5. Trouble on the Way to Hidden Lake

Monday, July 19, 1982

Joe's journal:

We went to bed shortly after dark last night.  We slept well.  The overnight low temperature at Lake Louise was 54 degrees.

Today was a tough day.  The hike just to the western end of Lake Louise was very strenuous with our huge packs on.  On several occasions we were almost rock climbing.  On one occasion, we set up a belay for Greg and Doug.    

The hike up the creek toward Hidden Lake was tough also.  Tom and Greg and I made it about half the distance between the two lakes and stopped for lunch and to wait for Doug.  After a couple hours, I walked back down toward Lake Louise to find Doug.  He apparently had twisted his ankle and was unable to travel.  I left him there for the night and returned to Tom and Greg.  We set up camp on the south side of the creek on a fairly steep slope.  We're at 8700 feet.  Our campsite is small and lumpy but the wind does not bother us here.  

We plan to check on Doug early tomorrow morning.  If he is able to travel, we may switch to an expedition style of travel and make a camp at Hidden Lake.

 

Tom's journal:

It's early afternoon.  We're stopped for lunch, and will make short work of it if Doug ever shows.

We rounded Lake Louise this morning.  We talked to one of the three girls who passed us yesterday.  She was from Oregon.

The hike around the lake was a real pain.  Very steep.  We had to rope up once.  We've gained maybe 200 feet, most of it in the last quarter mile.  The trail, what there is of it, appears seldom used.  A fisherman's trail.  This is a nice spot we've got here.  We can see the lake to the east, and there's a waterfall coming out of the rock face across the way.  Wind is not too bad here. 

I figure we'll see few people for awhile.  We may take the hard route to some accessible lakes and run across some more in a few days.  I wouldn't mind running across three more like the one from Oregon.  They will have been in the woods awhile already, thus making it possible to overlook our appearance and fragrance, if such an awesome oversight is within the realm of possibility.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

We waited and waited, but Doug never put in an appearance.  Greg got here, we ate, then sat around awhile and waited some more. Joe finally went back downstream and found him, hobbling around using his ice axe as a cane.  Our first casualty.  Doug now has a sprained ankle and a camp at the west end of Lake Louise.

The three of us have moved up the hill from the trail and set up camp.  Great view.  Greg clevised 7 more trout.

Our improvised campsite above West Torrey Creek

We had spaghetti for dinner - with semi-rehydrated meatballs, no less.  We've built a fire in an L-shaped rock formation, but it's susceptible to the wind and will require watching.  We'll find out tonight how comfortably three can sleep in Mike's tent.  

My hiking stereo was in good shape today. Started the morning with Jim Croce, spent most of the day with Kris Kristofferson and Randy Newman.  A little Thelma Houston crops up now and then ("when something's in my way I go 'round it.") 


Tuesday, July 20, 1982; Hidden Lake

Joe's journal:

The low temperature overnight was 46 degrees.

We found Doug early this morning.  With the help of Greg and myself, he managed to get himself and his gear up to our tiny campsite hanging above the creek.  There we divided up the gear and set out for Hidden Lake with enough provisions for two.  The hike nearly exhausted Doug, so we left him at our campsite on the east end of the lake while Greg and Tom and I went back down and got the remainder of the gear.  We had all the gear at Hidden Lake by about three o'clock.

Our campsite here is gorgeous.  Looking west is the lake with Shale Mountain about three miles away.  Several glaciers flank its east side.

We had a couple of rain showers, but nothing serious.  We had a rather luxurious afternoon.  I took a much-needed bath.  Greg caught us some trout.  We watched a stunning twilight and had a snort of George Dickel.  After dark, we stood around the fire and sang Diamonds in the Rough.  The gods thanked us with a falling star that came into view over the northern horizon and disappeared over the southern horizon.

The elevation here is 9200 feet.

I am anxious to move on to the higher mountains, but the rest of the group wants to take a rest day, so we'll keep our camp here again tomorrow.  I plan to take a load on up to Ross Lake.

 

Tom's journal:

Today is the 13th anniversary of the first moon landing.  Cheers to Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Buzz Aldrin.  

I'm still at our little camp above Lake Louise. Greg left first thing this morning to see about Doug.  Joe left a few minutes ago.  It's mid-morning.

I couldn't get the damn fire to go out last night. This area has obviously burned within the last few years, and with the wind blowing relentlessly we were aware of the possibility of burning ourselves and numerous acres of these mountains.  I poured water on it, pissed on it, raked coals around, and threw several tons of dirt on top and the frigging thing still wouldn't go out.

