It seems to happen every year. We wait for the wildfire smoke to clear, and the hot weather to give way to something more tolerable, so we can get a few more hikes in before the high country starts to get too cold and stormy. Then, the weather not only relents, but snow starts to show up in the forecast.
After we were stormed out of this trip in early September I wasn’t holding out a lot of hope we’d get it in this year. And then a weather window appeared. We loaded up the packs and drove south. The next day we were on the trail into Broad Canyon, climbing up into the Pioneer Mountains.
Our entire tour of the Pioneers was only 12 miles, and we spread it out over 3 days, so we didn’t have far to go each day, but we did have a fair climb, with 3000 feet of elevation gain and loss.
Before we ended day one we were perched high above our start point. It’s amazing how high you can climb, one step at a time.
We arrived at our first destination just in time to get the tent set up and have a shelter for the incoming hail storm. Hey, at least it didn’t snow on us!
The next morning we continued our upward climb, passing Goat Lake, full of rising fish.
We topped the saddle that divides Goat Lake from Betty Lake and soaked in the mountain views from 10,770 feet.
Then, down we went toward Betty Lake.
We had thought about staying our second night at Betty Lake, but the shoreline camping was very exposed (no trees or other shelter), and it was early in the day, so we continued on, enjoying the views at every turn.
After another hour or so, we arrived at Clear Lake. Or at least one of the clear lakes. There seem to be two lakes about a mile apart, and if you consult enough map versions, each of them is named Clear Lake. Either way, it was a very clear lake, with a pretty nice camp nearby, so we called it a day and sat back and enjoyed the views and, eventually, the sunset.
We just had a half day hike ahead of us on the last day. It turned out to be the perfect fall day, calm and clear, with perfect temperatures.
We were dropping down into the range of aspens, and they were putting on their finest show of fall colors.
Mountains on three sides and Copper Basin stretching out before us set the stage for a beautiful final day on the trail.
What a perfect hike to end our backpacking season with. Mountains, lakes, and fall colors, along with a lot of solitude. It doesn’t get much better.
That was spectacular. Thank you for the introduction to new places. You two are lucky to have each other to backpack with. You’re a great team.