WOW – still trying to take it all in! This was my first backpacking trip as well as the final peak in my 2021 Six Pack!! I hiked with 3 others and we turned this into a two night backpacking trip.

Friday we started at the South Fork trailhead in the afternoon and hiked to Dry Lake – about 6 miles. I was really impressed by some of the beautiful lush green ferns along the way and so many wildflowers. The terrain was a little rocky and while the incline was steady, it wasn't too bad. Everything was a lot harder though with my 30+ lb pack. What an adjustment! We made it to camp just before dark and set up our tents but had a wrench thrown into our plans when we went to get water at Lodgepole Spring – we ran into a ranger and apparently we set up camp on the wrong side of the lake where there's no camping allowed! We had to do a last minute move in the dark, which was definitely stressful. Luckily all went well. It was almost a new moon and my boyfriend and I slept without our rainfly and so we could look up at the stars.

In the morning we ran into the ranger at camp again and he gave us some tips. Lots of bees at Dry Lake in the morning. We had to move our camp for the second time because we weren't able to get a permit for Dry Lake for Saturday too, for that night we were only able to get an overnight permit for Fish Creek camp. The move was about a mile uphill but what a mile it was – over 800ft of elevation gain in that mile with our packs. This was a struggle. We luckily snagged the best site at Fish Creek and set up tents again before setting out for the summit.

The hike to the summit was amazing and I'm so glad we didn't try to do it all in one day. Our version was about 11 mi from Fish Creek. The views as we climbed were incredible. The terrain was rocky and at times with all the big gray rocks it felt like we were hiking on the moon! Even though we all had at least 4L water it felt like nothing after ditching our heavy packs. The incline again was steady but not too steep after hiking other peaks like Baldy or even Baden Powell. Glad we did all those other ones first or I don't think I would have had the confidence to climb this one! Views at the top were incredible and you can see by the big grin on my face that it felt like such an accomplishment. Someone stole the big wooden sign (or hid it) – we couldn't find it anywhere but luckily some good Samaritan put a laminated one in a box at the summit. The hike back down was uneventful. We ate and celebrated and slept well Saturday night.

Sunday the hike back down to South Fork Trailhead was nice — it seemed so steep on the way down I could hardly believe we had hiked up it with our packs. This might have been my sixth peak but I still want to fit in a few more from the original Six Pack so I don't think I'm done…maybe just for the next few days haha 🙂 Can't wait for the next adventure!!!