This is a part of Rocky Mountain series. Check out the previous post:
After a good sleep at the foothills of the Rocky Mountains in my tent, I woke up to a freezing temperature outside. It was time to have breakfast before going on a challenging hike. I somehow peeled those hard-boiled eggs, knowing all I had was snacks I'd bring. The hike took me from the camp base, which was 8500 ft (2600m), to Bear Lake at 9,450 feet (2,880 m).
The height difference of somewhat 1500 ft (300m) wasn't THAT bad, but I didn't count on snow on the trail. I experienced snow last night when hiking around the campground, but it was mainly sporadic and easily avoidable. Today, it was a different story. Somewhat after halfway to Bear Lake, the snow started, and its depth kept increasing. I began with ankle-height snow, all up to the knees in snow.
I was trying to act like the elf Legolas in the Lord of The Rings trilogy 🧝. Suppose you remember the scene when the group in the movie is crossing the Misty Mountains, all covered in snow. In that scene, the elf is effortlessly walking unbothered on top of the snow. Of course, I was no elf, and I did manage to walk on top of it for the most part. But, I was falling in the snow as well. My feet, socks, and sweatpants were all damp.
The worse thing was that this snow was slowing me down a lot. Someway along three-quarters of the trip, I was already supposed to return to the camp and pack the things. Later, my friend told me he was worried sick and wanted to call up the park rangers to start looking for me. He couldn't rich me because (as I mentioned before) the cellular coverage is nonexistent in the wild 90% of the time 🆘
Luckily, around that time, I came across two hikers. I thought I was crazy for hiking in a T-shirt in near-freezing temperatures. Still, one of the hikers was shirtless and going strong 😂 He also had proper shoewear, unlike me.
Seeing other hikers gave me some strength and motivation, and I kept plowing through the snow, hoping the lake I wanted to see is just around the corner. Join me tomorrow as I'll share what happened at Bear Lake and how I picked up my friend.