MIKE MacFERRIN'S OLYMPIC SOLO TREK....August 3, 2004
Rain this morning. The entire area is socked in with fog... I cannot even make out Mt. Pulitzer except through
occasional breaks in the clouds. So I'll wait it out here, drinking tea under my tarp and writing in my journal.
By 10:30 I've waited long enough, and although the clouds haven't cleared, I begrudgingly pack the wet tarp
and continue on my way up & over the flanks of
Mount Pulitzer.
I pass several other parties today, mostly climbers and peak-baggers on their way to this summit or that.
As I pass the many beautiful lakes & tarns below Mts. Pulitzer & Ferry, the rain settles in for good, and before
long, despite my raingear, I'm quite soaked. If the weather were better, I'm sure I'd take many pictures of the
idyllic scenes here. But right now, I neither have the patience nor the inclination to pull out my camera in the
incessant showers. Navigating my way down from the ridge to Cream Lake, I've obviously lost the trail, because
before long I'm bushwhacking through a ridiculously steep (and wet) forest. It's useless to go back and look for
it... no trail is marked on the map, and in this weather, I could only search like a blind man with a stick.
Impatiently, I plow forward down the steep slope (damn the torpedoes!), eventually making my way down to the
soggy basin, accompanied by the "squish-squash" of my waterlogged boots.
In sunny weather, I'm sure Cream Lake is a beautiful place to stay, but right now I'm in a foul mood, hunched under
my tarp in the incessant rain. My wet hiking clothes sit in a pile under the corner of my tarp. Damp, dust-fine
lakeshore sand sticks to everything in sight, and it's not long before I give up trying to keep the gray dust off
my gear. "It'll come off easily once I dry out" I assure myself, so why fight it. I abhor changing into wet clothes
first thing in the morning, so I optimistically hope for sunshine tomorrow, falling asleep to the "pitter-patter"
rain on the tarp.
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