Browns Lake Trip July 2020 Day 3

We slept in on day 3. The plan was for a longer day's hike, but it was going to be a whole lot of downhill, so there was no rush. I was not feeling very well, and it showed in my sluggish pace of packing. I usually don't leave the tent until I'm all packed up, but on this morning I left a bit earlier so I could go dig a hole. Then I had to go back into the tent and finish up. 

Browns Lake in the morning.

Ambrose is all set and ready to go.

It felt like I was coming down with something, but I couldn't figure out exactly what. I just felt low energy, vaguely headachy and a little sick to my stomach. I knew I didn't feel like hiking at my usual fast pace, so I didn't let Ambrose start before me, because it would take too long for me to catch up. 

We took it rather slow towards the outlet of the lake in order to search for morels. We didn't find any, though there we did find other mushrooms. An abundance of them. 

Some creature feasted on these mushrooms, but they aren't for us. 

Heading down to the outlet.

Ambrose at the outlet.

After that it was a matter of making our way carefully down the steep sections to the next junction. Ambrose walked right past it, but then said he wanted to stop at it when we were halfway down the ramp. I let him know that he was free to backtrack to the sign to take a break if he wanted, but I was going to keep going. 

Getting ready for a stream crossing.

Lovely morning flowers.

Ants in the ant plant.

One last view from up high.

He ended up agreeing with me that it would be better to take our break at the base of the ramp, so we kept hiking down until we got there. Sometimes, I wake up feeling not so great, and then I end up feeling better as the day goes on. On this day, not so much. 

I still felt like I was dragging even as the day went on. If anything, I felt a bit worse as the day went on, especially when we encountered tree problems that I had to go around. Or under. Or over... 

More flowers!

See, Ambrose is still hiking ahead of me, I'm clearly not well.

Quite a tangle of debris in this stream.

Getting closer to the Scenic Lake trail junction.

When we got close to the tarn, we heard some movement and splashing. I asked Ambrose to stop so I could take a few pictures of the deer enjoying the water. I thought there was just one, but upon closer inspection of the photographic evidence, I have to revise my estimate to 2. 

Look very closely and you'll see a couple of deer, directly to the left of the base of the little green tree on the right.

From the tarn, it's not all that far to the crossing of the Little Queens River. But to me, it felt like a really long time. I just didn't want to be moving at all, and I knew that I should keep going. I also knew that if I really thought it was needful, we could go all the way to the car and then go home. I didn't think I needed to do that, but it was comforting to know that I could. 

Every tree I stepped over felt like an added burden.

Ninemeyer junction - almost to the crossing.

I was in full on head-down hiking mode by the time we got to the crossing. I wanted to just pick a spot and stop walking for the day. Instead, I got to stop only to get up again and hike through freezing cold water. On the other side, Ambrose was ready to go before I was, and I struggled to keep up with him for the rest of the day. 

Luckily, the rest of the day wasn't that long. We were not at all far from the spot we wanted to camp for the night. Really, we weren't. It just felt like a terribly long time to me is all. A time in which I would fall behind Ambrose, catch up, and then fall behind again. When we got close, Ambrose pulled ahead for good, reaching the campsite before I was within line of sight. 

Ahhhh! Enough tree problems!

Ambrose crossing the Little Queens.

Ambrose crossing a side stream. We have to take it upstream a bit, because on the trail the water is fast and deep.

This one's a dilly of a pickle. 

I was feeling pissy when he went out of sight. I wanted to ask him for something, but he wasn't there to ask. I couldn't even ask him to stop, he was too far ahead. And I thought I saw the campsite, but it turned out not to be the right spot. No, I found the right spot when I caught up to Ambrose and saw him off the trail heading towards the spot we'd agreed on. 

And here's my last glimpse of Ambrose for a while...

Once I arrived, I was in no mood to do anything. I sat down in the shade and rested for a while. Ambrose did the same. But soon enough the shade we were sitting in became sunny and we had to get up and move. While Ambrose went and got water for the night, I pitched the tent. We had planned to go get water together, but since I didn't feel well Ambrose was very kind and got it by himself. 

