Day 3. Colorful Passes. June 23, 2016.

Horseshoe Lake to Marion Lake (10,296 ft)
6am to 6pm.

I am not going to count miles any more because they don’t mean much. We have some landmarks  with the distance between them. But that is just a measure of the path someone else took. I assure you we are taking our own path. Sometimes shorter, sometimes longer. Plus miles are no measure of effort out here. Elevation gain and loss would mean more.

Be sure to check out Wired and Rockin’s  blogs for more photos and details.

Our first destination of the day was Windy Point, a 3 mile out and back side trip.  The views into the Middle Fork of the Kings River and all the surrounding peaks made it well worth it.

Next up was Gray Pass. The snow fields made the way up more challenging than if there was no snow.

White Pass was next. It seemed to take forever to get up there but it was gorgeous.

Last was Red Pass with the most snow yet. It was reminiscent  of Glen Pass on the PCT. Lots of steep snow.

We descended a very steep chute to finally get to Marion Lake, our home for the night.

I made sure I got a front row seat for the alpenglo.

It was another day of no gps. If I was by myself I would have cheated and turned the gps on just for reassurance.