Alpine Glow

Friday August 13th, 2010 found Sarah, Lucca and I headed to the Selway-Bitterroot wilderness to get a little backpacking in before the fleeting summer was entirely gone. We agreed that the Sweeney Creek drainage would be a good one as the hike wasn't too long (about 6.5 miles) and it would put our camp in a good position for other exploratory operations.

We left Coeur d'Alene at 0900 and made the 3 hour drive to Florence. The road up to the trailhead was fairly narrow and just kept going up and up...my GPS showed us at 5700 feet when we finally got to the trailhead! Pretty nice to have a lot of the elevation gain accomplished via the use of the truck...because as it turned out, I'm definitely out of backpacking shape!

We were getting our packs ready and preparing for our assault when Lucca caught a whiff of something interesting and took off. Hmmm, wait a minute...it was a pretty intent bee-line she had made so I trailed her so we could get her pack on. When I called her from over a little rise, she popped her head up and, sure enough, had coated both sides of her face and neck in human shit! Right before the hike and us without very much water or towels to clean her up. Let's just say we were fairly upset with our four-legged companion and forced her to sit there while Sarah dumped water on her and I used a towel to clean her as best I could.

With nothing much more we could do for Lucca's "condition" we set off up the initial steep portion of the trail. I had been treating an eye infection at the time and was in my glasses...so, add two miles of uphill hiking, at around 1400 in August, a heavy pack, with an out of shape Tom and that equals sweating uncontrollably and foggy glasses. I tried hiking without my glasses, which was do-able but less than ideal so I had to try and control my poor attitude and just deal with it. Catching Lucca's ripe aroma every once in awhile didn't help.

But, we kept on going and the country kept getting more and more interesting. After two miles, we topped out at a little spring and then began our decent down into Peterson Lake. By the time we got there, Sarah was having issues with her boot digging into her ankle bone and I was rapidly losing energy. The last mile up into Duffy lake was slow and was really one of those "put one foot in front of the other" kinds of things. But, we arrived at last and searched for a campsite...which led me to find that we were actually parked by a puddle just underneath the REAL Duffy Lake which had a dandy camp near it! Glad we didn't settle down right away because that discovery would have been fairly annoying the next day.


Lucca checking out Duffy Lake


Looking southwest toward the basin that holds Holloway Lake


Tucked in amongst the heather and subalpine fir

It was an interesting little camp as there was a large barren area next to an inky black pool / spring with a little old cabin near it (just the walls were left.)


The strange little cabin

We were fairly beat that night and the sun went down within 30 minutes of us setting up the tent so we had a little dinner, watched the fire for a bit, and turned in. It was funny, Lucca kept whining near the fire and looked a bit on edge. Turns out she was just exhausted and wanted us all to retire to the tent! She snored heavily all night. (Even though she was still soaking after her necessary bath in the cold water. Peppermint scented Dr. Bronners was a better smell than the alternative.)

The next morning was fairly cloudy and chilly, so we took our time getting stuff straightened out before our little hike to Holloway and Mills lake. Our original intent was to go up there, hit the ridge and then cruise the two miles over to Lolo Peak. But, with Sarah's boots being the source of a lot of pain she was confined to wearing her sandals...hiking four miles cross-country was out. But, we figured we'd go up to the lakes and have lunch, slow down a bit and get into the wilderness groove, and just relax.

Looking back down toward Duffy lake.

We made it up to Holloway Lake in no time and tried to find a warm spot out of the wind to get some lunch. My typical backpacking lunch, despite the weight, was introduced to me via Zach and I encourage everyone to try it! There is something about bagels, pepperjack cheese, green peppers, and pepperoni that just tastes really good in the woods. Unfortunately, the only bagels I found at the store were pretty "doughy" tasting and it kinda ruined the sandwich, but Lucca liked them.

We decided to mosey over and look at Mills lake for something to do. We found a nice spot on the rocks there which turned out to be pretty warm and out of the wind. Perfect! The 10-inch cutthroat trout kept us entertained and we gazed at the cathedral before us. We were quiet for a bit and I asked Sarah what was going through her mind. She told me and asked the same question back.

