Day 4: Gabot Pass, Mono Creek,
Laurel Lake
We left Toe Lake and climbed easy
slabs and meadows towards Gabot Pass, so named as its in the saddle between
Mt.Gabb and Mt. Abbot. While the descent was technically easy, we had about a
mile of clamboring over huge car sized boulders forming the old terminal
moraines of the glaciers below Gabb and Abbot. After about 1400vf of
descending, we’d reached the meadows of Upper Mills Creek Lake. We both
wondered about the couple we’d met and how long it would take them to carry
their dog, Lily, through all those boulders.
Easy travel through meadows past
the Mills Creek Lakes brought us to our next puzzle. From the lakes to Second
Recess canyon, the ‘track’, when we could find it, wound down 1,000vf through
steep scree, sand, and brush with a waterfall on one side and 5th class slabs
on the other. Once in the canyon, we passed by more inviting swimming holes,
some with waterfalls pouring into pools of perfectly cool water, but again, the
swimming needed to wait till later. We plodded through the forest down
the long, low-angle valley to Mono Creek.
Once at Mono Creek, we reloaded
our water bottles, soaked our feet and enjoyed some shade before we began to
chip away at the 2,000ft climb in the afternoon heat. We reached the lovely
Laurel Lake by mid-afternoon and Pete nearly made himself sick chugging many,
many liters of water trying to correct a bad case of dehydration.
Once again, we stared up at
improbable-looking slopes that were to be our ascent route in the morning. We
thought we spied a path through a steep, grassy couloir, but we wouldn’t know
for sure if it went until the next day. All the other improbable-seeming climbs
worked out so we took it on faith that it would be fine and spent the evening
enjoying an amazing sunset.
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