The tent was in pretty full sun. However, I discovered that if I stretched out in the tent on the ground, rather than on my sleeping pad, the cool of the earth kept me more comfortable. It was still hot though, so Ambrose didn't join me. 

The view from my side of the tent. 

The day, overall, went pretty well. I wished I wasn't feeling ill, but at least I was out in the woods. I love being out there, hearing the water flowing and the wind blowing and getting scolded by chipmunks and serenaded by birds.

Browns Lake Trip July 2020 Day 2

We didn't wake up super early this morning. I mean, before 7, but not before 6. The sun wasn't "up" mostly because of our position, snugly tucked against an eastern ridge. As usual, I wanted to linger in the tent, where I was warm and cozy. Unfortunately, I was also becoming quite uncomfortable as nature was calling. I like to pack things up before leaving the tent in the morning so I don't have to go back in; I managed to do that this morning, but just barely. 

Our campsite was very gray in the morning light. The burned area has started recovering, but the ground is still mostly ash colored sand and pebbles. The air had a bite to it, but wasn't too cold. I had my down jacket on for protection while I found a spot far from water and tent to dig my hole. 

Afterwards, I sat on a log near the tent and devoured what remained of my pizza from the night before. Cold pizza makes a good dinner AND a good breakfast. I only wished I had more left to eat. Instead, I got to supplement my breakfast with our more typical backpacking food, energy bar and meat stick. 

Ambrose was packed and ready to go before I was. He usually is, because I typically carry the tent. Can't pack the tent until it's empty, and taken down. So Ambrose keeps packing while I take down the tent, and I can't get very far in my packing without the tent. It's very sneaky. He does help me with folding the tent though, but he gets rewarded with kisses, so does that even count as altruism? 

View from our campsite in the morning.

We started hiking back to the Little Queens River trail before the sun hit our campsite. Once we arrived, we turned right and headed towards Browns Lake. Today's mileage was going to be a bit shorter than yesterday's, but we would have a lot of climbing near the end. 

Ambrose on the Little Queens River trail.

Looking back towards Scenic Lake (which I still haven't visited).

Hiking in the sunshine through the meadow.

There weren't as many downed trees on this part of the trail; we still ran across some, but not nearly as many as the day before. And the ones we did run into, well, some of them were quite different. It looked like some smaller trees had been completely uprooted and then moved somehow, and ended up on or in the trail. 

This tree certainly didn't grow on this spot in the middle of the trail!

It seems like every time I hike this trail, it takes less time to get from the Scenic Lake trail junction to the base of the last climb before the Browns Lake trail junction. Ambrose and I call that section, from where the trail takes a distinct right angle turn around a large pine tree, followed by an uphill slope into a bushy area, and another right angle turn, all the way up to the Browns Lake trail junction - well, almost all the way. Technically, in my mind, the ramp ends at the stream crossing just before the junction. 

The start of the ramp.

Another wholly uprooted tree, with very clean roots.

A small idea of what hiking the ramp is like. 

I had been hiking with Ambrose for most of the morning, but at the ramp I took the lead. I'm faster at hiking uphill than he is, and I get pretty frustrated going behind him uphill - unless I'm not feeling well. I like to keep a continuous pace rather than stopping and starting, and Ambrose is also more of a stopper/starter when going uphill. But that problem is easily solved by having me range ahead. 

I sat and looked at the clouds while I waited for Ambrose to catch up.

There's a particular rock near the top that I like to sit on; I stopped there to let Ambrose get a little closer before I took off again. It's funny; I'm tired of being in the same room with him at our apartment, but out in the wilderness, I just want to stick together. Once he got close, I headed up again, content in the knowledge that the ramp was almost over. 

The stream crossing had changed again when I got there. I swear this crossing changes every time we go there. But these changes were for the better, since the water was flowing more nicely and the trail didn't have any holes in it. 

The crossing this year: quite green, well built trail, flowing water, tree debris.

