Lake Ingalls was the hike Sugarmama Shannon chose we should do...well, at least after she performed all her saturday chores on a Friday morning. We got to the trailhead late (2:30) which as hard as I tried I couldn't make Sugarmama accept fault for this. It's obvious she's been married for a while with her mad skills of deflecting blame thru argument. I have a lot to learn from her...but I digress.
Above is our trailhead which leads to several different hiking options - this is part of an old mining trail and from what I read also a trailhead that many climbers use to do their crazy ascents up some crazy peaks. Unfortunately we didn't run into any hot climbers on the trail but we did run into a very nice boy scout group. Beggers can't be choosers.
This beautiful creek led the way for the first quarter mile - once we found our trail it was lazy switchback city with sparse trees and open sky. It's stinking hot on this side of the mountains and feels like true summer (a little backhand slam to the westside).
The higher we got the better the views became. I believe this is Esmeralda Peak...oh wait...shoot. I didn't fit Esmeralda into this picture but just know that she is the mama peak in the peaks you're looking at. Not to be confused with Sugarmama Shannon's back.
The colors were few but bold. I just loved how the green and white trees contrast with the blue sky and beige stonecrop. Sugarmama Shannon started to look out for vultures. See any?
We slowly gained elevation and every once in a while continued to guess where the heck this lake is. Everything was so dry that it was hard to imagine that there was any kind of lake anywhere. Our goal for the day, this HOT day was to find a good lake to swim in and drink our heinekens by.
This lonely patch of snow gave us some much needed relief from the heat and lack of shade. Above is Sugarmama Shannon taking it all in.
Me assessing the situation and scoping out a good spot to execute a good hotdog roll. I did it. And found out that my idea was better in theory than reality. (Picture omitted).
And up.
And vegetation returns! We figured this would be a good spot for the 8th of May. (If you don't know what this is then ask me and I will sing you the song...)
As we got higher some old friends Rainer (on the right) and Adams (on the left) were peaking their heads up to give us a holler. Oh - and THAT is Esmeralda Peak. She was our little guide the whole way up to Ingalls Pass.
Once we reached Ingalls Pass we wondered "Ok. So....now where?" Some dude was setting up camp on the ridge and this girl was completely envious. What a perfect way to spend a Friday night.
Reaching the other side of the Pass we were able to find our trail...a very much snow covered trail. But as long as there was still tracks we were still game. The sun was out and we had energy to spare.
So ALL my years living in EBurg I was NEVER this close to Mt. Stuart - what kind of ridiculousness is that? I love Mt. Stuart - I'll give you an unobstructed view of his dominion and beauty.
Ah yes, now that's a thing of beauty. In my dreams and in a perfect world I have the experience and know-how to conquer this mountain. Can you imagine taming this beast and taking in the panoramic views it has to offer? But I digress...
Wait - what the heck is the difference between a mountain and a peak?
I believe this is Ingalls Peak and as we looked for our final destination the question remained "So where is this stinking lake?"
Very faintly you can see our trail (in the snow and rocks) to the left. We became confident that our lake was just over that lower snow ridge - we were nearly there!
As we made our way over this was our view UP...
And our view down.
And this was the reality of what we thought would be where our lake was at. We were wrong but couldn't find the trail. Oh cairn, my dear cairns, where are you to lead the way?
Sugarmama Shannon took a break on top of this waterfall to soak her heiniken in the cool water. I have to say that this is one of the top ten bada$$ pictures I've ever taken. On a stressful day at work I'm just going to look at this picture and it will all be put into perspective.
As Sugarmama Shannon relished in her mountain moment I looked once more at our false lake and tried to find the trail.
And in the distance I spotted it. Sugarmama Shannon advised the time was 5:55pm. Should we go for it? Umm...yes! We had 3 headlamps between the two of us and that was good enough for me. Curosity is a powerful force.
Thank goodness for cairns for helping us navitage our way thru the snow and rocks. It was so beautiful - the red rocks reminded me of Colorado!
We ran into some backpacking runners along the way. It was odd because they were wearing running shorts and running shoes. I said something to one fella about his Brooks and he informed me he'd been getting sh*t all day for it. I wonder if it was from his frozen toes. Anyway - we followed them and climbed these rocks to find the lake just over this ridge. This time we were SURE it was just over this ridge.
Once we made our way up we instantly saw a family of goats! There were 7 or 9 of them. I remember on the way up some little boys told us about the goats and how aggressive they were. After that Sugarmama Shannon got excited to see goat hair and kept on calling out for goats. They really did hear her call...
So this is Ingalls Lake and this is as close as Sugarmama Shannon got to swimming in it. Too iced over to jump in and too cold to drink our beers. But the views were fantastic and I later read about a narly loop hike you could crank out in a day from here. I'm soooo down for that - so who is with me?
Let me introduce you to Lake Ingalls! By the way, the name is Ingalls Peak. Typical.
Here's one of the goats and the 3 little kiddie goats. They were swirling all around Sugarmama Shannon and I - it was really awesome to see them in their element!
Cute goats in action!
As this goat was staring down Sugarmama Shannon I got a flashback of Kirby the Goat (rest in peace) who bucked me years ago when I didn't give him his food fast enough. He knocked me back into the fence. Then I had to wonder if mountain goats ever attacked to protect their young or to get food? We still needed to make our way down a steep rock scramble...
As I started to let my inner-scaredy cat out of my system and whine to Sugarmama Shannon about the ferocious goats we noticed this marmot peaking his head up wondering what all the commotion was about.
So even though I was nervous about the goats I still made a dumb mistake: As we started to make our way down the initial steep descent I felt dizzy so opened up a energy bar. And then. I noticed a big goat following me. This freaked me out. Memories of Kirby's hard buck would push me off that mountain if my new goat-shadow followed suit. I got down so fast, going OUT of the way scrambling over boulders to get away from these godforsaken goats from hell. Of course Sugarmama Shannon was calm and just kept saying "Just don't look at them" as she calmly walked among and around these goats on these steep overhangs.
And. When I thought I was safe Sugarmama Shannon said "he's following you." That dang energy-bar-obsessive of a mountain goat was right behind me and I started to run. Stupid goats.
As we quickly made our way out Sugarmama Shannon slipped and sliced & diced her thumb (pictured above) and later I cut my calf on a rock that turned out worse the next day than at the time.
We made it back to the trailhead just before 9:30pm and never had to bust out the headlamps. It was an awesome hike and adventure. I hate mountain goats but love my pictures of mountain goats. Thanks for not killing me. Baahh.
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