We pushed hard today! Woke up @ 5:00am, were on the trail by 6:15am. From Rae lakes we immediately climbed Glen Pass, descended 3,400 ft. and started the mega climb – Forester Pass 13,200 ft. Of course we needed a swim and laundry session in the river beforehand. This ascent was fairly easy – just long. The trail was in great shape. A group of 20 or so from the Conservation Core was heading down for the night. They were building new trails with dynamite, pry bars, pick axes and winches. They were the dirtiest bunch i have ever seen, like railroad workers from the nineteenth century, but they had a look of satisfaction and pride in their eyes like this is what God had sent them here for. They were true mountain men, and women. We both became extremely dizzy when approaching the top. I learned that trying to eat a jolly rancher while hiking up switchbacks at high elevations, sucking wind is really just a choking hazard. I now only eat jolly ranchers on the down slopes. This pass felt like being on top of the world, where your only surroundings are massive rocks shooting out of the earth.
After our descent from Forester pass, we both lie down in sponge-like moss near a small stream, with 12” of travel , this makes the most comfortable bed of all time. An attractive woman also descending jumps into a frozen lake nearby, then dances around the rocks in her underwear while her boyfriend watched in embarrassment. She then proceeded to strap into her huge backpack, again only in her underwear, and made sure to walk off the trail in between me and Riedner’s napping position. Either high elevation does funny things to your brain, or we’re just that handsome. I felt sorry for her boyfriend.
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