We'd gotten into camp that first day with a few hours of daylight left to spare, so we had plenty of time to go meander around Pelton Basin. Down at the bottom was a gorgeous little creek supplied by the snowmelt from the surrounding ridges. Somehow, we'd actually convinced ourselves that Dan should soak his feet in this ice cold creek to clean out the blisters, and I gotta say that I'd been looking forward to this unfortunate event with a great deal of perverse anticipation. As a show of solidarity, however, I ended up plunging my own feet into the icy water just as long, and man was it fucking cold. After only what could have been 30 seconds or so, all the skin below my knees nearly glowed with a beet red color. It didn't help matters that the air temperature was probably below 50 degrees as well, so it wasn't like it was very easy to warm up afterward.
Yet another shot of the creek flowing under a snowfield.
Looking back at Cascade Pass from the bottom of Pelton Basin.
Here's the range of mountains on the side of Pelton Basin opposite from my camp. All the peaks had kind of mystical names such as Mixup Peak, Magic Mountain, and some others that escape me right now. Anyhow, that in its own little way added to the allure of this place.
Here's another shot of this rugged ridge of mountains. This one nicely shows one of the many glaciers spilling out between two peaks.
I really can't find a single thing about this place that wasn't extraordinary. For instance, here's the view from the toilet...probably one of the more memorable shits of my life.
The next morning we awoke to more beautiful weather. The Sun was lighting up the cliffs brilliantly on the opposite of the basin. Here's a picture of one of the more spectacular waterfalls I've seen in my life. Although the weather was gorgeous, it was pretty damn cold. I remember huddling around my nasty packet of slimy oatmeal freezing my ass off...pretty wierd way to start of the 4th of July.
Here's another shot of that awesome waterfall.