Backpacking to Lost Lake

Conor and I planned a multi-day backpacking trip over the Labor Day weekend; We were to hike from Dunraven Trailhead, 5 miles outside the National Park,  to Lost Lake, 4 miles inside the park and at nearly 11,000 feet elevation The original plan was for 3 nights so we needed to pack in all our gear including clothing and accommodations for potential snow. Back country permits were required along with “bear cans” to protect our foods (and ourselves) from the bears but after all the paper work and piddly things, we got to hiking on Saturday late-afternoon…

After hiking only 4 miles, we setup camp just outside the National Park to rest for the long climb up to our scheduled camp site for tomorrow.Day 1 and night 1 went smooth as pie. We were in the tent and ready for sleep by 9PM but as luck would have it, neither of us got much sleep. I dont think I got any more than 2 hours worth as I was just too uncomfortable sleeping on the ground now that I’m an old fart.

We woke early on day-2 to start the next stage of our journey. Though it was only 5 miles further down the trail to our final destination, 5 miles with 60 lbs on your back is a marathon… or so we found out. After hiking 4 of the miles, we were met with a 700+ gain in altitude in less than a half-mile of trail. I dreaded coming to this point in the trail all morning and it sure measured up to it’s look on the maps. It was at the top of this climb that we broke through 10,000 ft in elevation. A quick 1 mile further brought us to our camp… just in time for my legs to fail.

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