J.T.'s Photo Gallery

Day 2: 6.22

The standard route for this trip would be to just head up the Hidden Creek valley to a pass and then drop down into the Lakina River valley.  Mike had another idea about a ridge walk that would link our camp to the same pass.  He was not sure if it was even feasible but we decided that if the weather was god in the morning we would try this variation.  When we woke, it was cloudy but not raining so we headed off for the ridge variation.  Of course, right when we got the ridge, it began to snow.  Happy second day of summer!  Luckily the clouds remained high enough for us to see the route and, with some slight adjustments, the route came together.  The only bummer was that when we got above the pass we were hoping to look down onto a tundra pass studded with tarns.  Unfortunately, the pass was still under a few feet of snow.  Guess we will just have to come back!  The descent into the Lakina valley could have been much trickier but luckily we had our guide who knew where to look for the trail.  The even was spent huddled in our mids as we ate dinner and drifted off to sleep while the rain fell on and off through the night.

Leaving camp with the clouds still high above us	A light bushwack to get up Glacier Creek	A water stop	A pretty sizable waterfall ... unfortunately the perspective is way off
Fugarwe	On the ridge			And the snow starts!
	Over there ... no over there ... how about over there .... Luckily the clouds stayed high enough for us to see our route	I was the sole buttslider on the trip
	Dropping off the first ridge towards a lunch spot in the tundra
A bench that we hoped would connect all the way to the pass ... it didn't. However, we ascended another ridge that was just spectacular.		Columnar basalt - don't even think about calling it pillar basalt (well ... only if Mike is around)
Brad is just so happy to be here	A crazy slide (like one you would see in the Adirondacks).
	The gorgeous second ridge with Hidden Creek valley in the background
Looking down onto the pass. A bit more snow then we were expecting.
Finally getting down into the tundra again.		Blitzing through one of the most beautiful places on the planet
			The Lakina Glacier
The toe of the glacier and the start of the river
A small flock of sheep that we had to scoot out of the way before we could let the dogs descend into the Lakina valley