We pulled away from Ashton Idaho in a little white rental car with the touchiest brakes I’d ever encountered. About 22 hours of driving would bring us to Silver City, New Mexico, along highways and byways that would closely parallel our hiking route. It would have been nicer to leave before 1:00, but it just …
No alarm was set this morning. I cracked an eyelid at sunrise, rolled over, and went right back to sleep. Around 9:00, I lit the stove for piping hot, properly-dissolved coffee. I sipped it while still in my sleeping bag. I lit the stove again when I wanted to rewarm it half-way through. We …
The morning dawned cloudy and rose-tinged, the weather holding. We filled our pockets with all our remaining snacks, hoping to move efficiently enough to make it over Down’s Mountain before noon. I toasted the Sourdough Glacier with my cold, gritty coffee, a promise I’d be back. The ascent onto our 5 mile Divide stroll was …
The Sentinels stood guard against the retreating night as we packed camp and descended through the prismatically glowing world to Dinwoody Creek. We passed only a few tents, far fewer than I’d expected, and no one else was even stirring yet. Dinwoody Creek was a wide glacial gush, still bundled in shadows and likely …
Rising before dark does have certain perks. This morning it was the magic of an indescribable sight. We watched in awe until the enchantment dissolved in the sunlight, then climbed to the upper lake. I was saddened to find, since our last trip, others had built large, conspicuous windbreak walls and neglected to take them …
Our alarm beeped in the predawn, and we rolled up our cowboy camp, chewing bars and barely dissolved coffee while color licked at the bottom of the sky like flames at kindling. In minutes we stood at the base of Europe Peak’s wall, watching the rock ledges sprout depth in the new light. Once …
Bonneville Basin felt like a wild place to wake up in, the belt of Venus glowing pink above the island-speckled lower lakes. The chivalrous Prana dug a double cathole, and we were off. Circumnavigating the lake went much more quickly than I’d imagined, the parts that looked tricky from a distance yielding easy up …
I could have slept hours more, but by whatever twist of irony, this despiser-of-waking was the one who usually heard the alarm in the morning. To maximize the day, we decided to save breakfast for lunch; all of our breakfasts except the first needed cooked- one of the compromises in weight and volume that allowed 8.5 …
The alarm beeped. I peeked out the tent flap- too dark to tell if clouds sailed in the still-gusty sky, but a rosy stripe glowed on the eastern horizon. Camp was packed and we were hiking the minute it was light enough to see our footing without headlamps. Up up up we climbed, trying to …
Day 1 The alarm beeped quietly as color seeped into the pre-dawn sky, only a few stars bright enough to still shine through the gloaming. Packing up was a quick affair, and we reached the overlook of the charming Popo Agie Falls as the world illuminated. Shimmering aspens lined the sandy trail, dried underbrush …
muddy shoe memoirs 