinner tonight, I’m going to have to carry you down tomorrow, and I don’t want to.”
Grinnell Glacier is one of the most popular hikes in Glacier National Park, and it was so worth the trek. And not just because of the huckleberries. … More Hiking to Grinnell Glacier
Back in the car we ate sad peanut butter sandwiches and stared glumly at the list of hikes we wanted to do.
“It’s going to be tough to hike ten miles to Grinnell Glacier here, drive thirty miles, then do another three-mile hike to sleep,” I said, resenting the seven miles I’d already hiked today.
We considered other hikes nearer the campsite. We considered other campsites nearer the hike. No combination worked in a satisfying way.
“This is really stupid,” I concluded. “I want to go home.”
This, then, is what the love of glaciers means:
Yesterday, you hiked Mt. St. Helens. You climbed up 4,500 feet over the course of four miles, clambering over sharp boulders and loose scree. You then turned around and picked your way back down 4,500 feet of the same.
You woke up this morning with every muscle in your lower body wailing, suggesting maybe you should be a little kinder today.
You arrived at the Mt. Rainier National Park wilderness office, because backcountry camping was your only plan for finding a place to sleep tonight, and asked if there were any sites left that did not require a strenuous or lengthy hike.
You listened as the ranger ran through a list of unappealing options – seven miles is too many, 2,000 feet elevation gain is too many, 2,000 feet elevation lost is WAY too many, three miles might be okay except half of it parallels the highway?
And then you listen as the ranger kindly offers to check for available group sites, since those could be given away to a non-group at such short notice.
You listen as she says, “the Glacier Basin site is open, oh, but that’s four miles in and nearly 2,000 up-“
And you hardly let her finish the sentence before you say “WE’LL TAKE THAT ONE.”
Thanks to the extra miles we piled on yesterday, the elevation gain on this lovely fourth day of our hike would be fairly negligible. Our starting point at Sunset Lake clocked in at 9,659 feet, and we would top out for the day and the trip at Hurricane Pass, a mere 800 feet higher. Still, … More Teton Crest Trail Day 4, in which I find a glacier!
Thither & Yon 