It was down to embers at last, so we bedded down.  Sometime later (I don't know how much later because time is not one of the things I dream about,) I awoke with a start and saw the flicker of flames on the tent.  Being nearest the door, I quickly unzipped it and went tearing outside before the world burned down.  I stopped short when I saw it was just a small flame, and Joe damn near ran over me.  Then Greg damn near ran over him.  My exit had panicked everybody but the fire, which burned merrily on.  I threw some more dirt on the bastard and retired for the evening.

We're considering shuttle service to Hidden Lake.  These frigging packs are so heavy they make the going very slow and difficult, especially with Doug on a bad leg.  My only complaint is that all the Cutters is with Doug. I've given more blood to the mosquitoes than the Red Cross gets in a month.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

All three of them showed up.   We carried half the gear up to Hidden Lake.  Then Joe, Greg and I returned and retrieved the rest of it.

The second trip up here was tough.  A storm put in an appearance, so we had to step to it. We've climbed to 9300 feet and have a great campsite.  

We're on the northern edge of the lake, which runs east-west.  The glaciated peaks aren't too far away, and reflect off the lake.  The fire place is down low behind a rock; the tents are on flat ground, we're semi-sheltered from the wind and all is right with the world.   



See Greg at lower left?

The storm which chased us up here threatened all afternoon, and ran us into the tent three or four times.  We'll probably take a day off from travel tomorrow, let Doug recuperate some, do a little fishing and generally practice goofing off.  We had trout, macaroni & cheese, and hot apple cobbler for dinner.  Joe was proclaimed a genius for the cobbler.

This is truly a gorgeous place.  The lake is clear and clean.  The eastern end has a shallow sand bar where a small creek enters.  The far (south) side is a sheer rock wall going up about 500 feet, with the ever present rock slides coming down to the lake.  There is a ridge at the west end running parallel to the peaks.  Over it is Ross Lake, our next stop.

Our camp at Hidden Lake

We had a nice sunset.  After threatening to rain, and occasionally doing so, the clouds thinned over the peaks, turning first a dull orange, then got brighter and yellow.  Some faint rays even hit the peaks.  We walked up the hill and celebrated the sight with Tullahoma's finest distilled beverage.  Thank you, George.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

12. Gannett Peak

Image
Before Sunday, August 1, 1982 Joe's journal: We organized our gear and adjusted the crampons last night.  Today, we got up about 6:30, before the sun rose, fixed a hot breakfast, and left camp by 7:45.  We took the Gooseneck Route to the summit of Gannett Peak.  Doug was having a difficult time with the thin air and couldn't keep up with our pace.  So he graciously decided to wait for us near the bottom of Dinwoody Glacier. Our route ascended to Gooseneck Pinnacle and then up and to the right to the summit Our route took us up Dinwoody Glacier until we traversed along a moat to Gooseneck Glacier.  We ascended toward the base of Gooseneck Pinnacle where we were momentarily stalled by a bergschrund. But we climbed up on some rocks to the left and regained the snow a few feet above the bergschrund. We went straight up the glacier to a rock rib which separated Gooseneck Glacier from the summit ridge snowfield.  From this point, it was less than an hour's climb ...
Read more

1. The Volkswagen

Image
Editor's Note: In 1982, four of us decided to drive to Alaska and explore the mountains of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.  For two years, I had been intensely studying the mountains of Alaska, accumulating necessary gear and supplies, honing climbing skills, and planning this trip.  Mike Scott had been complicit in this effort, but his father had become ill just before our departure.  He hoped to meet us in Fairbanks in two or three weeks.   The team consisted of Tom Sharp, Greg Smith, Doug Taylor, and me.  Greg volunteered his family's Volkswagen camper van for the trip.  We would drive from Tennessee to Fairbanks, with an initial stop in Denver to pick up some gear from my friend Jack Grace.  Altogether, we expected to be gone about two months.     Our plans fell apart almost immediately, and it would be another full year before I reached the Arctic.  We did, however, manage a memorable backpacking/climbing trip in the Wind ...
Read more

2. The Subaru

Image
Saturday, July 10, 1982;  Wewoka-Cromwell Exit, I-40, Oklahoma Tom's journal : The Subaru made it about 80 miles yesterday before it died in a paroxysm of effort on a mild slope.  We spent the night in some very soft grass about 10 feet off the side of the interstate. Greg had the hood up attempting to work on the car by matchlight.  Matchlight!    Two cars stopped and offered assistance.   The first car contained one young guy.  He discovered we needed more than a jump and left.  The next car contained an elderly couple.  He was sympathetic and would have done all he could.  She started out the same way, but then noticed our shadowy bulks lying in the grass.  She immediately became nervous and started poking her husband urgently, conveying the unspoken message that they were in the midst of obviously dangerous drug fiends and should vacate the scene before we killed and ate them. Things are very bleak at this point.  We may ge...
Read more

