Northern Loop — Thursday, Jul. 15, 2021

Friend and I set out from Sunrise at 11am on 7/15, headed to Mystic Lake for night 1 and James Camp for night 2 (clockwise). Gaia ended up at 35.92 miles, +9,362’, -9,388’, and 52 hours by the time we got back to the car.  Day 1 - 9.7 miles, +1770’, -2636’, and 6 hrs 49 minutes to Mystic. Campsites were tucked into the woods, .2 miles and a few hundred feet below the lake, and were also all taken by 7:00. Mosquitoes were absolutely horrible but luckily I packed a net and deet - highly recommend both. There is no view at all at the campsites so coupled with the skeeters we walked up to the lake. Pretty lake and there was a breeze so no bugs (for some reason we were the only ones not sitting at camp). Day 2 - left Mystic at 6am with the long day to James ahead, ended up at 13.23 miles, +3501’, -4601’, and 9 hrs 42 minutes. The worst part was the hike up towards Yellowstone Cliffs - fortunately it was early and overcast but unfortunately we could not see the cliffs or any of the surrounding peaks. And before the climb we dropped our packs to walk across the suspension bridge and look at Carbon Glacier. Saw a ranger walking back to his cabin at James who said he saw a bear near the lake earlier in the day but we never did. He recommended #2 because “you can see the lake if you stand on the fallen tree” but he didn’t mention that there’s no access to the lake itself. A solo hiker was at #3 but #1 remained vacant for the night. As we experienced the night before, the mosquitoes were once again out for a buffet feast. Day 3 - left at 6:15am and made the 13 mile, +4091’, -2151’, 8 hr 30 minute journey back to Sunrise. Again, a long day but not too bad given the scenery. All of the bridges were up except for 1 at the west fork of the White River, and there was a makeshift log bridge that looked dicey, but the water level wasn’t too bad so we decided to cross instead so we changed into our water shoes and made the crossing. Overall trail - Multiple trees down but none created any major issue. Also crossed several small snow patches, including one approaching Skyscraper, but again no issues. Finally, I was extremely impressed by the two gentlemen (who looked to be in their early 60s) who were trail running it in one day - wow.