Day 6: Out from Garnet Canyon again, July 24

It was time to get back to Salt Lake City for our flights the next day. This necessitated a super-alpine wake-up, so we woke at 7:30AM to see the day's parties on the snow traverse. There was evidence that it was, indeed, a good idea to hang one's food.

Fortunately, these critters aren't very smart and can't reach very high, so you don't have to try that hard to keep food out of their reach.

Hiking went quickly when not carrying extra jars of jam (or, indeed, any food at all), and soon enough we were back at treeline. Above treeline, the morainal terrain looks vaguely similar on many mountains (though there was more moraine here than on other mountains); it's when you go below treeline that you can observe differences in vegetation.

There's a lot of other climbing to do in the area, which is why the guidebook is so large. (It also has lots of historical information.) The crux of the descent is the boulder field at 8800', after which the trail is basically a sidewalk.

This time, it took us 3 hours and a half to get to the parking lot, crossing the boulder field and a stream, which Dave could use to clean his ice-axe. (Hint: don't hang your ice axe anywhere near your portable toilet.) We each paid the AAC $4 to take showers at the Climbers' Ranch---probably a good idea before the 6-hour drive. While I was waiting, I used the bouldering wall there.

We were back in civilization, or Utah's facsimile thereof, in the evening, after a stop at Wal-Mart along the way. Dave seems to enjoy making me to go Wal-Mart for some reason. Once back in SLC, we needed to eat. The theme for this trip seemed to be Mexican food, so we had that again, after which we had the fun of repacking everything for flights again. I haven't seen my base layer since then, but I hear that I might see it again one of these days, if Canada Post and the US Postal Service cooperate.