WalkingCarrot

Dark clouds greeted us as we woke. Ominous, so much so that not even the birds were stirring. The early morning promise of a cold day was delivered. For the first time this trip I hiked in two layers of shirts.

We quickly came to Badger Guard Station, itself guarded by a herd of cows. (First cows on trail for this trip.) The jeep road went trough a barbed wire gate, designed to keep the cows on one side, with a sign clearly stating non-motorized users only. We were trading OHVs for cows; not sure if we we trading up or down. As it turned out, the OHV riders had been ignoring the sign, and judging by the ruts it was not just a few of them. So we had both – cows and OHV use of the trail.

We climbed the North Fork Badger Creek for several miles with ocassional views. Eventually we left the jeep road, crossed Badger Creek, picked up actual hiking trail tread, and left cows and OHV damage behind.

The trail climbed gradually until we crossed over Muskrat Pass, on the Divide and, for the first time this trip found ourselves on the west side of the divide, the pacific drainage.

Just before Beaver Lake the trail splits and a stock route circles above the lake while a more established trail drops needlessly below it. We followed the stock trail but it just died out before meeting up on the other side above Beaver Lake for the climb to a low, unamed pass on the divide. We followed an old unmaintained trail until it became a game trail and eventually just disappeared. Then we bushwhacked awhile through thickets and bogs and many fallen logs. For the first time this trip, I got out the compass and then the GPS. The topo maps on the GPS helped a good bit. We were close to the pass, but not quiet there – more bushwhacking and log jumping but with greater certainty. We found the well worn CDT trail at the top of the pass. There’s nothing like bushwacking for an hour to make you appreciate an established trail, even one with many ruts and difficult footing from years of stock use.

Back on the trail we came across Grizzly tracks in the mud – fortunately NOT soft and fresh, but dried and a bit older. BUT BIG – my whole foot was swallowed up by just the foot pad part of this track. First Grizz tracks of this trip.

We made camp just north of Badger Pass. The Carrot is fascinated by Badgers and hopes that the Pass’ namesake will show up.

For the first time this trip we saw NO other people all day.

Miles – longest day of the trip so far, 16.0 per guidebook, 17.2 per JL, same route. Felt more like 17+…first day of the trip over 17 miles…