Well, the best laid plans... Hal reserved the plane on three separate occasions, but bad weather kept the air recon flight grounded. Ironically, the weather over Whitney was nearly perfect. Rats!! 'A' for effort anyway, it was still a great idea. "Hey Hal, It's about time you got your instrument rating don't you think?"
And so the troop was left to accomplish the mission the old fashioned way, with 7.5min topo map, 2-way radios and 12 channel GPS receiver. Ok, so it's not stone knives and bear skins but you have to admit it's a long way from the comfort that aerial photos would have given us.
The climb out of Soldier Lake was easier than expected. A trail-of-use lead up a steep embankment to the top of a ridge giving us an expansive view of Miter Basin. Wow what a sight! Stark granite mountains on three sides with pristine Alpine meadow in between. Crabtree Pass was not visible from this first ridge but it was at least clear how we had to attack the first section of Day 3's hike.
Miter Basin proceeded at a gentile upward angle for about two miles before we encountered a blocky wall of rock leading up to Sky-Blue Lake. It was here that we encountered one lone hiker (humorous story to follow in the pictorial travelogue) coming the opposite direction who gave us the skinny on how to approach Crabtree Pass. We were now confident our off-trail gamble would pay off, great!
Above Sky-Blue Lake we encountered a chain of lakes, each higher than the last. Some rock scrambling and route finding was required, but the payoff was access to Crabtree Pass. We ate lunch at the foot of the last push up the pass before proceeding.
Everything went smoothly getting to the top of Carbtree Pass. Views in both directions were pretty inspiring. However, it was the climb down the other side that took it's toll. There was loose scree and boulders lining the entire 1,200ft descent. "I just took a ride on a boulder," our lead man Kurt called back via the radio. The rest of us took our time picking our way down without further incident. Kurt bandaged his foot, gritted his teeth, and moved out with the rest. There were still 2.5mi's to go before reaching camp at Crabtree Lakes.
The remaining miles took us past several lakes, most were unnamed, until reaching Day 3's camp site on the shore of Crabtree Lake #2. Light was fading fast so dinner was quick. Hoards of fish entertained us as they broke the surface of calm lake waters. Exhausted and exhilarated at the same time by the day's events, we were all in the sack early, around 8PM.
Day 3 Trail Map
