August 7, 2019
The day Kristian tried to kill me.
Got up earlier but still made a hot breakfast, had oatmeal. Crossed Broad Creek right at camp across some downed trees over the creek, downed logs was going to be a theme. Carried a daypack and two liters of water. Had food, first aid kit, sunscreen, rain gear, extra shirt, camera, thermometer, and notepad in the daypack.
Ascended the canyon to the east then headed North toward Coffee Pot Hot Springs. There were trees down everywhere. It was tough travel. There was a lot of up and down through gullies that weren’t significant enough to show up on the topographical map. They were significant though to our legs and timely progress.
We chanced upon an area devoid of vegetation that smelled of sulfur and had a snack there. We trudged up and down and over down trees and eventually got to the east side of Coffee Pot Hot Springs. There was a marshy area with pools of water that were bubbling gas but did not appear to be hot. Didn’t want to get water there. Coffee Pot has many thermal features, a boiling spewing geyser, and a series of mud pots with a dark mud that probably gives Coffee Pot its name. There are many vents and smaller features too. We headed north past Coffee Pot’s Eastern end and braving the sulfur steam to a plateau devoid of vegetation, probably because of the thermal area.
Then it was up and down ravines again with countless downed trees in our path. The only bright spot was when we saw an elk on the ridge and a deer below us. We stopped and had a snack near a vent area on the map in one of the ravines.
These conditions continued all the way to the prominence above Fairyland Basin. We went down slope part way to where it flattened out a bit where we could see Broad Creek in the distance to the Northeast. It was 2:30 pm. Determined that there was no easy way to make it down to Fairyland and back to 4B1 before dark, and we were pretty tired, so made the safety decision to skip Fairyland Basin and head back.
We headed back paralleling our route a little to the west in order to cut down on distance, but it did not help with the Ravines or downed trees. The ravines might have been worse (steeper). We passed to the west of Coffee Pot and the creek from it had gray silty water that did not look drinkable or filterable. We were rationing water at that point. We had the same situation with logs in the way that we had to step or climb over as well as the up-and-down ravines. We finally found a ravine that was not dry within an hour of camp and were able to filter some much-needed drinking water.
Got back to 4B1 around 7 p.m. exhausted and skipped dinner. Cleaned up a bit and went to bed. It rained during the night. Clothes were filthy but could not clean them so just had to wear them the next day.
Had oatmeal and coffee for breakfast with a protein bar.
Did 34,801 steps, 17.59 miles, 160 floors
Backpacking, Smoke, and Rain My buddy Kristian and I made a second attempt to hike to Fairyland Basin the week of August 16, 2021, and . . .