day 2

At Lower Cameron? There is some debate. A rehab group is here and they thought it was upper cameron so we are squeezed in. I am almost too tired to write. Too tired to be poetical. It is easy to gauge the kid's moods by the amount of chatter on the trail. We have some talkers in this group and when even they can't think of things to say, you know that we are tired. Seven miles today but the last two seemed to take forever and then we passed by our unmarked campsite and didn't stop until we hit the tumbled down cameron shelter, whereupon a tan and grizzled man with a chainsaw and a fresh faced young boy told up to go back. I love mountain passes and ridge walks, which i think i inherited from my stint on Mt. Rainier. I thought of the Tibetan blessing for safe crossing but didn't have any barley flour. We are chasing time in a backwards fashion on this trip. Holding on to the past by ascending in elevation. The higher you go the earlier in the summer it is, until you start to find the last of the spring beauties at 6000ft and cross over and down in to the next valley. All of the flowers make a lush and riotous carpet for us and perfume the air until it is a sunny haze of pretty pictures. Today was the day of the marmot. Perhaps tomorrow will be the day of the mountain goat? I look forward to new surprises and getting into camp much earlier.