Rockwall - Day 2 of 5

date: August 5, 2010
itinerary: Floe Lake to Numa Creek
trail: 9.5 kms, altitude gain 1,033', descent 2,723'
weather: low 20's, mostly sunny, slight windFloe Lake 1000 feet below, 2.7 kms away

We started the morning with a climb, but a much more gentle one, to Numa Pass. This would be the highest elevation we would reach on the trail, topping out officially at 7,726', though we then dropped our packs and did a scramble up a ridge for few hundred more feet.in this photo, looking west, Floe Lake to the left, Numa Creek to the right, Gary and Luke scrambling the ridge

There are few things I enjoy more than hiking above the tree line, where the world lays below you, and you are totally exposed. That does more for me spiritually than a month of Sundays. It feels so primal and satisfying to be fully aware of how insignificant you are compared to the planet, yet so intimately connected with it.the trail we came up is sort of visible in the centre of the image

We were lucky enough to have blue skies this day as well, and the view back down to Floe Lake was...was...nearly beyond words. We could grasp the full extent of the lake finally, and see the entire cliff face without having to turn our heads to take it all in.On the pass ridge, what really struck me was the contrast in scales...from the sheer mass of rock surrounding us, to the teeniest of flowers growing right of a shale scree slope. And there were these delicate shale formations that stuck straight up like razor blades on edge.
After lingering, we began "the descent." 2,700' down over switchbacks, mercifully spread out over 6.8 kms. Still, I strapped on the knee brace, and took my sweet time. The last thing I wanted was for my old ACL injury to hobble me by placing a mis-step and twisting it.At long last, and with two fresh blisters for both Luke and myself, we reached camp in the mid-afternoon. It was a long boring, climb down to the valley, but the site was quite nice. The tent pads were on one side of Numa Creek, and the eating area on the other, with a not so stable bridge in between.Here it looks like Gary is stomping his foot to Luke's harmonica playing, but I think he is just trying to break up the dead fall we collected for the fire

And never in all my days have I been at a back-country site that had a firepit. That was a really nice treat...to get us psyched up for the climb we had waiting for us the next day.