Carter Lake to Missouri Lakes
The rain mercifully let up last night. I wouldn’t have to pack up in the rain, although I’m not sure it mattered. My hiking clothes were still well soaked, and I would start the day wet no matter the current weather. Getting out of a warm dry sleeping bag, taking off my warm dry baselayers and putting on cold soggy clothes required all the willpower that I could muster.
I couldn’t dawdle though. I needed to get over the ridge below Savage Peak before the storm started up again. And, I hoped, over Missouri Pass, another 6 miles or so beyond the ridge. There would be no maintained trail until I reached Missouri Creek. My progress until then would be slow.
The weather forecast on my InReach was reassuring: a 20% chance of moderate rain in the afternoon. Less reassuring: it had given me exactly the same forecast yesterday. That forecast was way off, not even close to being correct. I needed to rely on my feet, not on the forecast, and so was packed up and walking before 7 am.
A gloomy morning after a wet night
I pushed myself through the trailless alpine forest, the trees finally thinning out and giving way to rocks as I got above the 11,500-foot level. The going was slower on the rocks, as I could not chance a slip or fall.
I made the pass by 11, encountering only a few sprinkles on the way. The path down was steep but straightforward. There were no cliff bands that do not show up on topo maps but create a dead end all the same. I felt a strong sense of relief–this was the diciest part of my route and I was done with it. It looked challenging on the map and it was challenging and the weather upped the degree of difficulty. But it was done.
The rest of the route would be just walking on established and maintained trails. There were plenty more big climbs to do and maybe some bad sections of trail and who knows maybe some high creek fords but that was all just normal stuff that I didn’t have to worry about whether it was doable at all or spend hours climbing over trees and whacking bushes to get through. It felt good to be past that.
At the ridge, looking down into the Missouri Creek basin
I wasn’t quite done with the bushwhacking though. There was more slithering through dense wet forest on the descent down to Sopris Creek and the established trail. Some of it was very steep. But much better to be down-whacking than up-whacking. I finally met up with maintained trail around noon. There was a bit of filtered sunshine and I dried my poncho and tent while eating lunch.
Encountered a few dayhikers on the Missouri Pass trail but the basin itself was deserted, somewhat of a surprise. I haven’t been hiking in the Holy Cross Wilderness for many years, but even in the 80’s and 90’s it was a popular destination. Maybe other backpackers had looked at a more-realistic weather forecast and opted not to hike in the rain.
Remains of an avalanche on the Missouri Pass trail. Good thing this trail is maintained.
That was not an option for me. The rain began around 2, not long before I reached the Missouri Lakes basin.
Although there had been only a little thunder, I didn’t want to hike the pass in the storm. I set up my tent above the main lake and hoped for it to clear. It was 3pm. If it cleared by 5 that would give me plenty of time to cross the pass and find a campsite along the upper stretches of Cross Creek. Or give me a chance to do some fishing, which I have done absolutely none of on this trip so far.
Clouds lowering over Savage Peak
Neither one of those eventualities panned out. The rain continued steady until 8pm, well after I had given up hope of hiking or fishing.
My tent (a Zpacks Altiplex Plus) is a fairly comfortable living space, but I was getting tired of being cooped up inside. Also tired of listening to the rain drum on the fabric. It is a DCF tent (ultra high molecular weight polyethylene)–extremely light, strong and waterproof, but much noisier in the rain than a silnylon tent. I put on earbuds and listened to music while reading (“Time Travel” by James Gliek) but that got tedious too after a couple of hours. Tried playing my ukulele, but was drowned out (so to speak) by the noise of the rain.
I was truly grateful and relieved when it finally stopped around sunset and I could get out and walk around a bit. This is a beautiful area and I am glad to be here, rotten weather or no.