158.6 to 173.0 for 14.4 trail miles.
I could hear the wind blow through the trees all night but I was fairly sheltered where I was camped. It was windy this morning and throughout the day too. I heard a weather system was moving in.
I started the day dropping down to Armstrong Pass. There was a couple coming up. They had a rough night with the wind but were in good spirits since they would be finishing up their TRT section hike today when they reach the Big Meadow trailhead.
From Armstrong Pass I had a long climb up to the Freel Peak trail junction. This was my big obstacle for the day. Early on the way up, I met a man with the TRT Association. He mentioned that the TRT Association Annual Thru Hike Program group was at Star Lake this morning so I would see them on the trail. It was a big group and we passed near the junction. Several of them had radios so they knew I was finishing up my thru today so I got some congratulations.
The sun was glittering off of Star Lake as I dropped down to it. I gathered a liter of water out the lake's outlet but ended up never using it. At least I did dump half of it a few miles before I finished. I did use all the other water I had before I finished though, so it wasn't so bad to carry it. There were a few other water sources though, so I could have waited.
While at Star Lake, I stopped to find a geocache. It was a bearing projection type of thing and I wasn't sure if the bearing was from true north or magnetic north. I guessed wrong but at least the two possibilities weren't that far apart.
I stopped to find a couple more geocaches. The first I also stopped for lunch. The next one I didn't find. I almost passed it by; I wish I did. From there, there were great views off to the west as I descended.
There was one pretty steep climb up a road in a ski area. Once at the top, I found another geocache with a great view, then continued. As I neared the trailhead junction, there was one more geocache just off the trail that I found. It was at a switchback with a bench. I sat at the bench for a couple of minutes enjoying the view knowing that I would complete the trail in just a few minutes time.
 |
| Geocache View |
 |
| Bench View |
I got to celebrate completing the trail twice. First at the trail junction to the parking lot where my truck was. I had completed the TRT at that point, so that was exciting. Then, from there I had about a half mile to reach the trailhead where I got to celebrate finishing a second time, celebrate being off trail!
No comments:
Post a Comment