2007-08-10
Christian, Randy, Nate and I headed out this morning to begin the climbing of the mountain. We stopped by and picked up ice axes and “crampons” (which are required for the climb). It was pretty rough, but I was careful not to kill myself this time like I did last time, so that was good. A big part of that I think was staying more hydrated, which I was able to do while still carrying less water in my pack than last time, thanks to the spring water from the mountain itself being cleaner than just about anything you can get anywhere else.
We used the Clear Creek route, and hiked up and found a suitable location to set up camp at around 8,700 ft. It was a fairly tough climb up, since it’s uphill all the way (obviously), and some combination of the altitude and my out-of-shapeness made it a bit tougher, but it wasn’t too bad.
Camping was great - the way camping was meant to be - no campgrounds or external resources other than nature and what you pack with you. Looking out from the side of the mountain was a pretty breathtaking view - nothing (mostly) but trees and the tops of other mountains below for miles around. It actually looked like a huge ocean made out of trees spread out below; it was awesome.
I also knew that the view of the stars that night from where we were, especially on a nearly cloudless and nearly moonless night, was going to be excellent, and I was right. I set my alarm on my phone to wake me up at 11pm so that I could do some first class star gazing, and I wasn’t disappointed. I saw *three* shooting stars within a few short minutes, two of which had spectacularly large, clear sparkling tails, almost like out of a movie. Definitely a highlight of the hike.