22.5 Miles
Surprise Lake
With an early finish last night I got plenty of sleep and woke up early ready to go. I left camp around 6:40 and it was chilly but going uphill over Pintler Pass warmed me up a little. Going up the pass was beautiful just like the previous few passes in the area and what lie ahead looked lower, more forested, and boring. Coming down the pass there were a few turns which were pretty well hidden if you weren't paying close attention. Spins and I were able to make it through without losing our way thankfully. A slow and steady climb up onto the Continental Divide was scenic and then we lost elevation and went down into burn area. Boring drab I excited burn area. We were still on the divide but it was not terribly exciting and dropped down off the divide at the areas only water for lunch.
Going back up on the divide merged into forested area for a short while and we went gained elevation for quite a while before heading back down again. We entered burn area again and low and behold in the sky was a long lingering and drifting cloud from up ahead. Now Spins in this section has said that it smelled like the PCT and I figured it was grilling the first day at storm creek but now I've come to realize that lovely PCT smell is most likely a fire that we now see ahead of us up over the ridge in the distance. The smell is faint and no ash is raining down so we figure its still a bit away and after some fun 'find your own way up the burn area ridge' we got back on trail and headed towards the smoke. While going down for the day the smoke is still a good distance away so it keeps the mind at ease and the wind isn't blowing in this direction from it. Hopefully tomorrow we still don't have to deal with the fire but we'll see.
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