A 3 day spirit quest in the Cameron Pass area.

Day 1.0: Nokhu Crags N to S traverse, Snow Lakes, American Lakes.

My original plan was to car camp at Lake Agnes, which appears verboten. If it was just me, I might have still went for it, but with myself and Joe, I decided to reserve a site at Crags. It's right there and reasonably priced.

Pearly Everlasting, Crags Campground

Thought about heading up early and doing a few extras, but in the end I cleaned the house (so I didn't have to do it when I got home) and relaxed. Made it up before Joe but not long before.
Neither of us slept well- he was awake for the 5 am alarm. I awakened from a dream about someone who I loved and haven't seen in a long time.
We drove up to a parking spot near the hut, and took off from there. Up a avy chute to the ridge, easy going to the saddle where the business starts.

Braddock Peak from the ditch road.  I would stand on top about 30 hours later.

Avy chutes: efficient travel when not snow filled.

We had excellent beta from a number of people, and Joe and I both came prepared with screenshots and print outs of written descriptions as well as photos saved on our phones. These helped immensely.

Nokhu Crags.

Joe and loose rock.

Loose rock and Joe.

Bad ass or ass bad?

Looking back north, Rawahs.

We got to the crux without much difficulty, passed it, and were on top shortly after. The downclimb was slow and careful, occasionally sending piles of rock from pea gravel size to much larger cascading down the slope.

Joe atop Nokhu.

We parted where we turned up in earnest, with Joe headed down and to The Electrode and me continuing on to the south summit.

Complex and loose terrain between the Nokhus.

That was surely the crux for me. Nothing was more technically difficult, I'd say 3rd -4th at most, with one high 4th to low 5th downclimb (could've went around or back up, but seemed easier when at the bottom of a loose gully with a short drop to just send it). But 100% route finding- the north summit had cairns and even a faint social trail. Here, nothing. And consistent with other parts of the range, LOOSE shifty rock underfoot and the standing parts also crumbling slowly. And when something moves underfoot, it's not the thing right under your foot, but something deeper in the pile which sends an entire area sliding downhill with you on top.
In the end I seem to have a good eye and instinct for picking solid holds. Some stuff I could just look at and see the fracture patterns in the rock and know without touching it would move. And sometimes you have to push vs pull on stuff, if that makes sense.  I only had one hold blow in the end, a left foot as I applied weight, but I had three other points of contact on good solid stuff. Still took a deep breath after that and echoed a mantra from the book I was reading the night before "I believe I will always find a way when there is no way" as I listened to the rock skitter down slope and then initiate a larger rockfall below me.
And had lyrics from Bjork's Hyperballad running through my head:
I imagine what my body would sound like
Slamming against those rocks
When it lands
Will my eyes
Be closed or open?

Nokhu South to Nokhu North.

Reached the south summit unnerved, jimmy legs, adrenaline, all the things. Elated. And so easy to look to the north summit, right there. It had taken me two full hours between them, long enough that my plans for later in the day were in question. But I would not rush. for two reasons. First, while easier from here on out I still needed to pay attention to the terrain ahead. And second, at times in my past I'd try to move quickly to be able to do more in a day. The third class east ridge of Static Peak was ahead, an all time favorite. I wanted to slow down and enjoy the movement and the place and the time.

To Static Peak and Mt. Richthofen.

In looking at images, I was very worried about a prominent notch in the ridge closer to Static. Until then it was fancy walking, but it looked... foreboding. I got great beta from Cam Cross and less great but confirmational beta (in the sense that Cam's was the best written beta I've ever gotten from anyone) from Ron Andress that this was not something to worry about- upon reaching the notch, stay at the same elevation, traverse into a gully below the summit, and head up. To paraphrase Cam, "If it looks/feels harder than something an Elk could do, you're in the wrong place."

Elk or man?

I channeled my inner Wapati, became one with the mountain, and continued the mystic spirit quest reaching the summit shortly thereafter.
A short snack and sunscreen break and I was headed toward the ridge. I got a message from Joe that he was on The Electrode. I looked over and there he was. I yelled, at the top of my lungs, "YES!", to part two of his message- meet at lower American Lake? I later confirmed he did not hear me, lol.

The Electrode and Joe.

And the ridge- last time I broke off early to head to The Electrode, this time I took it all the way down to Snow Lake. It delivered. I managed to snap a photo from nearly the exact same spot almost 11 years later. 

