8. Turquoise Lake

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 workout.


Tom's journal:

We're on the trail between Upper Ross and Turquoise Lakes.  We've really gone up.  We are up here with the snow and peaks now.  We've tried to stay in the trees as much as possible.

We saw a herd of mountain sheep as we rounded Spider Peak, which got its name not from any geographical eccentricity, but from the spiders inhabiting the region.  They are everywhere.  They string up webs between these boulders.  At first, being a friend of the ecology and all, I tried to miss them.  The others report they did the same, but after awhile it was just too much trouble so we marched right through them.  Sorry.  The spiders are large, hairy creatures.  The biggest reason for saving their webs, at least to my way of thinking, was that many of them were completely filled with bodies of mosquitoes. Any enemy of those little bastards is a friend of mine.

We're now about to embark on our first traverse of a snowfield.  Joe and Doug at last have an excuse to wear their glacier glasses.  We will rope up and see what happens.



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

Well, we got across without incident (Later on, we would walk across similar snowfields without even thinking about it, no rope or anything) and headed to Turquoise Lake.  It sure enough is, just as turquoise as it can be.  It lies between a sheer rock face to the west (Spider Peak,) a large meadow to the east, and No Man's Pass to the south.  I had heard of water being this color, and now I know why it's like this.  It thinks it's still ice.  I stuck my head into the stream below the lake and it immediately froze my scalp.  Coldest water I've ever seen.  Because of the height and proximity of the wall (Spider Peak) to the west, the lake itself gets little sunshine.  There is still a big sheet of ice floating around on it.  Ice?  It's July, for the love of Pete.

There it is.  No Man's Pass

Tom testing the water temperature



Joe and Doug and I crossed the stream onto the east side, where we'll camp.  Doug took off.  Joe and I sat and discussed No Man's Pass.  It looks formidable from here, nothing but rock and snow.

The trees on our side of the lake are about eight feet tall, at best.  This must be a tough neighborhood to grow up in as a fir.

We figure No Man's Pass may be the crux of this hike.  We're at about 10,500 feet now, really up in the mountains.  We've got it all to ourselves, a tremendous sense of isolation and solitude.

It's beautiful, rough, grand country.


Our camp at Turquoise Lake

The plant life has earned my respect.  Being springtime, it is managing to spruce (if you'll pardon me) the place up a bit, and it can't be an easy chore.

"Did anybody take a picture of our last campsite?" Doug asked, meaning this one, during a group discussion of the ordeal facing us on the morrow.  Then he assumed his rescuer's voice:

"Yeah, we found those four boys frozen solid as sticks up there.  This must be where they spent their last night before they went up on that pass.  One of 'em had a harmonica in his mouth.  Another was smoking a Camel.  One was looking over the maps and appeared confused.  And the fourth one was about 100 yards behind the rest."

The moon looks real nice up over the pass.  Showing the way, I hope.




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