We are in the backcountry, woo! What a ridiculously long day: 11 miles, 7.5 hours, 2480 feet up, 2518 feet down. The morning was frustrating because it was cold, I wanted to get up and see sunrise, the tent was wet, and we had to repack our backpacks before setting out for the trail. We still decided to stop at Johnson’s Cafe for a nice hot breakfast before setting off for the trail head to Elizabeth Lake via Ptarmigan Tunnel.
It was beautiful on the way up to Ptarmigan tunnel. The views were amazing and Ptarmigan lake was clear and pretty. However, the ascent was not pleasant. It was moderately ok at first, but then we hit some uphill bits that were rather steep. Once we got towards the edge of the tree line, we had some more views to distract us. It was very apparent, from the beginning, that our packs were just as heavy as our training hike, if not heavier. We had to pause many times to catch our breath and rest. Lesson learned…
Once we got to Ptarmigan lake, we took a longer break for lunch which ended up consisting of just apple since we had these huge honeycrisp apples, I couldn’t even finish mine! Afterwards, we began the climb to Ptarmigan Tunnel. It was only slightly less painful than the previous uphill portion. We stopped a lot, but the view on the other side was worth it.
The stunning view from the north side of Ptarmigan Tunnel. I yelled out “Worth it!” 
Made it to the other side of Ptarmigan Tunnel. 
Some awesome rock layers as we descended from Ptarmigan Tunnel. 
Some pretty purple flowers on the descent from Ptarmigan Tunnel. 
One of the views on the way down from Ptarmigan Tunnel. 
A nice waterfall we crossed. 
Robert taking pictures of the view.
Well, then we had to go down from Ptarmigan Tunnel. That was rough. We were a little behind schedule (since it took a while to really get on the trail in the morning, a hot breakfast really hit the spot though). Robert’s knee started hurting about halfway down, maybe before then, which was concerning. My feet started letting me know about some murderous intent they were feeling. The fact that we could see our end point the entire way down probably didn’t help make the descent feel faster (it’s the far end of the lake in the picture from the tunnel).
Once we got to the suspension bridge, we knew we were essentially there, but the last two miles seemed like the longest ever if units were variable. When we hit the food prep area, we dropped our packs like sponsors dropping Ryan Lochte. Once we could bring ourselves to touch them again, I took the tent equipment to the last remaining camp site (the furthest one, of course) and set up our easy tent with a lot more trouble than it should have been. It took me so long, that Robert was almost done making dinner once I got back to the food prep area.
After dinner, we looked at the next day’s pain, wrote some in the journal, and went to sleep hoping that the smelly clothes we wrapped around Robert’s pack would mask the smell of apple enough to keep bears away.