First of all, thanks to everyone (Mark, Tina, Sally, Celeste, Kathryn, Karin, Lance, Patrick) for starting early (~ 5 AM) due to the heat. I was having a really bad day, which is when it's great to be hiking with supportive friends. It was very humid at the beginning -- I don't even want to think about going up that steep section in the heat of the day. The wildflowers in the forest area were splendid. We started to get a cooling breeze above Halfway Camp. The sun just broke over the ridge as we climbed to 10 K out of High Creek. The breeze continued all the way to the summit
Started descending a bit after 10 AM. It was warming up quickly on the traverse. We hit all the main creek crossings on the descent to cool off. The worst part of the day was the mosquitos and biting flies -- apparently the bloody blond hiker was the main attraction on the menu
Miles of smiles,
Ellen
