If you were lucky enough to be out on the mountains today (Sunday, October 10) then you managed to snag what could be the very last incredibly gorgeous day for Bagging in the whole 2010 competition. And I was lucky enough to join Carolyn, Neil and Ean for my first Bagging expedition to Deeks Lake and beyond.
There was a lot of humming and hawwing about which peaks we would do but in the end we decided to "encourage" Ean with a necessary trip to Deeks Peak. We were lucky enough to have Neil drive us part way up the gravel road in his high-clearance vehicle, which saved us probably at least an hour to 1-1/2 hours of extra workout when combining the up and down trips.
The rain was light when we started the drive to the trailhead from Ean's place at about 7:00 a.m. but by the time we reached Deeks Lake it was clearing up. To keep it short, we used Ean's vast knowledge of the area and quickly cut on to the trail up to Deeks Peak. We kept on route very well even though the flagging is a bit spotty and the trail winds around in all kinds of places. I'll save the glory for Ean to espouse but I will say it was a privilege to be with him to mark this as his 48th peak of the 2010 Bagger Challenge. And we threw in a bit of extra lovin' to mark the event by way of a craggy chimney that required some heavy duty rock hugging to climb safely in both directions.
Many hands made light work too as we all pitched in to place each others hands and feet and other body parts for quick passage.
Snacks, drinks and emerging blue sky gave us the energy to zip back down to the col from Deeks Peak and over to Windsor. This one's bark is much bigger than it's bite (when we initially viewed it on the way up it looked nasty) but we made it up and down the scree and through the high alpine bushes in very little time. We were serioiusly considering heading over to Gotha for a full-on Deeks Lake 3-Bag but time was short with turkeys baking and friends and family waiting. So a final decision was made to call it a day and start for the car with only a few minutes extra added on to a tight schedule by that point.
The weather kept getting better and better all day but the trail was very fresh and wet after the big rains on Saturday. We kept the spirit of the day lively and headed down steadily, reflecting on another fantastic year of mountain running and scenery snagging.
I know there are many pictures of this trip but they will need to come from cameras other than mine since I didn't take any this time, so you will see those elsewhere.
And I'm glad, of course, that no serious injuries occured but I did have a high risk manouver in one or two places. In particular, on the descent, Neil found himself standing above me on a steep trail bit as I was slipping on the soggy ground. Unfortunately though, he was close enough to block my arm swinging around as I was trying to catch my balance, thus, christening the latest addition to the Bagging dictionary, the Ball-Bag. Oops, sorry Neil. Better luck next time if you dare go with me again.
Link to Bagger Challenge for Current Standings and Stories.