September 2014.

August 2025.  Time passes.

11 years. Crazy.

The lake was nice and cold, extra good because I'd run out of water up there. My set up for this trip was dual 1L Smart water bottles with a Sawyer squeeze mini, the quickest and easiest fill up I've ever used.
Down to our meeting point where Joe was waiting. Apparently I just missed a moose, or rather meese. Despite all the signs around, I didn't see one until my last day.

We ran into a lady Joe had spoken to before and he introduced me as ... what were his exact (kind) words which I waved off, embarrassed ... one of the strongest climbers in NoCo? Something to that effect. Thanks Joe.

Reflections.

We were still in admin mode and she left a bit before us, though we caught and passed her on the downhill. Joe wanted to hike the Crags trail down to the campground and then back up to our parking, while I continued along the ditch road, occasionally jogging. I wore my chest strap and paid attention to my heart rate as on my last multi day trip I went out HARD on day one and then never recovered. Live and don't learn, that's usually me, but sometimes, /sometimes/.

Nokhu Crags, which looks unlikely from every aspect.

I was deep in thought about what to do next. I had two plans, one for bad weather (below treeline), and one for good (above), and the weather was excellent. However my plan for the evening was to hike in to the base of my next climb and set up camp there. I wanted to be there at a reasonable time, not set up/eat dinner in the dark, (try to) get to sleep around night fall, etc. Both my plans would take too long for that to happen. And of course, drive time would need to be considered. While all relatively close geographically, time on slow dirt roads had to be factored in.

Wood swells when wet, closing any cracks.

I took a video of the wooden pipeline for Bridgette, and headed back to the car. Calories would be important, so I mixed and drank my usual recovery beverage in addition to eating some (more) food.
Food- wanting to get moving in the morning it was organic toaster pastries (frosted strawberry), which have more calories than pop tarts, 420 per pack of two, plus an Awake dark chocolate bar, 190 cal and 100 mg of caffeine= 610 calories and a 'cup' of coffee on the road. Even a double dose of oatmeal in the morning and a sugary and milky can of coffee would be shy of that by ~200 cal, and then I'd have to pack in and out a can.
Joe got back to his car while I was imbibing, and we wished each other farewell (again). I am fortunate to have such a kind and thoughtful person in my life.

Day 1.2: 10021.

My plan was to loop this with Gould and the other 10er if the weather was bad. As it turned out it was warm, sunny, and dry with essentially zero chance of storms every single day of this trip. So in some respect this seemed a waste, but it would take the right amount of time to get me to my camp site for the evening reasonably, and also not be nothing... which would've gotten me to the campsite with plenty of time, but maybe too early. What would I do with hours of time and not wanting to pack in a book (weight/space)?
So I decided to drive in and do this one solo. It was the right amount of time. I could get the other two 10's later in the trip or later in life. A secondary goal was to finish off (the creatively named) State Forest State Park. And yes, more than once on this trip I imagined suit wearing big wigs sitting around a large wooden table, with one of them pitching the semi-genius idea... "Hear me out. STATE. FOREST. STATE. PARK." Applause.
Planned parking area was close geographically, but had to drive all the way around and through (14 to CR 41 to CR 41A to 40.53036, -105.96475). One of the reasons I initially planned to do this from Ranger Lakes. Less driving, more hiking=better. But this was a better use of the time I had. 

I got to the parking area without issue (Subaru Forester/aftermarket smaller diameter wheels to fit mo' rubbery tires) and headed up the hill. Pretty mellow, largely open with the main obstacle being deadfall. 

Bushy.  Whacky.  Wacky?

I was able to make my way around/over and found myself at the summit in short order. The cairn and register were under a leaning fallen dead tree. I had to break a few branches off to ease access, if only I'd known I would've brought my saw.

A great register in a tangle of deadfall.

And the register. I knew it would be a good one as soon as I saw the rusted metal lid. Mike Garratt. It even had that smell, old paper in a old jar. 20+ years and now it was my turn.

The man the myth the legend (not me).

I thought, yes *insert 14er here* is cool/fun. But have you done 10021? Because it had three pages and part of a fourth of registered ascents, averaging less than one a year, some years with none, or sometimes years between.  In my case, nearly three years since the last visit.
I decided to head direct to the road, trending south to my car. This was worse than the ascent, more deadfall and steeper. I hit a number of old logging roads, now chock full of youthful trees.
But made it. Next, to the north end of SFSP.

