Carne Mountain to High Pass (page 9)

Spider Meadow

From this entry point you look down the meadows in a northwesterly direction to Dumbell and Chiwawa mountains, both over 8400' and towering over 7050' Spider Pass. 7600' Red Mountain rises to the left, running southeast into Phelps Ridge. Across the valley and paralleling Phelps Ridge is another ridge running from Chiwawa all the way to Mt. Maude. Although the valley floor here is wide and fairly flat, you feel not only surrounded, but encased by mountains.

We set up camp, the last we would share on this trip, in trees near where the trail entered the meadows. We actually had two separate sites. C&G opted to be nearer the creek than Mica and I. With plenty of daylight left after the domestic chores, we wandered around separately, taking photos and just plain gawking at the wonders around us.

I spent a great deal of time sitting on a huge flat-topped boulder staring up at Spider Pass, wondering how in the world a trail circumvented the sheer valley headwall. That was to be my route the following day. I knew there was a trail up to Spider 'glacier' (which isn't really a glacier, but a more or less permanent snowfield) and I knew there was a route up that and then down the other side to Lyman Lakes, but looking at it from this vantage did not increase my confidence in my ability to negotiate it alone with Mica Eiger. C&G seemed unimpressed by the route, but then they weren't going up it the next day.

The Spider Gap route in the distance

We had a last, nostalgic dinner at my camp. Candlelight from Chris' Early Winters candle lantern lit up the bowl of a nearby twisted tree, casting a warm glow over our faces. A family of deer circled around us, occasionally stepping out into the open to browse and peer at us suspiciously. Throughout the night we could hear them stepping carefully around our camp, curious yet cautious.

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