Day 47 - Benson Lake

Woke up to the birds singing. That's always nice. I got going around 7:15, then I ran into Bobcat. He and I were heading to the same place, so we hiked together a little bit. He's faster on the climbs than I am, so he pulled ahead quickly.

By looking at my Data Book pages, I could see what I had ahead of me. A lot of ups and downs, and steep. I just decided to go as far as I could and hope I get to my destination. After recalculating how many days it will take, I've realized I may not have enough food. Not a big deal, since I can hop into Bridgeport if I have to. And if I do, you can be sure I get rid of this heavy bear canister!

I ran into Squatch who was southbounding (SoBoing) this section, and he was telling us horror stories of what's to come. Hooray.

I had to ford the same creek a couple of times, then climbed what I thought would be forest, but actually turned into a bare section. It was so hot climbing up to Benson Pass, I think I have actually sweat more today than I had in the desert! Icky. The pass wasn't even that high, about 10,140 feet. The views were nice though, tall rock walls and a descent into woods. And a lake to get cool air off of. It was a nice way to spend an afternoon.

The climb down from a junction towards Murdock Lake turned into a hazard for me. It was really steep, with a gradient of -9.1. If 0 is flat, then 4-5 gradient is getting pretty steep. This was ridiculous! Almost straight down and me with weak knees and a bum ankle. It was no fun, especially when you would come upon a rock that was covered in dirt, so you think it's dirt until you go sliding off the edge of a cliff. Like I said, no fun.

I finally got to the bottom and decided I didn't feel like climbing back up the other side of the valley (don't even get me started). I saw that Bobcat had written a message in the dirt, so I took the side trail towards Benson Lake. This place is beatiful! It's a huge lake, with a sandy beach. And lots of mosquitos. Very lovely. I got there just in time too, because a tundering cloud was hovering above the valley wall that I thought of climbing! No rain though, and no lightning, so I knew I was safe to pitch my tent under the trees. Less condension that way!