Day 1.3: Hike to Camp.

Another seemingly long drive (CR 41A to CR 41 all the way north to a dead end)- last time I was a passenger in someone else's car as we headed to an aid station during Never Summer 100k. Parked, hit the shitter (all of which were in remarkably great shape, well attended, and even of fine odor, your entry fee at work and call me ruined on pit toilets for the rest of my life).
I packed up my... pack. Despite practicing with it fully loaded, it felt heavy. But off I went.

Packed pack.

Cows. Lots of cows. Most mooved. Some didn't moove, or mooved in the direction I wanted to go. But overall pretty easy to compel them to moove. I just pretended to be a cowboy.

Trail vs road? Trail slightly shorter but more gain. But trail always beats road, so trail it was.

The goal in the smoky distance.

The hike took a little longer than I expected. I felt I got up a little later than I hoped, and then when in the general area I planned to set up (scoped via satellite images/the low flying high res stuff from work) found the vegetation was somewhat taller than expected. Like waist high. But that doesn't stop the Elk. And since I was now part Wapati.
I decided it would be better to be on the creek side of the trail, since I'd be closer to water for cooking and drinking. So I wandered over that way. Glad I did as one of the general areas I looked at was a grassy meadow, perfect. I set up under a tree. Tent: Durston Xmid pro 2+. Just me, but you can fit 1 person in a two man tent but not two people in a 1 man. I did alot of reading before I bought. Set up in under 5 minutes, not perfectly as one side was a little slack, but I was tired, it wasn't windy, and I didn't give a flying fuck at the moment. Wapati don't care.

Not the best pitch, but my antlers fit in.

I went to the creek, taking my pot and both 1L bottles. I squeezed through .4L into the pot, and refilled the bottle. That way I could just leave from camp in the morning.

A great spot to spend a night.

Dinner was Skurka's beans and rice, my favorite 'out there' meal, and one I'll even make at home on occasion. .4L of water made a soupier version, but my reasoning was that would have me drink more water.
I used my alcohol stove (28g) and inflated my sleeping pad and pillow and lofted the quilt while the water came to a boil. Dinner (~670 cal) and three flour tortillas (156 cal/per) plus a small dessert had me end the day with a full belly of warm delicious food and nearly 1400 cal. Important to eat, eat often, eat profusely.
I cleaned up from dinner and hung the bear bag (Adotek 14L certified Grizzly resistant, and only 199g, and of course can be folded in half into a pack vs a bear can) and got in bed. I used the Katabatic 22 convertible quilt I got for Bridge the night before and for this one. While it says it's for people of 5'6" in height, and I am +3.5 ish over that, it still worked fine. The strap system works well. I was comfy and cozy.

Dusk, Dyneema.

I fell asleep with my watch telling me it had 8 days of normal usage left, or ~55% of total battery. Surely enough to record my track in the morning and then I could charge later.
I didn't turn off my Inreach and apparently they kept pairing and/or checking with it all night- the battery was at 14% when I woke up. Argh!

Day 2.0: 11560 from Camp.

Pop tarts and chocolate on the go for breakfast. Kings don't eat this well. Wapati?
I was a little nervous about leaving all my $expensive$ stuff, but it was not in sight of the trail. I figured I could follow my track back in case, but also saw the future (mystic spirit quest and all) and dropped a point on Caltopo. And off!
Difficultish bushwhacking with that waist high or higher prolific vegetation plus deadfall down, invisible under it. And the negative of a hiking pole tent: I left them to keep the tent up. But it was ok. I trended east which put me on rock at times.

I was motoring up the hill when I realized I hadn't stopped to look around. I did. The view of a lifetime, shadows of the Rawahs telemarked onto the land below. I'm still unaffiliated and will remain so, but I felt the presence of God in that moment. Not in a religious way. But surely.
Up. The story of my life. A damn fine Disney/Pixar movie. To the summit, a small piece of glass next to the equally small cairn, no register, sights in every direction. Every peak I'd climbed in the Rawahs, Clear Lake and the 2017 NS100k below as well as a day with Dave in the past. A distinct line in the fine particulate matter in the air, a ray of sunshine the division between light and dark.

"Perhaps he can transcend his own nightmares, play a role in the biggest dream ever dreamt."- Dave Contra.

It was all this and much more.

North.

