Day 3

Sofia Wrote: 

Continued through the forest. Bushwacking— found an axe and lots of purple ribbon. Also so many huckleberries of two different varieties. Cascades- old snowshoes— funny imagining these places in the winter. Forest opens into marsh mixed with dryer lichen. Lunch with sunshine and views of the mountains. Tracking Ida— goodbye! Huge picturesque meadow leads to a pass. Marmot whistle startles me. How do they live up here— it’s so barren. Over the pass the clouds build. Easy hiking but I make us take a detour through trees just for us to circle back to the route up and over a descending ridge. We sidehill/ drop down towards an unnamed lake. Some boulder walking— Dad gets dizzy. We camp at a stream coming off the lake. Pooped!

As we made our way around the North side of Watin Mountain we approached a spine. The route had us traversing quite high. The clouds began to build. We were worried that we would be exposed in a storm, so we stayed low, then worked our way back up the hill toward the mountain tarn. We added a kilometer or two and the storm never developed, but we agreed the added safety had been worth it--weather changes quickly in the Rockies and could have turned ugly.