day 2 bomber mountain 2012

a storm rolled through late that first night. the dogs would bark and growl every time it thundered. I started to get a little nervous when the light flashed and immediately after the thunder would shake the ground under us. I just had this vision of a boulder rolling down the hill and crushing us…we were camped right below a boulder field. it passed quickly though and we never got struck by lightening or crushed by a boulder. we slept pretty well the rest of the night. at first light I got out to check the skies. I wanted to get going fairly early to beat any threat of the afternoon thunderstorms that typically happen in late august.

when I crawled out of the tent I wasn’t excited to see the skies.

overcast. with a light mist. we both brought rain gear. it was a little chilly too. luckily we both had enough clothes to keep warm and dry. the clouds were moving fast across the sky. I was hoping it would break and the sun would come out and it would be fine. there were a couple of “sucker holes.” a sucker hole is where you can see clear blue sky and the sun beaming on the other side of the clouds and you’re a sucker and think its going to break…a sucker hole.  

we bundled up and decided to try to make the push.

then it started raining harder. I told hubby I wanted to wait. see if it was going to blow over. so we climbed back in the tent at just the right time. it decided to hail. and not just a little. we had to keep pushing the tent out so it didn’t collapse on us there was so much hail.

but once the hail stopped the skies cleared and it was gorgeous. not a single freaking cloud in the sky. I was so excited! it was going to be a great day…(apparently it was just a giant sucker hole!)

so we pushed to summit. I thought there was no way it was going to go back to how it was. we were still in our rain gear since all the foliage was wet. we wanted to stay as dry as possible.

we knew there were lakes we had to pass. so at least something to keep our minds busy on the hike. the majority of this hike was much more relaxed.

the last picture is looking back at all the lakes, fortress and gunboat lakes.  we are almost to the base of bomber mountain. the weather still looks great in this picture.

bomber mountain. the second picture is basically were we had to hike up. we lost the sun at this point. the wind picked up. it began to rain on us.

we questioned what we should do. wait out the clouds and storm. push for the summit, or just go back to camp?

we hunkered under a giant rock. made some warm food and hot cocoa to warm up a bit….

the weather shortly decided our fate after this picture was taken.

the mountain became completely socked in and I just felt like we shouldn’t be heading to the top to try to find this bomber with wet boulders. it tried to snow on us, but mostly just rained. it was cold and windy. I was ready to get off the ridge as we dipped back into the valley heading for camp.

we got down into the valley and hubby wanted to try some fishing at the lakes. even though it was still windy he got his rod and reel out and started fishing. within the first few casts he had a fish on.

golden trout. another one I can cross off my “only seen in a jar” list. the picture doesn’t do it justice. these fish were so pretty. I wish the sun had been out to bounce off their colors.

hubby fished his way back to camp catching fish left and right. nothing worth keeping…not that we would have had anywhere to cook it. the forest was under fire restrictions at this time and plus we were above tree line and no fires are allowed.

the boys were so stinky cute fishing together.

the girls just found a rock to sit on and watch the boys fish.

we got back to camp and snuggled in to warm up just a little bit. naps were taken. the puppies were pooped. but they did so good this whole trip. I couldn’t have asked for better behavior from them.

around dinner time mother nature decided we had enough rain and wind and gave us gorgeous blue skies for the evening.

going to bed with those clear skies made for a little chilly night.

thankfully we had puppies that enjoy the snuggle and need it to stay warm (at least our little girl, Twogwotee).

we thought about trying to make a push for bomber on the morning of day 3. but we decided against it. that would have put us at at least 10 miles for the day.

the bomber will be there next year.

we loaded up on the morning of day 3. again woke up to gorgeous weather!

we had a little frost on the tent, but nothing major. loaded up all of our stuff and headed downhill for the 6 miles. hubby fished a couple of the lakes on our way out. we were so excited when we finally reached the car.

so. sorry to disappoint. we didn’t get to summit the bomber. but sometimes the safety of your own well being is more important.

we are already wanting to return next year…and maybe even summit cloud peak in the same trip.