And just the day before talking with Joe about aging and slowing down but still being able to do what we loved. Now realizing I'd just done ~2100 feet of vert over 1.1 miles, completely off trail, in one hour and thirty one minutes. And also after nearly 13 hours out there the day before, minus drive times. And not sleeping well for several days prior.
Down, 

Down,

and looked at my watch to see 4%. I switched to expedition mode to keep the track though you can see it went from the fine track to straight lines connected.

Life and death out there.

Camp was still where I left it though I was apparently having a bit TOO much fun schwacking and briefly went the wrongish way. Adventure is out there!

Exactly where I left you.

Packed up and headed out. Saw two people who asked if I was already coming back from the lake. I should've lied and said yes.
More beeves on the way back. Made it to the parking and talked to an older guy who started the convo by telling me he found a wallet, was it mine? Mine, I knew, was deep in my pack in a dcf dry bag, so I didn't even have to check. He was nice and funny in that old guy way. Something to aim for.
I signed out at the trailhead and got back to the car. I forgot my toiletries the day before so brushed my teeth good and then headed off.
Such a planner I am at times... but also a very flexible planner. I had a route I really wanted to do to Mahler/Braddock and 10923, but knew with a slow drive on rough roads to Silver Creek it would take too long, and then I wouldn't be able to start the penultimate and significant last big hike until (much) later than hoped...
Mahler and Braddock were the biggest priority yes, a finish of the north end of the Never Summer range yes. While technically not in RMNP and just over an arbitrary line yes, I still had them on my list yes. So yes back to Lake Agnes yes. Drive time yes. Yes.

Day 2.1: Braddock Peak and Mount Mahler from Lake Agnes.

Something savagely satisfying to round trip these impossibly huge looking peaks in just under 3 hours.
Yes, I wanted to do these from the other side. That seemed like a much more interesting and a much much less used and (therefore) much much much more of a desirable route to me.
That was my plan. But flexible planner I was, I also had my friend Gary's track from Lake Agnes. Just in case. My absolute best estimate of his route, avy gullies up and down, pretty much direct from the parking, was 3:15. Now 1.5 days in, tired legs, slept ok but still not great, and the other reasons, I was thinking 4 hours would be great and still allow plenty of time to both get to the next TH and then hike in as far as I hoped, still have time to set up, eat, etc. and not be in dark.
Pack now much lighter, food for a few hours and 2L of water. Poles equipped. Up was the only direction to go.

Avy gully alpine beauty.

Nokhu Crags.

I checked Gary's track occasionally, took a break here and there. And broke the ridge crest in 59 minutes. A short jaunt and I was on Braddock with Mahler looking very much "over there".

Braddock to Mahler.

Half an hour over there. I sat, snacked, turned off airplane mode and got cell service for the first time in 48 hours or so, but who's keeping track. Got a text from Joe about my planned route for the next day, a photo of Bridge from ... Katie, and a message from my sister.

There was a little bit of a trail down, generally trending in the direction I wanted to go, so I took it. EZ jogging, paying attention to my heart rate. Don't push, be present and enjoy this moment.

Never Summers.

Back to Braddock.

The loneliest tree, ~11300 feet.

Gary took a different chute down than up. I agreed the ascent route looked very steep, particularly high up. I again used his track as a guideline. I saw, as I headed down, that there was a chance I could be back in under three hours. If! I pushed. I didn't push. Even stopped at the cabin at the TH to check the construction method.
Stopped the watch at 2:59 and seconds. I had the satisfaction in knowing that if I told anyone at the trailhead, a surprisingly large amount of people (or maybe not, beautiful and you can drive there), that I'd climbed these impossibly tall looking peaks, not to mention Nokhus the day before, that they very well might not believe me. And then to do it in under three hours. Average heart rate 117/zone 1.

Day 2.3: Hike to Camp (again but not).

Ironically saw a bear on my way in to climb Bearpaws. I saw it because it saw me first and ran away. Wiped down but I last bathed Saturday evening. It was now Tuesday later in the day and my dirt had dirt. Rubbed a sun stick on my face and it made my face white and my face made it grey.
I ran into Joe on his way out who gave me the lowdown on the South Fork Trailhead. I could literally find a single trip report on the trail/head. It didn't exist on anything but the USFS maps. Not on openstreetmaps. No tracks on Strava.
He said he easily made it past the rough road sign, then then .9/mile past the 4wd sign. I probably got to about where he did, after scraping bottom once and also scraping body work on the ground here and there. In retrospect, I could've gotten a little bit farther up the road, but it was narrow, couldn't turn around if I met something impassible, it would be hard to back up...

