Day 5

Cooks Station to Kirkwood

30 killer miles

What a day, hills hills and more hills. We climbed from Cooks which is at 5000 ft up to 8000 ft then, a soul destroying drop of 1000 ft knowing we would have to climb back up again. I can say with total honesty it was worth every moment for the stunning mountain views. We hit the snow line early afternoon. It really brought it home to us how high we had climbed and how hard we have worked to get from sea level. We made a point of touching the snow, it’s still chilly at this altitude.

We made it to Kirkwood about 1700 and found a nice cafe to replenish lost calories.

We camped about 4 miles past Kirkwood at a picnic area that with totally empty.  We had previously found a perfectly good wild camp spot but one of the staff at the cafe put us off by telling horror stories about bears in the immediate area. He advised us on the place we eventually stayed which was fine but I am yet to figure how it is bear proof. There was no-one else there and it was in fact more remote than the place I initially selected. Next time I go with my own judgement.

Note the snow in the background – I told you it was chilly!