Trail miles were fewer but the extra walk for showers & laundry or to go see the moose were worth it.
Last night there was a tiny smatter of rain. No condensation and the wind drove off the bugs.
Garmin told us to expect wind at 10 mph with it moving up to twenty around 1:00.
We got a good start around 5:30 and it was exactly seven hours to the restaurant we had as a goal.
We had a good start but the wind was closer to twenty miles per hour and we put on our wind shirts as it was cold.
Our goal was to get over the peak of the pass where the mountain would shield us and the drop was steeper.
The wind kicked up.
Then it was fifty miles per hour. With gusts.
It did not get better as we descended.
The cold front was a day early.
Now. We did climb around the snow field. It had melted out the boot track and refrozen. No way to safely cross it without micro spikes and we did not try. Instead we climbed around and played it safe.
As for the completely unexpected wind that we had to deal with at the top, regardless of which way we went, we just plastered ourselves to the hillside and scampered when the wind died down from time to time.
Slow, but safe.
Far fewer photographs than we would normally take.
In the end we averaged two miles an hour to the restaurant where we had hamburgers. They were served in quite the historic building but the food was a little cold.
Then we hiked on to the campground, the inn, the store, huckleberry soft serve ice cream, WiFi, showers (the hotel gave us shampoo, conditioner and body wash) and laundry.
We got the extra food we need for the next two days.
For dinner we had light snacks. We already had a solid lunch and a dessert earlier.
Tomorrow we head up to the Ptarmigan tunnel and a short day. Then the border. Win already refilled all our water. So we just grab our food from the bear box and go.
Already checked out our trail head and have tomorrow’s reserved camping set.
We could push harder and try to knock out the border in one day instead of two but we still have our hard dates (airport and flight to GenCon).
The hike & bike camping option we (a) already paid for and (b) was $10 compared to the primitive cabins that are $300 a night without bathrooms.
Kind of excited about it all.
Oh. And let me say it again. We saw a large bull moose at the lake. We kept our distance (telephoto lenses are your friend) but finally saw a moose.
Otherwise, the leg cramping I was afflicted with our first two days back has ceased. So I’ve had two really good days after two bad ones.
I was starting to really doubt myself.
But now I’m clean and happy. Ready to sleep.