Parking.

Packed up again, and headed out. Not only is the road 4wd and high clearance, but I'd also say specialized 4wd, maybe approaching rock crawler. The only tracks looked both tread pattern wise and width between tires wise to be OHV or maybe ATV.
It was about 1.25 miles on foot to the trailhead to even get started. The sign said it was 4 miles to Baker Pass; I doubted that distance.

4?

The trail- well I'd looked at the satellite images, as well as the low flying high res stuff, and it looked like there was a trail, maybe, in places. Years ago standing at Baker Pass with Erin and looking down into the South Fork valley, eyes straining to see the trail the sign said was there, and seeing... a cairn? Maybe? Or just a stack of rocks?
But the story on the ground can be different, and fortunately it was. Including deadfall cut this very year, based on the still creamy color of the wood and sawdust on the ground. I was legitimately surprised. Though through the trees I could see the route I'd planned to descend from Bearpaws. Scratch that one off the list, and on to plan b.

Trail.

More trail.

And yet more trail.

Trail higher up.

Faint trail.

The trail remained largely good, though as I guessed based on past experiences, with minimal use and being down in a pretty lush valley it essentially disappeared in grassy areas. Someone or something had been ahead of me at least part of the way up, so I followed their way. And trail or no trail, all I had to do was keep going up the valley by the path of least resistance.
I scoped out a spot that was on the other side of the creek which looked to have a fire ring, but Jackson County was in stage 1 fire restrictions. I happened by one on my side, but felt it was too low in the valley. I told myself I'd go up until around 530 and find something then.

I did loose the official trail at some point, only to rejoin it a bit later. Feet got soaked. I hoped to get up above the 'turn' of the valley and to be trending south.

Funny, I had the same wildfire smoke as the night before blow in. But this time, even had ash falling on me. I did start to get a little worried, was there a growing monster just over the hill?
530 came and I kept on a little before getting to what looked like a nice general area. I wondered if I'd went up too far, as both sides of the valley were sloped, and even the floor in the middle seemed to be pointed downhill and less flat than ideal. But nonetheless, a nice soft spot near trees and a few steps away from the creek. But with proximity to water comes mosquitos. I brought along a mosquito head net and that went on right away along with my puffy jacket.
I got the tent set up, and got a nice tight pitch this time. Again, I started the water to boil while I lofted my sleeping bag (this time the Nunatak 22 deg Sastrugi I got for myself) and inflated the pillow and pad.

Much better this time.

Ate dinner, rice and beans again (delicious!) and a couple of tortillas. I'd kept the doors on the tent open and got in after cleaning up. I planned to maybe take a dip but the water was cold and the air was already cooling down noticeably. I was going to wipe down using one of the compressed 'just add water' wipes with a few drops of Dr. Bronners, brought along in an old eye dropper. But then had to get the bear bag up and all the stuff in it so just said meh.

As I was organizing what went where, I couldn't find my headlamp. I looked all over the site, swore I put it in my bag, "But maybe that was yesterday?". Looked again. Could not find. But decided it didn't matter, as I wasn't going to do anything in the dark besides sleep. If an emergency, I could use my phone though it's a bit more complicated to turn on.
I took my pants off as they were a little wet, then got in the bag. Nice and warm, I lay there enjoying the sound of the creek burbling a few feet away, and the views out of the open tent door.
8pm came and I zipped the doors shut, put a bandana over my eyes (went to sleep in the sun hoodie I'd been wearing the entire time plus the beanie I brought, thinking it would certainly be a little colder), and pursued those great goddesses of sleep.
I found them quick and was out out.

Day 3.0: Mount Cindy and Bearpaws Peaks (S and N) from Camp.

The night was the coldest of the trip and despite having the vents open (maybe should've opened a door too?) I got alot of condensation in the tent and on my bag. Some of it froze. I put on my pants and puffer at some point in the night and was on the good side of just being comfortable.  Dew points?  Hot breath?
Lacking a headlamp, I slept in and then snoozed when the alarm started going off at 530. Got up around 6. Frost on the ground too, it was a little chilly. I got packed up a little slower- with the tent being wet and cold I had to stop a few times to warm my hands to be able to get it into the stuff sack.
But on the trail again, poptart and chocolate breakfast. Yum!
There was a good game trail on my side of the creek to start but it quickly got worse, so I crossed and found the actual trail. Relatively easy to follow, but whoever had cut the deadfall lower hadn't been up this far and there were a few big pieces to go around or over.

