Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Day 71, June 26 - Hiking without Packs: Remarkably Comfortable

JMT Riverside to Garnet Lake

We all decided to near0 at our campsite in favor of taking a few day hikes around the area and making our area the basecamp - hiking without packs was Ahhhhhmaze-ing. I forgot how easy it is to walk without 35 lbs on your back!

Hiked up to Ediza Lake where Brett attempted some fishing, then we hiked further up to Iceburg Lake - a really fun hike/scramble up from Ediza through a few remaining snowfields and boulder scrambles. Turns out the lake is named Iceburg for a reason - about 40% of it was still covered in a giant iceburg! Pretty neat. We found a huge piece of granite to sit and enjoy lunch, and also ate the last of the birthday pie my Dad bought for my birthday and I'd carried in to relish in the backcountry. It was also Jon's birthday, so it was a joint birthday apple pie! Yumm.

We got back to camp later and packed up for our short hike to Garnet Lake, which is incredibly scenic. We snagged the last remaining campsite, cooked dinner, and mused on the fact that our little area looked like it came straight from an REI brochure, then called it a night.

All in all, Jon said he had a great 68th birthday, but that this trip has quite literally aged him! Not too many people spend their 68th birthday camped in the backcountry at an alpine lake 10,000 feet high - pretty impressive.

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