Coming out on top...

Day 218
10-11-2006
Started: Near Utah Highway 89
Finished: Fish Lake National Forest, UT
Today's Miles: 32.2
Total Miles: 3249.2

Last nights tentsite was in a rather interesting location. We hiked into the dark so we weren't really sure exactly what the surrounding area looked like. This morning when we woke up, about an hour after the first watch alarm due to Sheri's, "can we sleep just a little later today", we realized that we had camped on a point of land surrounded on three sides by water. We knew we had water flowing by on one side because the sound of the moving water helped us sleep quite soundly, but it wasn't until this morning that we could see that we didn't have much land to work with. Luckily Sheri had told Randy that, "this is good enough" when he mentioned looking on the other side of the bushes for something, "a little flatter". Shortly after we had packed up and started hiking a local guy named C.J. pulled up next to us to see if we needed any assistance. He worked on a nearby Ranch and was preparing to take a fence down but thought he would check on us first. We assured him we were fine, but we told him we could use some local advice. We knew we had a big chain of mountains to hike through today and we were hoping he could give us an idea of what the trails and forest roads would be like. He told us he spent most of his time down on the Ranch but that there was a local gas station mini-market on Highway 89 where we would surely find some hunters getting their morning coffee before heading into Fish Lake National Forest to do some Elk hunting, and they would be able to give us better information. C.J. was right on the money. When we reached the mini-market most everyone who was coming or going was wearing some type of blaze orange and driving some type of pick-up truck with an ATV in tow. We asked a group of guys about our route and we didn't get quite the response we were hoping to get. The first guy said, "you don't want to go up in those mountains, you should take the highway down south!", the next guy said, "you want the shortest route or the best route?". When we pulled out our map and showed them the route we had planned on taking the oldest guy in the group said, "yeah, that's probably the best route, but if you go up in those mountains today then I suppose you're dumber then I am!" They went on to tell us that there was over a foot of snow up top and that we would be crazy to hike up there. We already know we're a little crazy so we put on an extra layer of warm clothes and headed for the mountains. The first few miles were rather gradual and the weather was damp and dreary. The clouds were hanging very low in the valley so we couldn't even see the mountains that we were headed into. The forest roads we were on became steeper and steeper as we continued to gain elevation and we thought the clouds were starting to burn off when we reached about 8,000 feet because we could finally start to see some blue patches in the sky and even a glimpse of the snow covered mountaintops we were hiking toward. As it turned out the clouds weren't burning off at all. When we reached about 9,000 feet we realized that the clouds were still just as thick we had just hiked up through them. It was unbelievable! The clouds looked like thick soft pillows that we should have been able to dive off the side of the mountain and safely land in. The sea of clouds made the high mountain peaks that were all around us look like islands that were floating in an ocean of cotton balls. We couldn't help but to think that we would have to of been dumb not to have hiked up into such a beautiful place. Surely the dumbest thing we could have done would have been to try and go around such a magnificent set of mountains. Our entire experience in Fish Lake National Forest was simply amazing all day long. Sure the hiking was challenging, and we did walk through lots of snow and ice. We plowed through over a foot of snow almost the entire time we were above 9,000 feet, but we would do that everyday if we could hike in such beautiful alpine valleys and past sparkling alpine lakes like we did all day today. We put in a big mile day because we were trying to get up and over the mountains and back down to a better elevation for camping. We ended up back down around 7,000 feet at the end of the day and pitched our tent in a patch of pine trees that didn't have any snow on the ground below them. The mountains can definitely be unpredictable and hiking in them, or even over them can be demanding on you both physically and mentally. Today the mountains have left us both feeling invigorated! The amazing scenery rewarded us with enough beauty to justify every bit of the risk. The tough hiking combined with the local hype that the hunters put on the terrain makes us feel as though we have gone where few choose to go and conquered a challenge few choose to battle. We played the risk vs. reward game and we came out on top. We suppose that doesn't make us so dumb after all, but you know, we may still be a little crazy!

Your Friends on the ADT,
Randy and Sheri
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