Kettle Crest Backpack!

This trip just goes to show how things don't always go according to plan, but changed plans can be pretty fantastic, too!


The original plan was to drive to Sherman Pass on Thursday night to set up our shuttle, then carcamp at Deer Creek/Boulder Summit, and start hiking Friday morning.  We planned to hike about 23 miles on Friday an camp between Walpaloosie and Jungle Hill, then hike 16 miles on Saturday to end at White Mountain, and then finish up on Sunday with a 6 mile dayhike to the southern trailhead before returning the 10 miles to Sherman Pass.

Here's how it really worked:
Thursday--everything went according to plan.  It started raining as we were setting up camp that night.
Friday--it poured as we ate breakfast and packed.  It rained off and on as we hiked, and it started hailing when we stopped for lunch.  It warmed up a little in the afternoon--I was down to shorts and a tanktop for a little while--but then the wind picked up again.  We ran into downfall and snow on the trail at Copper Butte, and a lot of snow on the trail as we got to Walpaloosie.  When we reached the intersection of the Walpaloosie/Kettle Crest trails we decided to call it a day; we were less than a mile short of our goal mileage for the day.  The sunset up there was amazing (cloudy, little patches of sun on surrounding peaks, and a cool double rainbow); however, it was FREEZING (it even snowed for a little while--on the 2nd of July!).

Rainy day

Cool trees

 

 So pretty when it wasn't raining (or hailing or sleeting or snowing)

 Clouds+sunset=beautiful!

Saturday--we woke up to frost on the ground...brrrr.  We hiked to Sherman Pass, according to plan, but then decided to just carcamp Saturday night and only do a dayhike the next day.  The weather was just not showing any sign of improvement!  However, carcamping allowed us to enjoy a campfire that night and A LOT of s'mores [new s'mores experiment that was successful = toasted marshmallow between the wafers of an oreo cookie (with the cream filling)--amazing!]

Looking tougher than we felt at this point

Sunday--we packed up, returned to the trailhead, and hiked the Sherman Peak Loop plus the extra out to Snow Peak Cabin.  I made it home by 4pm; not bad!

National Recreation Trail!