It sure was good to be moving again. As we worked our way north we climbed two easy summits that showed signs of previous ascents. Next we made our way up a very nice stiff class three summit on slabs and ledges via its north face. Nice blocky granite the whole way. We then descended this peak by a glacier which surprisingly did not show up on our topo map, where we find a nice spot to camp by a little lake that is at about 1800 M. This really is a beautiful location. It is highly unlikely that anyone has ever stepped foot here before, which certainly adds nicely to the ambience. We are faced with a dilemma however. Our crappy food is almost gone, and we are moving much slower than we should be, and we seem to be in a weakened state as well. Our chances of making the first food drop are really slim. We decide to spend one last day of climbing, and then try to bail back out to Harrison Lake. This was one of the better days I have ever had in the mountains. I was feeling sicker than a dog, but we had a great climb that was undoubtedly a first ascent up a beautiful unnamed peak that was low fourth class. I believe this is now known as Vista Peak. We actually traversed the peak and dropped down the other side into one of the most beautiful areas I have been. We ambled down a huge expanse of polished granite slabs through which a mountain stream had carved its rushing path over the millennia. Eventually the rock ends in a spectacular and brilliantly green meadow. We had to gain some elevation to get back to our camp but it was more than worth it, considering the day we just had.
The following morning began the death march. We all too quickly dropped out of paradise and straight into steep and ugly grade IV bushwhacking. I had enough; if I ever got out I vowed to quit climbing for good. Never, ever would I put myself through this torture again… ever! Doug will swear on a stack of guidebooks that the air was blue around me, and that he had never even heard some of the words I was using. Part of the issue was of course my frame pack, that was getting caught and hung up on every branch around; and there was no end of this. This went on for hours, before we finally hit the old road system. These weren’t much better but at least they weren’t steep like the bush had been. But there were miles and miles to go, and by now it was mid-day and hotter than a firecracker. We had gone from snowstorms a week before to the hottest day of the year. This was grueling. We both felt like the dogs breakfast. The roads were still mostly overgrown, and had countless deep washouts that we had to climb in and out of. We weren’t 100% sure where we were going but we figured that this road system would at some point hook up with the one we came in on.
Eventually to our relief it did just that. So now all we had to do was to thrash like zombies down the road to the lake. We walked right back through the P4W and onto the dock the water taxi had left us at. I dropped my pack, stripped naked and jumped into the lake, man was that refreshing. Mmmm what’s this? All of a sudden there appear three or four teenage girls on the dock. They were very surprised to see us to say the least. Me being naked in the water and all, I was a bit surprised as well. They really didn’t know what to make of us, so they skedaddled out of there to get someone in charge. This gave me the opportunity to get out of the water and dressed. In short order they returned with more girls and two guys. These men were really nervous and concerned about how we got there, who we were, what our intentions were etc. They really didn’t believe that we walked right through their camp over a week ago and again today and no one noticed. It turns out that this is a juvenile detention camp. Only access is by boat or chopper, although there is an abandoned airstrip. The inmates are all here for a thirty day stretch, then it’s back to city detention or release depending upon their situation. These girls pretty much all looked like hard cases; it was kind of sad to some extent. The two guys are councilors/wardens/guards or something like that. Security is solely based on the remote access. There is nowhere to go. The guys were suspicious that we might be trying to break out one or more of the detainees. It was kind of weird. I mean really, look at the state of us. Eventually we were able to assuage their fears, and they realized that we were probably mostly harmless. In fact they went so far as to let us share their dinner with them. The girls had to run a lap of the airfield before getting fed; we were excused this duty. They also let us use their radiophone and we were able to make arrangements for the water taxi to stop by on his next trip, which by luck was tomorrow. Additionally they let us stay in one of the old logging camp bunkhouses; that was pretty far removed from where the girls slept. The bunkhouse was nice in that it kept the voracious mossies’ at bay, but the downside was that there were ants everywhere. A very uncomfortable night and it was hot as hell. I am sure that the guards must have taken turns at watch that night, just to ensure there was no funny business. Which of course there wasn’t.
They fed us breakfast, and in turn we answered all kinds of questions about climbing in general and specifically what it was like up those old roads. We assured the girls that no matter what they thought of their current situation, that it was like a Club Med luxury resort compared to what they would find if they ventured away from their camp.
Before long we heard the unmistakable racket of the boat, and headed down to the dock with our entourage to see us off. I remember there being a family on the boat going for an outing or picnic perhaps. The little boy looked awestruck at Doug and me in all our gnarliness with all of our gear dangling off our packs, I can still see him asking his dad if he can give us a couple of cans of pop from their cooler. A can of cold sprite never tasted so good.
We had plenty of time on the boat ride back to decompress a bit, and of course in spite of what I had said only the day before, we started planning our next adventure; and I also was figuring out how to sell that pack of mine and buy one of these newfangled internal frame jobs.
The most disappointing thing in this whole escapade however is that we never found out what those food drops looked like after impact.