theragingbirder: Chapter 6: The Wrath of Saruman

Our next excursion was the 19.5 mile Paintbrush Divide loop. Expecting a piece of cake, we had no idea what we were in for. Setting into the hike in the afternoon, the rain was light and steady. But looking up unto the pass, a fury was brewing.

It seemed that the higher we hiked, the colder and heavier the rain became.

Given that our tent was still a bit wet from the previous night on Shadow Mountain, thoughts of turning back were near in our minds. However, we thought "what would John Muir do?". Keep going, we estimated! In fact, he was probably a lot more foolhardy than us, commonly venturing up mountains alone with only a blanket, a hunk of bread, and maybe an axe and the boots on his feet.

As the rain became a steady, miserable essence, our wits had dulled. Dom nearly walked right into a huge moose. The soaking wet cow was none too pleased at our intrusion. As we circumnavigated this hooved menace, I reached for my camera from my pack. This caused the soaked beast greater irritation, so I retreated without a picture.

As we continued up the mountain and the weather gradually worsened, we resolved to march on despite all common sense. Thoughts of the glory of the pass drove us ever onward. Then it got really wet, and most of the clothes we wore were wet, with little dry stuff except for our sleeping bags. If we turned back and hurried, we would only have to hike part of the way back in the dark, or make camp - but it would be a long, miserable night of cold wetness.

As luck would have it, we happened upon a secluded cabin, which conveniently was unlocked. In no time we went from possible freezing to warming by a wood stove and sipping hot beverages from our camp stove.

Meanwhile the weather outside took a turn for the worst...

***Now, if you are reading this and are a proprietor of the cascade cabin, please accept our sincere apologies for trespassing in your cabin. We pray for your understanding of our circumstances. We took great care in leaving no trace of our illicit stay on the fateful night (minus a few pieces of firewood, but we chopped some more), and we thank you for leaving the cabin unlocked, which we assumed would be for such an emergency. We have learned our lesson about hiking into such conditions with wet gear. Please accept our humble thanks. ***

The next day was our greatest challenge. With a new found boost of morale from finding the cabin and dry gear, we set into the alpine, past lake solitude (9,000 ft.) toward Paintbrush Divide (10,000 ft). The next 1,000 ft was a gruelling set of switchbacks.

We trudged on, propelled by the beauty of the mountains.

Until we reached the bleak divide where winds were howling. Locating the trail became difficult.

Can you find the trail down the mountain in the photo below?

We could turn back...nah lets do it!

Then as we traversed the pass, a violent wind assaulted us. Saruman was trying to bring down the mountain! Too poor to afford crampons and axes but wealthy enough to afford 2 weeks of travel medical insurance, we traversed the divide...very carefully.