July 26, 2014
Another sunny, hot, dry and dusty day. It was hard to leave Lake Virginia...the wind had all but died overnight and the lake was calm and glassy. So beautiful!
 |
| Filtering water from the calm and clear Lake Virginia |
 |
| Hiking out |
 |
| Lake Virginia looking to the south |
Down, down, down to Fish Creek, then up, up, up to Squaw Lake. My feet were killing me when we arrived at the steel bridge at Fish Creek. We stopped to take a break in the shade and had Snicker bars. The steel bridge was the first real bridge we've crossed so far, everything else has been logs or rocks or a combination of both.
 |
| Clear skies today |
 |
| Headed down the switchbacks to Fish Creek |
 |
| That's Fish Creek at the bottom of the valley |
 |
| The steel bridge at Fish Creek |
We caught up to the Jackies at the bottom of the switchbacks before Squaw Lake. They stopped to take a break and have some lunch. We took a short water break and then headed up the switchbacks with them. We stopped at Squaw Lake for lunch and I sat on a perfect rock to dangle my feet in the water. Daveed walked in the water around the whole lake and was happy as a clam! Most of the lake had a wonderfully soft, sandy bottom. I sat and chilled and ate lunch while I watched him walk around. I even got to bask in the sun in my sports bra while my shirt dried in the sun and wind, what a treat! It felt so wonderful to lounge by the lake!
 |
| Daveed having fun walking around the shallow and relatively warm Squaw Lake |
 |
| Squaw Lake as viewed from the trail heading up to Silver Pass |
After our lovely break at Squaw Lake, it was more hot and dry up, up, up to Silver Pass (10,754 ft). The view from the top of the pass was great! We could see all the way back to Ritter and Banner Peaks in the distance which is where we were 4-5 days ago! It was really neat to see how far we'd come.
 |
| Headed up to Silver Pass |
 |
| The more pronounced peaks in the distance are Banner and Ritter! |
 |
| At the top of Silver pass 10,754 feets |
 |
| Looking south from Silver Pass, so beautiful! |
We met up with the Jackies again just on the south side of Silver Pass which is where we ended up camping, at Silver Pass Lake. We heard voices calling out to us but couldn't see them until we were close by. They were hanging out on the little tree tuft of an island next to the lake. The views are so beautiful! We're camped at our highest elevation so far, around 10,400 ft. It's neat that we've hiked up this far, no driving in a car! We started at around 4000 ft in the Valley and now we've been at 10,000+ ft on the regular! Feeling good and loving the views.
All 4 of us went down to the lake to get water for dinner, turns out the shore is sandy! We chilled with our feets in the water for awhile and then went back to camp to have dinner together.
The Jackies are going to come to Vermillion Valley Resort with us tomorrow because Jackie Ray wants breakfast at the café :) Glad they're going to hang with us! I'm looking forward to our resupply, a shower and laundry!
 |
| Silver Pass Lake, we camped on that little tuft of an island with the trees on it |
 |
| Straight chilling with Jackie Sue |
 |
| Alpineglow |
 |
| This looked so much cooler in real life, I wish I had camera skillz. The clouds were pink and reflected pink onto the mountains in the distance, this scene was so, so pretty! |
From my trail journal:
"Prettiest and most scenic views from a camp spot so far. Becoming a pro at farmer's blows...allergies like whoa."
 |
| Camp at Silver Pass Lake, elevation 10,400 ft |
No comments:
Post a Comment