Tuesday 11 September 2018
James Lake to Ipsut Creek
It pours steadily all night long. O and I find it hard to believe there is so much water in the clouds. Aaron, our youngest participant, quotes Mark Twain, “It was the hardest rain I’d ever seen, except it was midnight and I couldn’t see it.” By morning the rain has graciously stopped so that we can eat breakfast and take down our tents without getting drenched. There is even a hint of blue in the sky as we descend from our camp and cross two small streams on single log bridges. Somehow, crossing a stream on a single log is not quite as terrifying as crossing whitewater on a single log.
Now we begin a long climb, gaining 2700 feet as we reach Windy Pass, which lives up to its name. We hike by rocky crags, ridges with standing blackened trunks from a previous fire, looking like bristles, and tread through wide meadows. In the rocks above the meadows we hear pica squeaking and see a herd of mountain goats who watch us warily as we pass below. At the pass we drop our packs and walk 0.7 miles to see a natural bridge, which is really an arch, not a bridge, as it was formed by wind, rain, and ice, not by water flowing beneath. As we hike to and from the bridge we actually get a few breaks of sunshine.
From the pass, we begin another descent, first through meadows and past the Yellowstone Cliffs, and then down into a forested valley where the trees are dense and grey-green. As we continue downward the rain resumes. It seems this valley has no bottom. After hours of walking we can finally hear the rushing water of the Carbon River. Here we cross the whitewater on more log bridges, but these are wider and have recently had sturdy handrails added. We unbuckle the waist and chest belts of our packs so we can easily escape them if we fall into the roiling water. Again we all cross without mishap.
Once across the rushing water our now bedraggled company tromps onward through dripping woods. We cross another series of log bridges to finally arrive at Ipsut Creek Camp. This camp takes us 2 miles out of our way. The camp Jenn, our leader, was hoping for is not available this night. O and I hang our large tarp over the “kitchen area.” Our long tarp lines prove their worth tonight. This campground used to be accessible by road before a bridge washed out, so there are actually picnic tables here and a real pit toilet that is actually enclosed! We have much more room to spread out. Dinner is late as we do not arrive in camp until 6 pm. Total elevation gain for the day is over 3300 feet and we have hiked more than 10 miles.
