Collegiate Loop Day 5 – Yale Saddle to Harvard Lakes

After the side trip up Yale, the rest of the day was just about getting to a campsite. The constraint now was arriving at the Interlaken trailhead at about 9am on day 7. There did not seem to be good sites for a while beyond Harvard Lakes, so that was the target, but that was still a challenge:

As we were packing up we had a short snowfall and soon got on our way as we new we still had hiking to do. For the next 3 miles was particularly exhausting for P even though it was all downhill so we stopped at Silver Creek to filter cook dinner and recover. This worked well and by 5:30 we were ready to start hiking again and hikes 3 miles up the next hill to Harvard lakes where we could get in bed before the 8:30 sunset. Several campsites but we avoided the one that had large piles of bear poo which got us a bit worried hence decided to skip brushing teeth that night. Hung the Ursack away from camp and see what happens.

GPS Hiking stats:
6.48 miles, 3 hours 12 minutes
Ascent 1062 ft., Descent 2565 ft.
Camp altitude 10280 ft.

The guaranteed lack-of-development in the Wilderness areas makes them special. When leaving them, one knows one is likely reentering civilization and everything that brings.
The lack of photos for this section indicates the tiredness! Also, it was while we were preparing dinner that a hiker that had not noticed us went for a skinny dip in the river. Another reason for not many photos!
The first campsite at Harvard Lakes was occupied when we arrived, so we headed to the North side by Three Elk Creek where there were sites on either side of the CT. The first site had the above evidence of bear activity, so we chose the other site, not that it would really make much difference!
Having seen clear evidence of recent bear activity, we decided not to brush teeth that night, and were thankful we had already eaten dinner at Spring Creek. We were already hanging our Ursack so no change there.

This page is linked to from my Collegiate Loop home page.

Published by Peter Ireland

"Cajunlimeys" combines Lousiana (Janet) and England (Peter). For "limeys," check out scurvy in the English navy. We love adventures and use blogging to write a photo diary to preserve our memories. Some crazy friends enjoy following us and my notes might help others plan.

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