All of a sudden I was shaking like an aspen leaf in a tornado! Hmm, that's odd...so I took a drink of water which only seemed to make things worse. That's when I noticed this little box in my hands and figured perhaps THAT was the cause of the hypothermic-type shivering. The only solution was to try and give it away so I turned to Sarah and said, "I was also trying to think of the right time to give you this." I opened the little box which caused an amazing reaction in my body as I couldn't seem to talk coherently, but managed to sob out, "wihil yoob marramarry mm-mmee?"

She whispered, "yes!"

Being out of possession of the box containing a little celtic ring helped me regain my faculties and I politely asked if I could have one more try at it. This time it came out correctly and I got another "yes!" With a happy Labrador and God being the only witnesses, we decided some photos were in order.

The new family

A little closer

Lucca trying to get back in position

I just realized Sarah was displaying her new ring!

Well, Sarah and Lucca hiked while I floated down the mountain back to camp. I then decided to roam around and take some more photos as the sunlight was finally starting to cooperate.

Trout rising at Duffy

Flowers near the pond...anyone know the actual name of these? I like 'em.

Update: Found the name "Mountain Bog Gentian"

Dramatic lighting

Close...

Dark, but interesting

Lucca headed back to camp

We had a bit of time before the sun was to set so Sarah and Lucca relaxed by the lake to read and live in the moment while I went off in search of firewood. I wanted to be up a bit later to catch the tail end of the Perseid meteor shower and was going to be warm that night no matter what! I broke out the little folding saw and collected more wood than we could use.

After dinner we waited until it got pretty dark and layed in a patch of heather next to the dying fire. As our eyes adjusted to the blackness, more and more stars started popping out. We called Lucca to us and she laid ON Sarah, with her head resting on my chest. I didn't have to worry about needing a fire to stay warm, I had all I needed right there. We finally caught sight of a dandy meteor that streaked across the cold sky and Sarah said, "Make a wish."

I said the only thing I was thinking, "It already came true."

Alright, now I need to dry my eyes and collect myself yet again. I've been funny that way lately, I can darn near cry on command. I'm a very lucky and happy man.

Ehhemm. Okay, so, the next day we woke bright and squirrely and had a quick breakfast followed by getting our packs loaded for the trip out. I don't think anyone was really looking forward to putting those things back on. But...we knew what we were in for and Sarah had figured out a way to wrap her foot so the pain was tolerable...off we went! The mile down to Peterson lake was a good warm-up for the steep climb up to the spring.

View from the trail between the lakes

Sarah and Lucca headed out

Having not been doing any cardio for the past couple of months became pretty apparent to me as Sarah was smoking me going up the hill. But once we topped out, I was able to jog along behind the gals and grab some photos of them in their packs. I don't know if you've ever tried to jog on a trail, with foggy glasses, tired legs, while wearing a heavy pack to try and take photos of moving targets...but it's kinda harder than it sounds. I got tired of that and had to ask if they'd both move in slow motion for a minute. THAT got me the shot I wanted.

Pretty section of trail

The girls at the wilderness boundary. Lucca looks HAPPY!

After another hour or so, the glinting of sun off the truck hood was a welcome sight. Not wanting Lucca to take off again we put her on a lead and tied her to the bumper. While we took off our packs and tried not to float away, Lucca disappeared underneath the truck in the shade. Sarah decided to see where she was and poked her head under there only to find the dog in question laying in one of the ONLY puddles in the small parking lot. Awesome.

We made a quick stop in Lolo to share the news with my folks who seemed fairly pleased. I think everyone was just waiting on me, so it wasn't a huge surprise. It was interesting though, talking to Sarah later that Saturday she had said while we were sitting there at Mills lake...one of the things she had been thinking was, "Is he EVER going to ask me to marry him?"

I guess my timing is better than I thought.

(...and no, there isn't a date set yet. But no worries, I'll make sure the entire world knows when that time comes.)