It was also getting chilly.
As we got up to leave, we both put our jackets on.
I put my fleece hat on over my ballcap and put my gloves on.
When we got back to the pass, we set the camera up with the timer to take a picture of us. The first picture came out as a silhouette, and when Keith was readjusting the camera to get a picture of us in the sun, the batteries died. He was rubbing his hands together to keep them warm while he changed the batteries. The second picture came out better. Then we were off for home! I guessed we'd be back at the car by 7, Keith by 6:30.
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As we came down from the pass, the sun was mostly behind the ridge.
And by the time we got to Barney, the sun was totally gone.
My fingers were cold and I balled my hands up inside my gloves to keep them warmer. As long as we were hiking it wasn't too bad but stopping was a chilly proposition.
Down the ridge to Barney. At Barney there were a couple of fishermen who were camping there, and as we crossed the creek between Barney and Red Lake we saw a backpacking couple who looked very ready to pitch their tent and rest for the night.
Over the ridge below Barney, we ran into a lady in shorts (and here we were in our jackets, hats and gloves) with a pack who said "Please tell me Barney Lake is just over this ridge!
My sister and husband are following me." We assured her it was and a way down the trail -- we were wandering on and off the trail the whole way down from the pass -- we saw the sister and husband sitting on a rock looking like they were totally over it.
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Past Skelton Lake, past the tarn with the rime and striped rocks. Over the ridges between Skelton and Arrowhead Lake. I never did see Arrowhead, below in the trees, on either the way up or the way down. Past Arrowhead and down towards the trailhead.
By now we were hiking almost totally off the trail, taking the most direct route downhill. And it was getting pretty dark. And we were pretty tired. I told Keith I hoped he was going to take me to the Mogul for dinner, and he said he'd just had that thought a few minutes before.
I worried a little, as we walked through the deepening gloom off the trail, that some hunter might mistake us for a deer and shoot at us. We'd seen some guys on horseback at the trailhead with guns, and two days before when we hiked up out of North Lake we saw a guy with a gun. So every once in a while I'd say something (mostly "Are we there yet?") hoping that any hunters would hear us.
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Just as it was getting so dark I was worried about being off the trail, there was the trail. And then, ahead in the darkness, were the lights of the bathroom at the trailhead. We had made it!
10 miles in one day -- what hiking studs we were!
As we climbed into the car and turned on the heater, it was 7:15 and the car thermometer said it was 42 degrees. |
