{"id":5747,"date":"2022-07-07T15:31:25","date_gmt":"2022-07-07T21:31:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/grunschev.com\/wordpress\/?p=5747"},"modified":"2022-07-07T15:31:32","modified_gmt":"2022-07-07T21:31:32","slug":"sky-pond-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/grunschev.com\/wordpress\/2022\/07\/sky-pond-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Sky Pond"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Last month I picked up a couple of timed-entry passes for July for the Bear Lake corridor. There aren’t any named lakes in the area that I haven’t already visited, except Marigold Lake, a very minor body of water more or less midway between Odessa Lake and the summit of Joe Mills Mountain. Perhaps I’ll manage to collect that one this summer. But not this time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wednesday, July 6<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I picked Sky Pond for this trip, as it has been quite a while since I was last there. I described the trail in my last report, so I won’t repeat myself. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The mountains along the divide were wreathed in clouds that looked to be starting to break up a bit. The forecast was for a nice, warm day, so I expected things would clear up a bit. Hopefully the clouds would make for an interesting sky.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I managed to put boots on the trail a few minutes after 7 am and was at the base of Timberline Falls a bit before 9. There was a fair group at the falls, as this is the chokepoint for the hike. I don’t mind climbing up the section, but it always gives me a bit of heartburn on the way down. Especially “early” in the season, when the water flow is high and the spray gets all the rocks nice and wet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here I met volunteer Dan. We chatted for quite a while. I don’t recall his exact words, but he expressed some amazement that so many people manage to navigate up and down this steep bit without any “loss of blood”. He said the climb was much easier six weeks ago when it was all covered in snow. He was able to walk right up the slope.<\/p>\n\n\n\n