Page 22: Ingalls Lake

Ingalls Lake basin from Stuart Pass.

Wednesday, dday 12
Lake Ingalls

What a nasty, nasty surprise we had shortly after getting here this afternoon!

I set my tent up on this neat little peninsula that I never camped on before (this is my fourth trip to Ingalls Lake) and had decided to cook supper inside to get out of the rather brisk wind.

They always tell you not to do that, but I've done it a few times and never had a problem because I've always been very careful

Everything was going smashingly well when suddenly the stove flared up and the tent floor started burning! Actually it wasn't the tent floor, but the space blanket between the floor and our sleeping pads, but I didn't realize that at time. I stared briefly at the flames in a sort of frozen horror, mentally picturing big, gaping holes in my wonderful little tent. I ripped the door and mosquito netting open and threw the stove and pan outside. The floor continued to burn away. I quickly smothered it with my yellow sleeping pad, then inspected the damage.

There were two large holes in the space blanket and two small holes in the mosquito netting where the stove had momentarily touched in its headlong flight out the door. All things considered, I got off extremely lucky.  I finished cooking dinner outside the front door and the stove functioned perfectly. Who knows why it flared up in the first place?

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