I waited for Ambrose just after the junction for Browns Lake - since I take care never to pass a junction without him, I made sure I could see the trail from where I sat, past the junction itself. He wasn't long in coming, and we took a break there for a few minutes before going on. 

It's been a bit since I've been to Browns Lake, so I had forgotten how steep the next section was. My memory had elided a bit of the trail that continued the ramp's upward trend, skipping straight to the really cool meadow before the next stream crossing. Well, I had to earn that cool meadow. 

More climbing! Before I was mentally prepared for it ;)

I don't think this would be a good place to camp, but I love how it's a little meadow in a bowl.

I expected a small stream crossing in the meadow itself, and I could even hear water flowing, but where the trail crossed the stream bed there was no water. I could look upstream about 20 feet and actually see water flowing, but it went underground before it reached the trail. Dry feet on that crossing. 

Ambrose was actually disappointed at that, because he wanted to get more water. I reassured him that we'd get to another stream crossing very quickly and he followed me the not long distance there without complaining too much. 

Water for filtering! And not too difficult of a boots-on crossing.

I crossed first and headed up the trail a bit until I found a spot flat enough to rest a bit. I got some water for us and Ambrose started filtering. I didn't do a fill up, because I hadn't drunk all my water, and I didn't feel like carrying the extra weight on the final push up to the lake. But I did take a snack break and looked around. As sometimes happens when you let your eyes rest a moment on nature, I suddenly saw more than I had a moment before and pointed with my trekking pole to a spot next to Ambrose. 

"Look!" He looked. He did not see. I tried adjusting my pointing, and then just walked over to point my finger directly at what had caught my attention. 

"Mushroom. Morel! You want it?" He did, of course. 

I only wish I'd taken a picture of it first, especially that Ambrose was sitting so close to it without seeing it. Oh, and its friends - there were two more once I started looking. And so we began to keep an eye out for morels, even though we hadn't expected to find any this late in the season. But we were getting close to, if not over, 8000 feet at that point. Summer comes later that high. 

We climbed a long way already from the valley floor.

But there was more climbing yet to do.

Ambrose kept up with my pretty well, even on this uphill, rocky scramble. He was, in fact, too fast for me to pull my kindle out and get any reading done, so I had to make do with enjoying all the natural sights and sounds around me while I waited for him to get closer. 

This area looks nothing like how it did when I first saw it; it's much greener, and less of a mud pit. 

Mushrooms yes, morels, no.

Within sneezing distance of 8300 feet, snow on the trail.

In a surprisingly short time, we made it to the lake. Right near the outlet is where most people camp, so it was a good sign that we couldn't see any people as we hiked in. The snow was another clue; I didn't see any recent prints, or any people prints at all really. Not until I made some. And when we got to the outlet, it was clear that the lake was ours. 

Browns Lake - what a beauty.

And there was no one else there!

The first time we camped at Browns Lake we took a spot between the outlet spot and the far side spot. We tried to find it again on this trip, but either we're not looking in the right place or the spot got washed out. It was a bit steep for pitching a tent to begin with... 

There's a morel in this photo. Also one of my new boots.

Having failed to find the original spot, we went on to our second spot. I led the way again, directing us around the lake, and running into another morel on the way (but only the one). As expected, there was no one at the far side of the lake either. We truly did have it to ourselves, a rare treat. 

One of the views from our campsite. 

It wasn't quite noon, and we had finished our hiking for the day. Time to chill out and relax! 

Well, first it was time for lunch, and we were both ready to eat by that point. Not quite hungry enough to snap at each other, but it was only a matter of time before we got there. Ambrose cooked, and I scouted out the tent site, and started clearing out the pointier rocks and pinecones from my selected space. I got it pitched, but didn't get anything set up inside before it was time to eat. 

After lunch, I got a lot of reading done, pitched the tent, recorded some videos to use for Zoom backgrounds and just generally did my absolute best to relax and enjoy myself. Because I was out in the middle of the wilderness and I didn't have to do anything right at that moment. Sure, there would be camp chores later, but they could wait a while. The tent was actually cooler without the sleeping pad protecting me from the cold ground below, so it was perfectly reasonable to delay that chore. 

