Mileage: 20.4 miles (813.1-833.5)
We started at 2:30 this morning. The walking was so much better before sunrise because we didn't break through the crust and we wanted to take full advantage. After about an hour of following Karma without being able to see my feet, I decided to change my headlamp batteries. The light had steadily been getting dimmer and dimmer for weeks but I chose to ignore that as long as I could. As soon as I changed the batteries, I could see again and it was amazing. It's nuts what you can get used to.
A little down the trail we came to a pretty deep and wide stream which could neither be hopped across or waded through without going knee-deep. We saw two logs along the river and decided to make our own bridge. The first log we tried throwing across just floated away, but the second and third stayed in place, making a perfect bridge.
As we began to climb out of the valley we heard the alarm call of the Ptarmigan, which sounds almost like a squealing guinea pig mixed with a parrot. Not exactly the most pleasant way to greet the morning, but this is nesting time for them, and I imagine they are protecting their young. The sun peaked out above Pyramid Peak and we saw the Window around the corner. It's a sheer wall with the middle cut out, giving the rock formation it's namesake. Some folks walk through it, but we just followed the trail, not wanting to add anything extra to our journey at the moment.
After we got up the pass, we saw five elk about 200 ft below us. They were post-holing worse than we were. I felt bad for them and saw blood in the tracks for the second time in as many days. The ice is sharp and I know without pants I'd be bleeding too.
From the pass, Karma suggested we take a shortcut which looked good on the map, but after an hour or sow turned into post-hole hell - in snowshoes. At the bottom of the last hill we ran into a few cliffs on the backside and had to skirt around each one. We took anout an hour break around ten, both cooking a hot meal and drying out our gear. I promptly fell asleep even after having some coffee. After I woke up it was hard to start walking again, but we managed six more miles, including two pretty big climbs. By the time we hit Nebo Pass, we both were falling asleep on our feet - literally walking with our eyes closed, only opening them to make sure we were on the right track.
We spotted the huge, sheer, jagged peaks that had risen in the distance a few days ago and wondered what the heck they were. I had figured I'd never find out, just to realize today they we were getting closer and closer until we finally hit them. They had names like Silex Peak, Needle Peak Nine, and Storm King. Since they are all just under 14,000 ft (there are tons of people who try to climb all the 14'ers), I doubt anyone has climbed these peaks in ages. They are so sheer, you'd definitely need a rope and some serious climbing gear. We decided to camp under them.
We crossed one more pass and were amazed by the end of the day that we'd done more than 20 miles. We should have been getting up at 2am every day. We had a beautiful campsite under Mt. Nebo and the Needle peaks. I was asleep by 6:30pm.
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