Ref hike in from Ponderosa Park (Trek 11)...
Ponderosa Park was a nice last night. Lots of wildlife (the deer
virtually ignore people and calmly, slowly walked through our campsite) and
very quiet. Great place for reminiscing on the previous 11 days of
adventure.
We waited till fairly late (6:30 AM) to break camp. The guys were
reluctant to head back to civilization. It's a good (but scenic) uphill
haul to Schaffer's Pass and Peak but then, aside from a lot of rock, up and
over the Tooth it isn't bad. Just long. There are a number of switchbacks
to the Tooth and Tooth Ridge Camp (and you expect to see the Tooth around
each bend...but it takes a while to get there.) Everyone wants to stop an
take final-day pictures of the spectacular scenery at every turn. We
climbed the Tooth itself (allow another 30+ minutes) and had very leisurely
lunch at Tooth Ridge Camp (dry camp) with our chaplain leading a final (very
touching) reflection.
The long hike downhill toward basecamp runs over endless switchbacks
starting out hot and very dry. Water conservation is an absolute must!
Then the storm clouds gathered and in less than 15 minutes we were pounded
by rain and lightning of Biblical proportions all the way back to the "YOU
MADE IT" gate, arriving around 2:00 PM. The lightning was dangerously close
on that very exposed ridge. While it made an exciting. soggy (and very
swift) hike into basecamp, in retrospect we would not have lounged on the
Tooth and at lunch for so long. But I completely agree with another fellow
about ending via the Tooth, a bus ride back would have been really
anticlimactic.
Jim Krempel
Advisor 710H '04 (720F '06)
Severn, MD
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Received on Sun Mar 13 17:55:42 2005
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