My 3 night trip was cut to 2 nights after I woke this morning to ash on my tent and a headache from the smoke. I passed a few brave souls venturing up while I came down, but when I went to the WIC to release my 3rd night campsite the ranger said she was seeing tons of others doing the same.
Tuesday to the basin was totally clear, no air quality issues. My left calf muscle seized pretty badly but I made it - that last .7 was brutal! I sadly didn’t see the bear rumored to be about the campsite. A ranger had advised me to get water about a quarter mile beyond the campsite (go past the tiny metal pipe spurting water to the next decent sized stream) as the white river was even more full of silt than usual. Saw a marmot and many frogs and had a lovely night with no rain fly under the stars.
The next morning my leg was still sore but I decided to day hike to Burroughs. A very kind man at the next campsite gave me his lighter when my stove’s igniter stopped working at breakfast and I was and am eternally grateful for this kindness!! Began the hike to Burroughs grateful I didn’t have a full pack (my second night was also at the Basin so I left my camp site set up) but did fill both my drinking bladder and my filter full, happy to take the extra weight on the notoriously dry Burroughs trail (there is one small stream along the way up but I cannot emphasize enough how much you need to plan your water on this hike!) this trail, though steep, was truly one of the most beautiful hikes I’ve ever been on. Had a snack and a break on a rock in a meadow before the second half of the climb. Had to break out my inhaler a few times as the heat, climb, and smoke all started to get to me.
I almost gave up at the Burroughs intersection but decided to try thanks to the kind encouragement of a few fellow solo ladies. I did make it to the top of third Burroughs! The fire was looking VERY ominous and little Tahoma was already hidden by the haze, but the view was well worth the climb.
Going back down was honestly harder than going up, the trail down to glacier basin is loose scree and I lost my footing several times. Go slow and watch your footing!
re-doing the .7 back up to the basin camp was just as punishing but I took the chance to refill my water on the way up, saving me the hike out to filter before dinner. At this point the fire-spawned clouds began to rumble quite alarmingly and the air smelled strongly of smoke. In the morning I woke with my leg feeling great, my air mattress leaking, and my camp shoes broken, along with the aforementioned blanket of ash on my tent, so I decided to skip my planned trip to palisades (I am still pretty heartbroken about this but it was the right call for my lungs.)
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