A day in the life...: 50 Mile Backpacking Trip

Day 2 - Ipsut Creek to Mystic Lake Camp

The hike from Carbon River camp to Ipsut Creek was really quite flat and easy. It was a 5 mile hike that got everybody there in good spirits with plenty of energy to spare. We worked on merit badges, played some chess and generally took it easy and let our bodies adjust to the trail.

This was my domicile for a week. I've adopted the ultralight mentality and it makes a huge difference in my joints on the trail not having to carry all the heavy stuff like a tent. People don't believe me when I say this, but I don't feel like I'm giving much up when I leave my tent behind. My tarp is a silnylon poncho that doubles as a ground cloth and tent. The only thing it doesn't do well is keep the bugs out. For that, I have a small bug net that doubles as a tent substructure that I can lay the poncho over in rainy weather.

It wouldn't be a boy scout campout without a cut. This is Kyle Howard's hand after a littel misadventure with his pocket knife. It was quite deep and I considered taking him back home to get this sewn up. Then I thought about doing it myself. In the end, got the bleeding to stop, cleaned it with treated water, put some antibiotic on it and dressed it. It seemed to do OK throughout the outing, but hated to see this the first day out.

There were plenty of these kinds of foot bridges everywhere. The park is a congested combination of trees, rivers, creeks, rocks, snow and lakes. There's very little that is flat here. It's quite rugged and primitive. Just like we like it. :)

This was our first water source after camping by the Carbon River. As I mentioned, the Carbon River is pure glacial runoff and has glaciel silt in it. We drank that the first day and were boys often overheard to say "Mmmmm, love that glacial silt aftertaste!"

So, when we hiked out of Ipsut Creek and saw this water source, we quickly dumped whatever water we had pulled from Carbon Creek and replaced it with this water that seemed so crystal clear.

This is the suspension bridge across the Carbon River. The trail was washed out up above and this is the bridge we would have come across if it wasn't. We actually crossed the river way above, but paused here to give everyone a chance to walk across; it feels a little Indiana Jones as the bridge sways and ripples with every step.

This is the Carbon River looking right up to the Carbon Glacier itself. It's the steel gray looking mass between the peak of the mountain and the river.

This is a typical sight, especially this time around on the trail.

Getting ready to assault the last bit of trail up to and over the mountain into the Winthrop Glacier canyon to the Mystic Lake camp. This was one of the steeper and more difficult climbs, but Mystic Lake was well worth it. The younger boys were feeling a bit of the pain at this point. The older boys were just fine. Didn't feel a thing...

This little guy put on a show for us. He had no fear of us. Likely he's so used to seeing friendly hikers that he hardly paid us any attention. He hung around, ate for a while and then walked onto the trail not more than a few feet in front of me.

They are called marmots and they are all over the place here. Sometimes they'll whistle at you. I was wearing long pants, so this one didn't favor me with a friendly whistle. Not sure he would have if I was wearing shorts. My legs aren't what they used to be.

Mr. Marmot