good morning
25 minutes to sunrise, or half an hour
gonna get up, have some breakfast and get ready for the hike
didn't get much sleep
look at that, that's beautiful
ok so I'm going for it, I'm starting the hike now
so that was Snow Falls
that means that we... I... am one mile in
and that means that it's going to get steeper now
so I just took my jacket off
should be another mile... one thousand feet up
but that's it, then I'll be at the Upper Lakes
finally
maybe I don't look like it, but I'm very excited about it
I've been waiting for this moment for a long time
that's the trail right there
and just in case it doesn't look steep
I'm going to tell you... it is
it is so cool
you can see some smoke there
last 400 feet, they are going to be the worst
look, that's the trail right there
it's up, up, up
that's where the tent is, it's full of smoke
made it!
10 miles and 5,300 feet
this is it
this is the beginning of the Enchantments
and you go to even more lakes
so yeah I'm going to keep going a little bit
this trail was made by goats, I swear
oh man, that's a campsite!
at the other side is perfection lake
that's my destination for today
and finally, perfection lake
this was my destination for today
and made it
it's really cool, let me show you
so this place is really cool, it's like a little piece of heaven here
I haven't seen any goats, or pikas, or anything
just chipmunks, that's not exciting
yeah I kind of wish I had my tent here with me
I know there are more lakes, just up there there is Inspiration Lake
and then there are at least another 4 or 5 lakes
further away, but it's up, up, up
I didn't get to sleep here and see a sunrise or sunset, that would've been awesome
but I'm still really glad that I got to come here and see it
fall is coming
one thing I just realized, I have the whole place for myself
seriously, there's no one here
that's cool
I'm back at the first lake, I'm about to leave the Upper Lakes, the Core Enchantments
and start going down, that's going to be interesting
it's pretty much a scramble down
so yeah bye Enchantments
it was nice, I was up here for a couple hours
it is what it is, next time
that's Snow Lakes, where my tent is
that's the trail down
and I still have 8 miles, and 4,000 feet down from there
so yeah, a long way
it was pretty much 600, 700 feet of scrambling down
holding onto the rocks or whatever you could grab
but anyway, it's done now
my knees are hurting a little bit but
there it is, the tent
ok so I made it back to the tent
this is my first backpacking trip alone by the way
it was an experience, it was different
you have a lot of time for yourself
like a lot
and yeah you have to be careful because if you get hurt here
I saw 3 groups, maybe 4 groups of hikers today
I hiked for 6:30 hours
so that means I saw one group every hour and a half
so if you get hurt, there's no service here, so you have to wait
maybe hour and a half, 2 hours for someone to come
if someone comes
so yeah you have to be careful
8 miles, I hope I can do it in 3 hours, 3 and a half
that means 4 or 5pm
I'm already thinking about dinner
I want a beer, a big bottle
and this time I'll have... probably pizza
ok so I'm two miles from the trailhead
so pretty much there
but I'm not having a good time
because my left leg
I don't know what happened, all day going up and down
it just hurts a lot here, a lot, with every step
I'm taking it easy, I'm going slow
I don't want to break anything
my back is hurting too
but I have two beers waiting for me
and that's that way
beers that way
I can see the highway
almost there
last stretch
like a mile or even less
everything hurts
my leg is killing me
my toes
my back
my hands, from holding the hiking poles
parking lot