Day 79, September 23rd, 53.52km and 965m climb, Lava Mountain Lodge to Strawberry Safety Shelter
After what I admit was a very comfortable and warm night in the wee cabin, we headed off just before 9am into a beautiful sunny morning. We had a tail wind down the valley before starting the climb up to Union Pass. The wind persisted and got stronger and colder as we climbed back up to just under 3000m again. The views were spectacular as we climbed with fresh snow on the surrounding mountains. We also found snow on the pass from yesterday's storm!
At the summit, it was too cold to stop for long so we put some layers on and headed down slightly onto the Union Pass plateau. We had planned to freedom camp but the site we had in mind was too windy and cold so we sheltered behind a rock for lunch before carrying on. There was another possible site 10km further on. We topped up with water at the Fish Creek stream before starting a wee climb up to where the informal campsite was marked on my map. We were super happy to get to the site and find toilets and the Strawberry Safety Shelter instead! All welcome said the sign so we have moved in for the night. Gordon has chopped the firewood and is about to light the fire. With a bit of luck we will be undisturbed. It is Friday night so you never quite know what will happen at these places but so far so good. We are hoping for another cosy night as the temps are set to drop below freezing again. We are still at around 2700m so not surprising. The wind has died down thankfully but with the sun now setting, the temps are dropping. Nice not to have to worry about bears again tonight!
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