Opening pic..
It's a fair old way to the end of the Yocum Ridge trail, about 8.7 miles to the first big view of the Reid Glacier & between 9 to 9.5 to most of the camp spots on the North side of the ridge. There are a couple of other attractions along the way!
At MP 3.7 you have Ramona Falls!
Since the bridge over the Sandy has gone things are a bit quieter than usual for this time of year. We arrived at 11:30am & had the place to ourselves for a few minutes!
Then at MP 7.0 there is a little pond, home to a million frogs & at least one swimming garter snake.
You have to put the miles in on this hike though to get to the good stuff
The full on view of the Reid Glacier..
Some fairly big chunks of ice decided to break off the Reid Head Wall while we were there...
After taking in the view we hiked around to the other side of the ridge & set up camp for the night. Then came the part of the day I'd been waiting for. Hiking on past these camp sites up to what I call the upper Yocum area.
Beginning our trek to Upper Yocum.
Looking back towards the campsites.
After about three quarters of a mile you reach a large flat area of rock fields, melting snow pools & lots of flowers.
Almost at our high spot for the day of 6600'
Soon it was time to head back down to our camp spot & stock up with water for the evening.
Once back it was beer time
Then it was Sunset watching time!
I played around with the time lapse function on Chiyoko's Lumix, here are 160 minutes squashed into 1!
http://youtu.be/X-LLD3wcFI0
Early the next morning Chiyoko & I went for an early morning stroll around the lower bench on Yocum where there are some great flower meadows.
Then it was soon time to head back down..
By 12:30 we were back at the Sandy Crossing
With the extra exploring the hike came in at 21 miles & 4600' of EG.
A few more pics of the trip here..
