This was the 3rd day in a row of completing the trails in the challenge – tough for a few of us.  We were definitely hurting and knew this last day was going to be challenging, especially with the horrible storm front that blew in Thursday night with temperatures in 2 of the 3 hikes below freezing after windchill.

Helen lake turned out to be a major head fake for us, starting with rain at the trailhead and increasing winds leading to snow and some strong 30+ mph winds.

Just when we thought the Lake would be over the lip of a climb, the head fake lead to another challenging climb that Alltrails did NOT map correctly, or maybe we read it wrong.  Taking the ridge to the right was the call as the other route was perilous and had slushy snow.

But we did it….