A subtle trail marker.

The trail crossed the creek a few times, and then went missing with some widely spaced cairns and/or the posts with rock at the base being the only indication I was following a route; but again, I could now see the pass and all I had to do was head up by the path of least resistance until I got there. The GPX I found kinda jogged out east before heading up to the pass. I didn't see any indication of a trail there and I don't think it would be any easier to do that.
And then, Baker Pass. The last time I was there was years ago with Erin, what a great day that was and what a great day it already was today. I took a number of photos and videos.

Verified cairn; not just a stack of rocks which is what a cairn also is but with purpose.

As the sun crested the Never Summers to my east, I took off the puffer and applied sunscreen. I followed an old jeep road up, somewhat crazy there was a road here at one time. I didn't realize it ran for quite a bit towards Cindy, staying on or near the ridge. And when it ended, there was a good trail for a bit too.

Big ole flake o' mica found along the way.

Beauty.

Approaching Cindy.

A casual flirtation with peakbagging.

I reached the summit about 2 hours and 4 miles in. Views all around, I had to poke around to find the register which was in a small pile a little bit east of what looked like the highest point, with the piece of quartz on top. Joe missed it the day before so I signed in for him too.

But onward. Along the ridge to Bearpaws. There was a trail crossing a low point, and I saw something in the trees there. I went over and it was a game camera. It looked like it had been out there for awhile so who knows if it still worked. But in case it did, I wished the viewer well.
The way over was pretty mellow, right at/above treeline. Hilariously at one point I thought I was way farther along than I actually was. Oops!

But I got there. Joe had left a note for me in the register. I picked up and carried out a small rock for Bridge- maybe gneiss? but much larger granatic crystals of quartz and dark black rock. It'll look great lapped and polished up.

Bearpaws South (ranked).

Bearpaws North (unranked)

Bearpaws North had a few ~4 ft long pieces of pvc pipe on top, and I found another one down the ridge a bit. My initial plan was to drop down into the valley to the north and descend back to the trail and back to the car. The views through the trees of the face I planned to descend had me scrap that idea. I mean, it would probably go, but lots of rock/rock faces/cliffy looking stuff, and I used up all my rock powers already.
So I kept on the ridge, plan b, until at a point southish of the trailhead. This went quite well-pretty open forest, some deadfall but easy to go around/over, and even what had to be a very good game trail here and there. But then... 

broke off the ridge and it was alot worse. Pretty steep, cliffy at times, deadfall, thicker forest, more and more profuse undergrowth. I guess it didn't last too long, but I had a mini rejoice when I heard the creek.
I started to rock hop, but the rocks felt slippy. So just waded. The cold water felt great!
On the other side, a short uphill and I was back on the very 4wd road. And a few minutes later, back at the car. My headlamp was on the floor in the back seat.
I ate some food and got unpacked. I laid my bag across the back seat to try to dry it out, and put the tent in the trunk opened up to try to dry it out. Shoes off and into my very last pair of clean and dry socks.
And off- I decided I'd either do 10923 AND Owl Mountain or the two 10ers in SFSP from Ranger Lakes. Initially I planned for the first two, but with the drive times on bumpy and rough dirt roads, plus the estimated hike times, I did not have enough time left in the day to get em both done, and it seemed better to leave two in proximity for the future. I'd thought about the two being the 10ers, as it seemed I could do them any time of the year, but again the time it would take to do them fit in with the time I had.
And man, I would've loved to stay another night. If only I could actually get time off work. If only I could call out, but no cell service. If only I had another meal to eat that night, but I didn't.

Day 3.1: 10621 and Gould Mountain from Ranger Lakes: AKA an ode to a truck.

Another close trailhead but another seemingly long drive. Pulled into Ranger Lakes and parked. Took a few more minutes this time to get my pack set up- this time took a dry bag with food/supplies and a 3L bladder with 2+L.
Across the street and it was pretty warm feeling, but a reasonable climb. I'd been down this section twice before, both as part of Never Summer, and both in the dark.

Let there be light.

The shit(ters) we see out there.

