Climbing mountains is such a strange affliction. Almost everyone who has tried it enough times, knows that it usually ends in freezing, exhausted misery… then counts the days until they can try again! This trip started innocently enough, warm, sunny and perfect midnight hiking conditions
Every mountain has its vengeful side, this one had four!
This is no ordinary snow. Under the brittle white crust is a few feet of air space, then a frigid creek. The pouring rain only made the creek run higher and the snow lower.
We were just too frozen to take any pictures of the third phase. The rain turned to full on blizzard, and the mountain tried to blow us away. I probably deserved it for thinking I could climb all 46 peaks. In the disorienting mess of it all, we decided this was the best trail down, to make matters even worse!
No more mountains for us! How about some nice calm lakes? So began the voyage of the U.S.S. Eleven, proud ship of Old Voyageur.
But in my typical luck, that intrepid boat met its fate abandoned on route 3, my outdoor dreams set to wait another year.