Rockwall - Day 1 of 5

date: August 4, 2010
itinerary: Hwy 93 trailhead to Floe Lake
trail: 10.5 kms, altitude gain 2,346'
weather: low 20's, mostly sunny, calmWade: foreground with white hat (architectural technologist)
Gary: middle with glasses and dark hair (carpenter with Habitat for Humanity)
Luke: background with shades and stylin' bandana (teacher)

click on all images for larger views

The Rockwall Trail (see map on previous post) is a part of the incomplete Great Divide Trail which follows the Continental Divide, and is named because of the 55km long massive limestone cliff that is parallels. There are 4 main campgrounds, with "bailout" trails from each leading to the highway. We chose to do the entire trail in 5 days/4 nights, from south to north, and would do so again if we were to hike the trail again, but it seems most people go the opposite direction. We preferred this direction mainly because of the nature of the climbs and descents in the middle of the trail are more desirable to do in the direction we went.
Our first day has been described by some "as one of the few trails in the Rockies I dread," and for good reason. The trail gains over 2300 feet, but doesn't do so until the last 2-3 kms, which is a demoralizing first day to say the least. It was honestly the toughest climb I've done in my backpacking career.The trail leads through a burn area from 2003, which affords some unique vistas, and an overabundance of undergrowth due to increased sunlight exposure. It was incredibly humid, and the plants were up to my shoulders at points. All the sweat and strain is well worth it, though, when you hit Floe Lake, named for the ice floes that are sometimes seen floating in it. Crystal clear blue, and highly reflective of the 3500' cliff surrounding two-thirds of it. The shore line was covered with some of the most incredible rock specimens...shale, quartz, and mutli-layered ones that my dad might know what they are. Gary found a chunk of pure quartz the size of a baseball that now belongs to his daughter.I longed to stay in the Warden's cabin, but it was locked tighter than, well, something locked really tight. It had a little stream beside it entering into the lake, but we couldn't locate the outlet, which led us to believe that the lake may drain underground somewhere at the south end. The only drawback to this campground against the others...for some reason it had far more mosquitoes and biting black flies.
In the morning, when the sunrise hit the east face of the cliff, and the water was undisturbed, it was hard to tell where the mountain stopped and the water began. And, off and on, we kept hearing rocks tumbling off the face, though we could never visually see them.