Reality Check: Glacier Divide Aug. '12

[schmalz]

This is the weirdest trip report I've ever read, so congratulations on that. Even though you might feel like you're getting old, remember that the route you did was far beyond what most able bodied hikers would even consider doing. You obviously have some good years left

The stuff you found out there isn't what is baffling me as much as where you found it. That is the last place I'd expect to see that bizarre stuff.

[TehipiteTom]

Very interesting trip report. That's a trip I've wanted to do for a long time. Sorry you didn't get to do the whole circuit.

[Mike M.]

M'kid:

I'm another older hiker (60 years old now) and I have to say your first day itinerary was awfully darn ambitious. I always like to baby myself the first day out. Coming from sea level as I do, I try to sleep one night at the trailhead (or near it) after the long drive, then hike just shy of the first pass. I'm usually out for two weeks at a time, so I suppose if I only had a week's food on my back I could make it to Lower Honeymoon Lake, but I know I'd be crawling like a wounded critter at the end of the day. No wonder you were hurting the rest of the trip. Sorry to hear about your wife's knee; I trust she'll be back on the trail again this spring.

Mike

[mokelumnekid]

For the sake of completeness and off-key humor, here is the pic of the contents of the container that was in the peace sign at Ramona Lake. The Dad's and Daughter's wrote their note on the back.

PPPMC-Ramona.jpg

PPPMC-Ramona-2.jpg

[kpeter]

This stuff reminds of the the geocaching craze that started in the last decade. Certainly inspired by it.

So this is the sign near the horsepackers camp that is useless for helping find the way to Lower Honeymoon?

Trail SIgn-1.jpg

[mokelumnekid]

kpeter: Well one can cross Piute Creek at that sign by wading which is what we did. However once across there was no obvious use trail. After poking around for awhile we simply started bushwhacking south-west until we ran across the well used hikers trail which ascends up against the topopgraphy to the west, quickly climbing out and away from the drainage of Honeymoon Lk's. On the way out we saw the "real" cut off from the Piute Creek trail which may be as much as a hundred yards west of (maybe more maybe less) that sign, although it was not marked in any way. In fact at that location one can cross Piute Ck. on a log, although the location of that crossing is not at all obvious or easily spotted from the Piute Ck. trail.

I'm sure that someone on this forum can provide better beta. It may be that given how logs to cross Piute Ck. on will come and go, the actual start location may vary. But the trail once found is quite obvious.

[giantbrookie]

Sorry to hear about your wife's knee, but glad you got out there, even if it was a bit of a bizarre trip. Your round the corner route from Ramona is a nifty one. I wish I had thought of that when I was doing this trip clockwise with Judy back in '97. We did a 5 day trip which went via Lamarck Col, Darwin Cyn, 11106 (11092), 11236, over the saddle but then straight down the drainage to Piute before going to Knob Lake, dayhiking to Puppet et al, and Pilot Knob, then going out via Piute Pass. If I had thought about heading around the corner to Ramona, we would have done that. Although I wasn't 40 yet when I did that trip, it was a grueling trip for me because I came down with some sort of intestinal ailment on night 2.

It is still good to hear you getting out and doing fun off trail backpacking. This is all the more inspiration for me to get the family out there this summer--and I will be looking for a break when I finally take a breath after Cordilleran 2013.

[Troutdog 59]

Thanks for the TR Moke. I fully understand the title and it appears it hit me sooner than it did you (I'm 53). Seems like a little added conditioning and you will be fine. Im hoping thats the remedy for myself as well!!! I do hope the wifes knee is doing better.

That said, other than feeling poorly and your wifes dinged knee, IMO you guys did pretty well to make it to Honeymoon on day 1. I did a similar trek in July without going around the horn and our route was Muriel day 1, and Honeymoon day 2. Kinda funny, cuz we did day hike over to Ramona and traverersed pretty much the entire northern shore. I didnt see the camp or peace sign, but my son told me last night that he did on the way out. They stayed a tad longer than I as they hike about twice as fast and we could hear thunder in the direction the clouds were coming from so I took off a little early. . In fact, I didnt see much sign of camping at all yet alone large fire pits, but then again the whole fishing thing kinda grabs my attention sometimes and I'm pretty oblivious to other things around me at certain lakes, and this was one of them. From your pic, it looks like it might have been a bit upslope from where we were on the lake. Still not cool. There were many an illegal fire ring at Lower Honeymoon and around Lower Golden Trout Lakes as well. We tore the one at our camp at Honeymoon down, but we saw others traversing around the lake. They seem to be anywhere and some in the most alarming places like the two you mention.

As far as the trail to Honeymoon goes, I had been alerted to it being downstream of the sign a bit. We crossed at the sign, but found it to the SW right away. On the way out we followed it to the creek, and your correct, the logs downstream made it much simpler to get across. Again, thanks for the TR.