It wasn't long after we left camp before we ran into some gorgeous meadows. Nice wildflowers, and clearly some awesome glacier lily displays before we got there. Grizzly bears eat glacier lily bulbs, and we saw a spot that had been quite recently dug up. It wasn't long after the meadows that we ran into the part of Flattop Mountain that was burnt just eleven months previously.
There was an amazing amount of glacier lily up, and other patches of growth coming back already. An interesting experience to hike through a few miles of burn.
Eventually we came to a spot where we could see far North and South, the whole face we'd be hiking across the next day, and more.
This panorama shows about 160 degrees of view, centered roughly on East from the North end of Flattop Mountain. The very rightmost visible peak is Swiftcurrent, where there is a lookout, and where we'd be two days later. In just a few hours, we'd be on the saddle to the left, North of the highest central summit in this picture - the Sue Lake Overlook. But first, across the saddle and to Fifty Mountain Camp. There we picked out a campsite and hung our food in the bearbag and put everything else in the tent except for a little water and essentials and took off across the meadows for Sue Lake Overlook. More than one person we met said FiftyMountain was their favorite camp in the park. I can see why, the meadow was fantastic - but the proximity to Sue Lake Overlook may be one of the biggest reasons. Up we went on trail we'd be following the next day, looking up the hill wondering where the heck a trail could possibly go up there.
After passing through lots of bright yellow columbine - fields of it growing in the scree, and lots of multicolored paintbrush which a marmot was feasting on... he'd grab them like an ice cream cone, munch the flower, grab the next...
Well, we got to the a little saddle and there was a sign.. "Sue Lake Overlook." Up we went, sketchy trail.. well, pretty good trail, but a lot of it just flat spot on the scree slope, with cliff bands below, making me glad of my hiking sticks and wondering if anyone's ever designed a scree axe... scree axe arrest practice sounds painful, doesn't it?
Along we go, getting close to the saddle, that wonderful moment as you get to see the view on the other side, when suddenly right next to the trail is a vertigo inducing Giant Crack Leading to Ice Far Below.
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This picture of the Giant Crack was stitched together from two photos - I regret not getting a better shot straight down the crack. Looked like one long chimney climb would be possible here! And wow, what a view down to Sue Lake, over to Pyramid Peak on the left.. I think that's Ptarmigan Wall on the right... ice floating in the lake, mountain goats were tiny specks of white on the meadows on the other side of the lake. If you ever get to Fifty Mountain - don't miss the overlook, it's awesome. |
Here's the panorama - about 550k download, QTVR. It's got a couple interesting "features" --- parts of my hand, held above the lens to shade it from the sun, and some banding from autoexposure on the camera. Nice anyway, I think.
Then we went down the hill and had dinner...
The 19th, the next day, we were off to hike our piece of the highline trail, see Ahern Pass, and get to Granite Park.