A twelve mile plus day... I think we skipped warm breakfast, to save time and get going.

Anyway, off we went, retracing at first the same route we'd taken the night before going up to the Sue Lake Overlook. It was worth going the night before, just to not have to haul heavy packs up there.. and so we could get on with this day without side trips that early.

There were a couple long descents and ascents this day, going through two large cirques as we went down the Western face of the Continental Divide on the Highline Trail. Parts of the trail were through some relatively barren rock.

Pretty darn smooth trail through the rocks.... and not really as barren as it looked.

We'd just come around the corner to where we could see Cattle Queen Cirque (my name) - if you look closely, you can see the trail on the other side, a line through the bushes traversing up to the cliffband - which it just plain blasted through, something we'd eventually come to expect of Glacier Park trails...

There were great waterfalls in this cirque - one springing right out of the hillside.

By the time we'd made our way through this cirque and on to the next, it was getting to be a long day.. but up the hill from the Ahern Creek crossing, we could see Ahern Pass. In my usual manner, I underestimated how far away it was, and was getting a bit astonished at the climb by the time we made it up.

I sure don't regret it, though, it's one of those places that leave you looking forward to going back.

A truly amazing view, it was. Also put together a partial panorama, (about 250k), extends a bit more than this picture. Note the hanging glacier off on the left and waterfalls coming down from it...

But we were tired, and the wind was whipping through the pass and the rain spitting on us, and the regulations in the park say you have to be at the camp.. I'd have loved to bivouac here, in the rain and wind and lightning... off we went, though, the rest of the way to Granite Park to camp.

On the way, we ran into one of our first pieces of really 'blasted into the cliff' Glacier Park trail. I wouldn't say we got used to it.. but there's quite a bit of it there.   Heard some rumors 'bout griz bears in the camp, which turned out to be based on truth, but it'd been a couple days. Still a reminder that they're there. Of course, we'd seen them on the hillside before we left on the hike, so..

Camp at Granite Park is below the backcountry lodge, which we didn't check out 'til in the morning, the next day.