Looking Back

The temperature wasn't bad: Most people were just wearing light fleece tops and rain gear. I had raingear over my shorts and long tee shirt, but then (a) I am highly cold resistant, and (b) I was in stage 1 hypothermia by the end of that day. The snow certainly cooled things off, but it was just there because of the sheer volume that falls every winter. This summer was probably worse than usual: Particularly cool and overcast. Some of the 6 foot trail markers were 90% buried, and I don't even know if their bases were on the ground.

It was a bit of both cloud and fog ("clog?"). The pass isn't terribly high - about 4,000 feet, but since it sits athwart the prevailing flow of the very moist air coming off the Gulf of Alaska, just that small elevation increase will condense the water vapor.

The whole trail is affected by this phenomenon: You start out walking in a rain forest, then cross into the alpine climate seen above. After the pass you descend into a boreal forest, as you are in the "rain shadow" of the mountains. Pretty amazing to walk through three climates in 33 miles!