What was to be a 3 day lean-to trip with a small group ended up being just two of us camped at a designated tent site just off trail. Andy and I made the drive to the Bear Creek parking area. A spot I used to frequent a lot, but have not been to very much in the last few years. The gate was closed so no snowmobile traffic and also no groomed trail. Temp was in the mid 30s and it had been raining all morning. The precip turned to a wintry mix as we arrived. After signing in we hooked up our pulks and donned our snowshoes and began breaking trail. The snow was not deep, but it was like mashed potatoes so tiring. Andy had been ill up until last week, so he was not 100% in condition. I tried to keep it slow, but it was not slow enough. It took us 2 hours to traverse the 2 miles on the road to the trail turn-off. The trail was soggy here with running water. We opted to make camp at the designated site nearby instead of pushing on another almost two miles up the soggy rough trail.
There was plenty of wood nearby although the rains and now close to freezing temps had all of it wet and icy. It took some work to get a fire going. We had just about given up when it decided to finally catch. Soon we had an ok fire for the evening. Just prior Andy set up his tent, and I my tarp. I also set up a smaller tarp nearby the fire as a smallish lean-to for use to set up our chairs. Neither of us stayed up too late.
The night was windy. Enough to burn off all the wood on the fire. We had some snow too. We were expecting big winds, but camped on the leeward side of the ridge probably protected us a bit from the main onslaught. The next day we had a few options but settled on just staying here so as to have a not as far hike out the next day. It was possible we would get considerable snow all day and night. We spent time collecting wood. I re-did my tarp set up to be more enclosed and so my bed would not be on an angle causeing me to slide so much. We did get some snow, at first it seemed like we were getting a lot, but then it stopped and the sun appeared. A few more flurries over the afternoon.
I had brought my pie iron to cook with. It had been years and a hot ham&cheese would be perfect for lunch. I charred one side of the first one being very out of practice and the fire being quite hot. My second one was only slightly less charred. Bothe were good and hot though and brought back memories of using the pie iron as a scout. Pizza pockets were a favorite as were apple pies. Andy cooked up italian sausage for dinner. We had a lot of food, as we planned on more than just us. The pulks would still be heavy on the way out tomorrow with all the leftover.
As the sun began to set, the moon, stars and planets came into view. Not only did they make for a pretty sky, they also let us know the temp would be dropping over night. We buried ourselves in feather-stuffed gear in our respective shelters and settled in for a long cold night. I was quite warm and the adjustment to the tarp and bed was significantly more comforatble than the previous night's set-up. I slept amazingly well. Some very vivid dreams that made no sense, but made for a pleasant sleep nonetheless.
I awoke around 6:30 as did Andy. I heard him over by his tent but was not sure if he was up for good so I waited a bit longer. After confirming he was up and packing, I also began my camp breakdown. With the wet gear, I did not pack it all tightly knowing I would be unwrapping everything immediately upoin getting home. I basically put everything in the duffelbag for the pulk except for my quilt and jackets.
The hike out was a bit easier as the temp was in the mid teens and the 3 inches of snow was light and fluffy insteas of the crud on the way in. We did not race back and instead enjoyed the wintry view of the trail. At one point I had paused waiting for Andy to catch up, when he did he asked if had gotten colder. I replied I was just about to ask you the same thing. Not long after we were back at the car and the thermometer read 11 degrees, so we had dropped another 5 deg. The trip reminded me of why I had spent so much time in this area in the past. I mentioned to Andy that we would come back soon.
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