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Click on the thumbnail to the left to see a map that shows a profile of
the second day's hike. Click on any of the thumbnails below to see larger
images.
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We didn't let the light of day ruin our sleep. For breakfast we added
water to our cereal with powdered milk in it. We packed up our tent and
gear, Katie filtered water for the day (picture at left) and we set off
for the Lake Colden area around 9 o'clock.
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We retraced our hike from the previous day back to the trail junction to
Indian Pass and then followed Indian Pass, as we had done the day before,
until we reached the trail heading E to Lake Colden. This took us a little
over two hours of hiking. This picture shows Katie tending to a hot spot
on her foot with some moleskin to prevent a blister.
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There were many wet and muddy spots on the Indian Pass trail between the
junction to Scott Pond and the Colden Trail junction, and also along
the first portion of the Colden Trail before it began to steeply climb.
Small tree trunks and logs had been laid to aid in passing through the muddy
areas.
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On the Colden Trail we spotted a Red Newt alongside the path. We were
excited to see him (or her) because we had seen many of these newts the
summer before when were in the New River Gorge area. Although very
colorful, they are not poisonous (at least that's what Katie told me).
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Oh yes, one of Aaron's "hold the camera at arms length, somewhat line it
up and press the shutter release" picture. This was taken after we ate
lunch at 12:30. We continued heading up the pass between Iroquois
Peak and Mount Marshall.
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There weren't many views from the hike up the pass, but near the top
of the pass an area of blow downs permitted some views to S side of
Iroquois Peak. The weather was sunny and clear, humidity slightly better
than the day before, but it was hot again.
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The entire "summit" of the pass was full of trees blown down by a storm.
This picture is a view looking in the direction of our destination for the day.
The first moutain is Avalanche Peak and the second mountain back (with the
slide noticeable near the peak) is Mount Colden. Lake Colden and Avalanche
Pond are somewhat in between these two moutains. Furthest back in the
picture is Mount Marcy. The trail was downhill from here.
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We made it down the other side of the pass and arrived at the Interior
Outpost cabin around 4:30. It is kind of odd to be hiking for two days
not seeing any major man-made structures then come upon this plush cabin.
A ranger, whose job it is to keep watch over the surrounding area, stays
here. He isn't there during the days. He is out hiking the area trails,
doing trail maintanence, checking campsites, monitoring bear activity and
doing general PR stuff with hikers.
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A short distance away from the cabin is Lake Colden. This picture was taken
from the W shore of Lake Colden, looking N. Avalanche Peak is on the left,
Mount Colden is on the right, and Avalanche Pond is stuck in the pass
between the two. We would set up camp near the bottom of Mount Colden,
in between Avalanche Pond and Lake Colden.
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After deciding where we wanted to camp, we headed N on the W side of Lake
Colden. Due to the frequent traffic in this area, planks were laid down
over wet areas. Katie walks the plank on the way to our campsite for the
night.
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We set up camp and got on to more important matters... dinner. It was
5:30 and we had been hiking all day so we were ready for some food. Most
of the backpacking meals we brought along we made ourselves. We cooked a
rice dish, a noodle dish, chili, and spaghetti then dehydrated it using
a food dehydrator that Aaron built... but that's another story.
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We had run into the ranger on our way around Lake Colden and he told
us of all the problems they had been having with bears coming into camps
and taking food. We had an Ursack to keep our food in. It is a kevlar bag
that you tie to at tree with its kevlar cord. The manufacturer claims that
it is pretty much bear proof. Aaron climbed up to a tree at the base of
a wall on Mount Colden to tie the bag.
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