I followed the logging road up, looking for a turn that I never found. In the end, it seems that the roads displayed on Caltopo and other places mostly don't exist in any usable state any more. I eventually took what I though was the correct turn, and found myself not going the direction planned. But sometimes if you fail enough you eventually succeed; I had a little more bushwhacking in me after all.

I picked a line direct toward the summit of 10621. It went, largely good. I got to the summit area and had to have a good look around before I actually found it, the register is essentially in a tree stump with a few rocks atop it. And another good old one, but seemingly found more often by elk hunters (or a wapati in my case).

I had mapped taking the trail north off the summit. Again the reality was more complicated than the map. It was a trail or maybe a road once upon a time, now very overgrown/deadfally and difficult to follow. And I had my first fall and injury of the trip. A rock rolled out from under my foot and I fell backwards and scraped my elbow and banged my butt. Always with the butt stuff.
Following the trail became more of a hinderance than a help, so I just headed in the general direction I wanted to go. It wasn't easy going. Thick forest, lotsa deadfall, foilage (channeling my inner Marge Simpson), and just.. yeah. I was about done. Fortunately I was about done.
I followed the ridge down to the saddle, and then started up the other side. Things cleared up a bit to cut deadfall and shorter trees. I hit a road for a short time. If only I'd known, I could've stayed on it, but it seemed to be going away from the way I wanted to go. So up and over a bump, and blessedly into a clear cut area.

Ahead, more had been cut than seen in the satellite images. Good! A final climb to the end of the logging road, and then up the hill to the summit- whose plateau was COVERED in deadfall.
But the spirit quest was almost to an end. It would take more to stop me than some down trees. I found the summit cairn, reached in, and pulled out the register. Which had a stick either plugging a hole in the lid, or penetrating the lid and creating a hole in it. The paper was dry though. And the register not as old as it looked, a paltry 10 or so years.

I signed in, sat, and thought. I was able to get LTE and cell service and checked in with the world that felt so far away.
I even pulled up a song on youtube and listened as I ate wild raspberries, a prolific amount in the area. And my mystic spirit quest came full circle. I sat and cried. I became the wapati. This was such a great few days, soul, heart, and mind filling after a lot of stress and uncertainty in the last month or so. And now I had to leave and go back to the same.

Back to reality.

I shed my antlers and started back down. I was able to jog the road in earnest once it pointed downhill, and cut off one of the big switchbacks. I finally saw a moose, a lone female who ran away from me. I must've been a sight, and rather odoriferous!!
Right at the bottom I stopped again to check out some of the junk piled there, and most importantly a very cool old truck. A ex military CCKW now living it's best life as an erstwhile forestry truck. These were built in fairly large quantities during World War 2, like close to 600,000 of em. It seems few have survived until now- some have been restored, most left to rust/scrapped, and a few cycled into civilian life.

They are all wheel drive, or what we'd call 4wd these days, except they were 6x6, with both rear axles being duallies. Another interesting thing is that they were made to a standardized design by a number of different manufacturers (GMC/Dodge, REO, Diamond T, International, etc) and being a fairly simple army design, are relatively easy to work on. True, I looked under the hood and there was... a motor. That's it.
I'd love to own this one or another, though certainly not practical for anything. I am guessing this one still gets used occasionally, note the new rubber. And it's 12 tires (3x the usual!)!
I got back to the car and got loaded up for the drive home. Which was mostly uneventful, except I hit a deer on Stove Prairie Road on the way home. Honestly, I'm surprised that hasn't happened before. It was on my side of the road munching some grass, looked up at me, legit made eye contact... and ran out directly in front of me. I was on a uphill and already slowing, braked hard and swerved (ironically if I had gone straight I might have totally missed it). Airbags didn't deploy, it got up and ran away, and I got a good dent in my bumper and some of the plastic connectors broke. But car still drove and seems fine otherwise. Pretty low speed but solid impact.

Three days of spirit questing left me with 47.43 miles and 16,164 feet of elevation covered by foot.  1 moose, 1 bear, and various little critters spied.  No elk, excepting myself.  Time spent with a great friend.  Two back to back days out there from sunrise to sunset (minus drive times) and most of a third.  12 peaks (1 repeat) and three new lakes visited.  Three nights in a tent, with two out there and one at a camp ground.  A great spirit quest!

Additional reading and viewing:

Joe's trip report on Nokhu Crags and the Electrode.

Joe's trip report on Mount Cindy, Bearpaws, and South Fork Michigan Trail.

Dave Contra Art.

Map and GPX files.