Day 4: Miter Basin to High Lake
August 28, 2005
August 28, 2005
Back to Day 1 Cottonwood Lakes Trailhead to Cottonwood Lake #4
Back to Day 2 Cottonwood Lake #4 to Mt. Langley to Upper Soldier Lake
Back to Day 3 Upper Soldier Lake to Miter Basin
Day 5 High Lake to Cottonwood Lakes Trailhead
Back to Backpacking
Back to Tarol's Homepage
Back to Day 2 Cottonwood Lake #4 to Mt. Langley to Upper Soldier Lake
Back to Day 3 Upper Soldier Lake to Miter Basin
Day 5 High Lake to Cottonwood Lakes Trailhead
Back to Backpacking
Back to Tarol's Homepage
| Cris heading down out of Miter Basin |
In the morning we woke up, made breakfast, and packed up once again. We headed south
out of Miter Basin, this time following the creek through a narrow canyon. I then decided
we should try to cross a saddle and drop down into Lower Soldier Lake. This would save
us from losing a lot of elevation following the creek to get to the trail that we wanted to
meet that would take us over New Army Pass and back home the next day. But it ended
up being a pretty interesting hike over the saddle. Going up was easy, going down wasnâ
€™t! We almost cliffed out many times. But we eventually made it and ate lunch at
Lower Soldier Lake. Here the ranger stationed at Rock Creek also found us and we had a
nice conversation with her.
After lunch we hiked, on a maintained trail for the first time in a couple of days, up to
New Army Pass. This is a very steep trail at times and it goes right by Old Army pass and
climbs several hundred feet higher than it. By the time we made it to the top my feet
were protesting greatly! But we started down the pass with High Lake in sight which
would be our campsite that evening. Looking back at New Army Pass I think it’s
mislabeled. It’s not a pass, a low spot between two mountains. It’s just a cliff
between two mountains! I think it should be called New Army Cliff :p
out of Miter Basin, this time following the creek through a narrow canyon. I then decided
we should try to cross a saddle and drop down into Lower Soldier Lake. This would save
us from losing a lot of elevation following the creek to get to the trail that we wanted to
meet that would take us over New Army Pass and back home the next day. But it ended
up being a pretty interesting hike over the saddle. Going up was easy, going down wasnâ
€™t! We almost cliffed out many times. But we eventually made it and ate lunch at
Lower Soldier Lake. Here the ranger stationed at Rock Creek also found us and we had a
nice conversation with her.
After lunch we hiked, on a maintained trail for the first time in a couple of days, up to
New Army Pass. This is a very steep trail at times and it goes right by Old Army pass and
climbs several hundred feet higher than it. By the time we made it to the top my feet
were protesting greatly! But we started down the pass with High Lake in sight which
would be our campsite that evening. Looking back at New Army Pass I think it’s
mislabeled. It’s not a pass, a low spot between two mountains. It’s just a cliff
between two mountains! I think it should be called New Army Cliff :p
| Leavin the trees behind... |
| That's Mt. Langley behind me - wow, we were up there! |
| That's Old Army Pass to the lower left... |
| Whew, we made it! Nice shot of Langley behind Cris... and in the high right the cliffy part he tried to climb! See how much easier it looks to go to the left?? |
| View from New Army Pass looking east... High Lake, Long Lake, and the South Fork Lakes |
| Getting closer to High Lake! |
| Sunset at High Lake |
| Lower Soldier Lake where we ate lunch |