Day 3
8/18/17
14.2 miles
(39.2 miles total)

We did 3 passes today, and it feels like it. Straight out of camp was Sentry Peak Pass, which led us to a great view of a string of lakes leading over to our next pass, Photo. It was a long descent in the morning shade, flying down crusty snow in our microspikes, picking our way over frosty tundra and around willow. There were a few bits of game trail. Elk? Moose? I thought it very much felt like moose habitat, but we didn’t see any. 

We climbed up a steep bank next o a waterfall, with just a few short bursts fighting through willow before popping out at Bewmark lake. 

There we were surprised to find several tents set up and some folks sitting around having breakfast. They were probably just as surprises to see us. (We found on our maps a trail led in to that lake from a different way than we came in). 

Onward, up to Photo Pass and down the other side to a less spectacular valley with soggier tundra. Much soggier. 

We followed some game trail along a creek for a while, which ended up leading us a bit astray. We bushwhacked back on track before stopping for lunch. 

We knew the afternoon would be tough, climbing up towards Europe Peak and staying high. Thanks to notes from Wired, we knew the solitary route point on the map would be unhelpful, and instead relied on our own good judgment (and continually reminding ourselves, “Wired did this”) to find a route that went. Yay knife’s edge! It was late in the day when we topped out on the ridge but we decided to go ahead and tag Europe Peak, since we were so close. 

The route stays high for several miles on a wide bench. It’s a little windy, but the skies are clear, so we decided to camp up here instead of walking til very late to get low.