6. To Ross Lake

Image
Wednesday, July 21, 1982; Hidden Lake Joe's journal: The overnight low at Hidden Lake last night was 38 degrees. Greg and I left for Ross Lake with about 30 pounds of gear apiece.  We found a campsite at Ross Lake, well-sheltered and full of mosquitoes.  It is right at the end of a melting snowfield.  On our return trip, we had hoped to find an easier route from Hidden Lake by following the river. That was a disaster.  Greg and I ended up climbing a 100 foot bluff over the river. See Greg in upper left? Looking west towards Ross Lake from near our Hidden Lake camp Tom's journal: Hidden Lake.  It's a gorgeous, still, clear morning.  Greg and Doug are around the lake fishing in a pond-like extension of the lake. We saw our first snow yesterday.  Greg threw a clump of it at me.  I took a bath this morning, as did Greg.  Joe's working on breakfast. In addition to the mosquitoes, there are several zillion flies of three or four basic types around....
Read more

11. To Big Meadows and Dinwoody Creek

Image
Friday, July 30, 1982 Joe's journal: We awoke to beautiful clear skies.  We broke camp and started toward the lower end of the lake.  At the smaller lakes below Downs Lake we met a NOLS group.  These were the first people Greg and I had seen in 9 days, and first Tom and Doug had seen in 11 days. Shortly after, we met a man and his wife bushwacking down the same creek we were (Down's Fork.). They were ending their vacation early because he thought he had strep throat.  I offered them penicillin, which they were very happy to accept.  They gave us two bags of trail mix, some homemade beef jerky, some bacon-flavored cheese snack, and two packages of pancake and syrup mixes.    By lunchtime, we had joined a regularly maintained trail.  It was the first time we were on a trail since we left Lake Louise on July 19th.   We stopped and had lunch at the intersection of Downs Fork Trail and Glacier Trail.  Later, we hiked to the southern end of Bi...
Read more

8. Turquoise Lake

Image
Sunday, July 25, 1982 Joe's journal: We didn't get the low temp this a.m.  Doug didn't know how the thermometer worked and picked it up without realizing that would move the low temp mark.  He said it was about 40-42 degrees when he got up so I guess it reached as low as maybe 38 degrees. Wet gear and threatening clouds delayed our start this morning.  We finally left around noon and made it to Turquoise Lake this evening.  It was a beautiful hike.  I took a hundred pictures.  The last half mile was by far the toughest.  At one point we set up a belay to cross a steep snowfield.  Later we ran into some tricky boulder hopping.  Once we got to the lake, we realized we had gone to all the trouble for nothing.  We could have dropped down into the pass. Today, just under Spider Peak, we saw a herd of about 12 to 15 bighorn sheep.  I got a few pictures. Tomorrow we plan to cross No Man's Pass if the weather's good.  It looks like a w...
Read more

9. No Man's Pass

Image
Monday, July 26, 1982 Joe's journal: We made it over No Man's Pass.  We left our camp at about 8:30 am, and reached the pass about 2:00 pm.  It was a tough combination of boulder hopping and snowfield climbing.  Total gain in elevation of over 1400 feet.  We descended to Downs Lake by 6:00 pm. Tom's journal: We made it.  Got up at 7:00 this morning and headed out at 8:30. We got here about 6:00, and it was a rough 9 1/2 hours. We were all thrilled to take our packs and boots off.  A lot of work.  Spent much of the day on snow on both sides of the pass. Tired. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * The first obstacle was a rock climb.  When we finally topped it, we were faced with a long traverse across the tops of several snow fields to the bottom of one we eventually ascended.  We moved cautiously across the snow, nearing the bottoms of rock slides where they met the snow. We had to go up and to the left near the summit of the pass.  In fact...
Read more

4. First Day on the Trail

Image
Editor's note:   Since this entire adventure began as a mountaineering expedition in the Arctic, we had an unusually large amount of gear. When our Alaska dreams fell apart, I had been attracted to the Wind River Range because of the potential to do some mountaineering.  We had two tents, one weighing 11 pounds, the other 7. We had ice axes, crampons, a rock climbing hammer, a rack of protection including deadmen, ice screws, pitons, hexes, slings, snow pickets, and 150 feet of 11mm climbing rope.  We had a sizable medical kit, and a sewing repair kit.  Clothes suitable for sun, rain, snow, and temperatures as low as 10 F.  Two stoves and liters of Coleman fuel.  Several rolls of toilet paper.  Daypacks.  And food for three to four weeks.  (Or so we thought.)  Our packs weighed about 80 pounds.    -- Joe Hagan Sunday, July 18, 1982 Joe's journal: We spent last night at the trailhead near Torrey Creek.  Alt: 7480 feet. ...
Read more