Mom- We started out at 6:45am. We were trying to make it 10.5 miles to Marion Lake by 12:30 but knew this would be an enormous challenge. We continued to remind each other to stay mindful.
Mom- We saw Mt. Washington in the distance.
Mom- We crossed through some snow on the trail and met up with another hiker who told us to expect more down trees in our future!
Mom- We enjoyed the 3? mile ridge walk on the PCT and finally came to a junction heading west toward Marion Lake, still making pretty good time at 9:30am.
Amy- This is another royal queen throne!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Mom- We headed down the Swallow Lake trail on steep, loose gravel. Quickly my legs turned to jello.
Mom- Amy continued to push herself in "second gear" when possible and was very motivated to meet our friend. Finally we arrived at Swallow Lake! I tried to continue to the other end of the lake, causing us to backtrack despite Amy's request for us to go down to this part of the lake.
Mom- We ate some second breakfast and boiled some reserve lake water. We tried to keep the break short and continued toward the final junction.
Mom- We enjoyed the Columbine. Unfortunately, the trail became full of down trees again and going was quite slow through the burnt forest. Finally we arrived at the final section and turned south to Marion Lake.
Mom- After 1.7 miles of more down trees, we finally arrived at Marion Lake and hiked our final mile to meet our friend Sarah!
Mom- We got to Lake Ann 2 hours late, but 10.5 miles by 2:30pm is very good for backpackers, even adult backpackers not to mention first time seven year old backpackers.
Mom- We were so excited to see sister Analise and Sarah who were just minutes away from leaving back to the car.
Amy- I was SO HAPPY to get to Sarah and Analise!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I finally got to share my throne!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Mom- We hiked slowly, at two year old pace, which was great for us, the last 1.8 miles to the car making it a 12 mile day!
Amy- Analise and I kept asking to take pictures by trees.
Mom- I am so proud of both of us, but especially seven year old Amy, for her tenacity, graciousness, and courage to complete this very long journey with mindfulness! I could not have done it without her by my side. It was an intensely beautiful and intensely challenging 40 mile hike!
Amy- We finally made it to Sarah's car. We were glad to get to take our backpacks off for longer than when we camped at our campsites for the night.
Mel,
ReplyDeleteWhat an incredibly beautiful blog. I feel as though I had been on a spiritual retreat with the two of you. Thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!