Home»All Photographs»2016 Hikes»Numa Mountain 09-13-16

With the forecast showing pure sun for the next several days, I had to take advantage of the dwindling summer and not go to work.
Instead, Megan covered my shift and I scored a long day in beautiful surroundings, ascending Numa Mountain.
I started by hiking up the Floe Lake Trail (the beginning of the 55 km Rockwall Backpack that I did back in 2009), but didn't stop at 6 km to go up the gully like most parties. I was really enjoying the scenery from the trail, and I wanted to photograph Floe Lake, so I continued the 10.5 km to the lake. This longer approach was no problem, as I had the whole day and I started early. I would just spread my elevation gain (a beefy 1500 m) out over more distance...there was no risk of afternoon thunderstorms today!
Upon arrival, Floe Lake was still in the sun before the shadows would consume it. I enjoyed a sandwich at the lakeside campground, and snapped some pics.
I then resumed my journey, ascending along the trail until I was almost at Numa Pass. It is here that I left the trail and hiked up to a ridge that would eventually lead toward Numa Mountain.
One part of the ridge descended 100 m to a col. Here, I came across two goats at close range. They were as surprised as I was (I saw them just before they noticed me), but they stuck around out of curiosity long enough for me to include their picture with the others here.
I then turned my attention to the task at hand, as I plodded up snow and scree slopes. Part way along, I joined up with the oncoming tracks of the animals I was just admiring. I continued carefully along the snowy ridge, pushing myself up onto ledges in a couple of spots. Upon topping out, I realized that my position was now at a false summit, and the true high point still lay a few hundred meters beyond.
I down-climbed a tricky bit, then walked along the corniced ridgecrest (more goat tracks here - they're amazing scramblers).
A few minutes later, I was at the true summit. I took lots of pictures and reveled in the calm serenity of the moment. Warm air, no wind, 360 views and a sense of accomplishment. But no dry spot to sit for lunch, so down it was.
I decided that rather than retrace my steps back along the snowy ridge, I would use the standard ascent route as my way down. Snow quickly gave way to scree and then dryas patches, which incidentally, are the best cushions to sit on for a break. I had a larger meal here and flopped back for a quick nap.
Then I made my way down to treeline, through some burnt snags from 2003 (steep here - see fourth last picture). Farther down, deciduous shrubs appear and are getting into their prime fall color. Descending this avalanche slope with the myriad of oranges, reds and yellows was sublime. It helped that is wasn't too choked with tight underbrush, too.
At the bottom of the slope, I joined up with the Floe Lake Trail again. I scooped two more liters of water from the river, ate another snack, and hiked out with the late afternoon sun on my back (nice rhyme?)