Page 6: Commonwealth Basin to Park Lakes

Remember that big lake from the last page? That's it!

And then I rounded this little knob in the direction I'd assumed our trail was going and was met by about 4000-feet of empty air, while our trail switchbacked steeply down to that very lake!

I've never even thought that could be our trail until I got around that corner. So we had to go all the way down to a ridge just west of the lake, then climb back up the mountainside on the far side of the lake.  After we finally got around that, we turned the corner and saw that there was yet another basin that we had to round before getting on the ridge leading to Alta Pass.

By the time we finally we made it to Alta Pass, I'll tell you what – those puppies were tired! Even Mica. We stopped for a little while and I took my pack off, then lay flat on my back in the heather.  Of course, it started to rain.  I lay there for a while, letting drops splash onto my face.  This was my promised reward to myself and by God I was taking it, rain or no rain!

I finally got up, strapped myself back into the cold, clammy pack, and then coaxed the pups up. We got a whole ten yards up the trail before Mica plopped back down again. It was a sit-down strike.  She wass carrying part of Micki's food because Micki was really stiff today.  Negotiations were brief and constructive (at least from my point of view) and we soon continued up the trail.

Upper Park Lake, Three Queens in the distance.

From Alta Pass we gazed down at Park Lakes and I was really pissed.  Those mud holes didn't look anything like the pictures I'd seen in the guide books. Okay ... they weren't all that bad, but I was tired and felt I deserved more at the end of such a hard day!

Upper Park Lake, Three Queens in the distance.

It took forever to get down to the first of the lakes, which is where we were scheduled to spend the night.  Maybe, if you were struggling up from the lower forests instead of descending from Alpine heaven, your perspective would be different.  They would probably be an awesome, rewarding destinations.

Upper Park Lake.

Anyway, there was something really neat that transpired at the lake. There were these three older ladies camped at the other end of the small lake. Two of these women were in their 70’s and the ‘kid’ was in her late 50s. I thought it was wonderful!  They told me their names were Mary, Margaret and Alice. They were very pleased when I told them they all had lakes named after them in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness Area.  They were from Oregon and explained that this was a yearly event for them. They picked out a different destination each year and backpacked in at their own speed and had a great time. I hope I'm able to do that when I'm their age. It was simply awesome meeting them.

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