Bailey Range: Day 3: Ferry Basin

This was supposed to be our easy day since we had such a long day the previous one. So we got a casual start enjoying the sunrise and the mosquitoes that came with it. Needless to say, it was not long before we were moving again. Our path followed the creek that drained into Cream Lake. We had to pull out the map quite frequently on this one to make sure we were heading the right direction. There were options all around and every direction seemed inviting. We climbed out of the river valley at one point and onto the grassy slopes above.

 Here the views were amazing and made the entire trip worthwhile already. There were lakes that we would stumble upon, beautiful meadows with awesome flowers, and excellent waterfalls to enjoy. All this while casually gaining elevation in a trailless wilderness. It really could not be beat. Eventually we came to a point that was above treeline and there were our three lakes in Ferry Basin which was our goal for the day. We wandered around until we found an appropriate spot for a campsite. We set up the tent, played some cribbage, and had some lunch.

 Now we had the entire afternoon. There were some peaks above us including Mt. Ferry and Mt. Pulitzer that looked interesting to climb. Ferry was going down tomorrow, Pulitzer looked like more than I was wanting to take on by myself.

It was 3-4 class and given that Carrie was supposed to be class 2, I decided to focus my wandering elsewhere. I went up to the small unnamed peak that rose over the tarn below that we were camping at. It took a slight bit of scrambling to gain the summit, but without the full pack on, I sure wouldn't have called it difficult. The view from up top was just amazing. Dad said later on that he was sure that there would be many days that he wished he could just be in this spot that we were in now without having to do all the work to get there. I couldn't agree more because it didn't get too much more scenic and wild than this.

I wandered on down the other side of the peak and then back to camp. Most of the rest of the day was spent playing cards, taking dips in the freezing cold lake, and reading in the hot sun. We learned later on that there were records set for high temperatures on that day in Western Washington. We could feel it because even though we were camped right below a lake with snow drifting in it, we still were trying to avoid the sun which above treeline is nearly impossible. At least there were no mosquitoes at this elevation. It was a warm night, which was strange because during the previous one at lower elevation we had some frost when we awoke. This one it was tough to stay cool enough.