The day had been relaxing, but I was ready to sleep when the sun started sinking below the ridgeline. 

Browns Lake June 2016 - Day 3

We weren't quite as leisurely this morning as we were the day before. We didn't have far to travel this day, but we also both wanted to get out of the miserably cold wind and down to a lower elevation for the relief that it might bring. I felt awful. So awful, that I was considering going all the way back to the car that day.

I kept that thought to myself while we ate breakfast and packed up our camp. Breakfast was granola. I had hot water in mine, even though it didn't have any milk powder like Ambrose's did. The hot water still made the granola warm and soft, which was nice. The same deer from yesterday wandered around outside our tent, getting closer and closer until she settled at a spot that I still thought was incredibly close.

Good morning, deer.

So close!

After we were packed up, I gave one last longing look to the snow covered approach to Browns Peak, and then we headed out. We stayed close together on the trail down from Browns. Even feeling ill, I still found myself having to stop and wait for Ambrose.

Ready to go and pouting.

Crossing the Little Queens wasn't as hard this time, but I still needed Ambrose to go first to show the way. I kept looking at my options and not seeing the easier ones.

Goodbye, Browns Lake.

The start of the Little Queens River.

Once we hit the trail junction and were back on the Queens River Trail, I asked Ambrose about going all the way back to the car. He vetoed that idea, and I grumbled but agreed. Then I was free to zoom ahead and zoom I did. If I couldn't go all the way back today, then I was at least going to get to our campsite as fast as possible and lay down.

A still reflection of blue sky.

Swath of green.

These sure look like violets to me, but I've never seen any in Idaho before.

The same trail that had taken us about 4 hours to get up only took me about 2 to get down. I spent some time sitting and recovering before I pitched the tent. This time it was a nice pitch, tight and snug. I was just getting ready to blow up my sleeping pad and get inside when Ambrose walked up. We're both faster going mostly downhill.

We split up at the junction.

Part of the trail has been washed out.

I'm not sure what these flowers are called, other than pretty.

He offered me the use of his sleeping pad and suggested I take some Benadryl and take a nap. I thought that was a great idea, so I did just that after eating lunch. It was a great plan, really it was. But it had a fatal flaw. I'd pitched the tent where it would catch a lot of sun, and the cruelly cold wind wasn't blowing down here. Inside the tent, I was baking, sweating all over Ambrose's sleeping pad even when I stripped down to just my underwear.

View down the valley.

Getting closer to the campsite.

I just couldn't fall asleep in the heat, even with the antihistamines. At one point I went down to the river to try and get cold so the heat in the tent would feel good. But there wasn't a good place for a dip in the river, and I couldn't get myself to lie down in water so cold. I compromised by prodigious splashing, but back in the tent, I was quickly hot again.

I did discover that the mesh in our tent is some kind of magical mesh. It doesn't keep all of the wind out, but it does keep some out, which I think is pretty impressive for mesh. The difference between sitting in the tent with the mesh doors shut and the mesh doors open is significant. Amazingly so. The more I use this tent, the more I know it was worth every penny we spent on it.

A little waterfall where we stopped for water on the way up.

By the time it was cool enough to spend time in the tent, Ambrose informed me that it was my turn to make dinner. My stomach was still feeling a bit off, and so I said I would, but I didn't want to eat any of the vegetable masala. I just wanted rice and Spam. He agreed, so that's what I cooked.

The view of our campsite area from above.

I made up the minute rice in the gallon freezer bag, and then set it in my hat to cook. I also tucked the Spam singles in the hat so they would get warm. That worked even better than I expected. The Spams were hot when the rice was ready to eat. I used a spork to slice them into the rice and had trouble holding on to them, because they were so slick with hot grease. I mixed everything up and Ambrose and I ate dinner.

Ah, the campsite.

Even he had to admit that I had cooked the best meal of the trip.

After that, we got ready for bed. The next morning was going to be anything but leisurely. We had to get to the car as quick as possible so we could get home with enough time to unwind.