Liberty Spring(edit)

This is the first day of my overnight at the top of Liberty Springs Trail. Last few pics show the camp. I started at 12:38, after doing an extra round trip to Wayland and back because I forgot my boots. The trip up took 3+ hours and I tramped through a little snow at the top to find a place to dig a tent hole. There was 4' of snow. Using my new shovel, I dug down to near the ground, put the tarp over held by lines and snow, and ran out of light. I made a bed and got into my inner parka and bag bottom. Not hungry, so just got into bed. Cool in the first part of the night. Then I made sure the Tyvek was really covering me and got warmer.Slept continuously from 11-4:30. Finally got up at 5:30 and tramped up the hill to Mt Liberty for the sunrise. Came back to camp, cooked breakfast of MountainHouse spaghetti, repacked, and took 2.5 hours back to the car. Saw many people coming down on my trip up and 2 singles coming up on my way down in the morning. One adventurous couple had parked at the Basin, come up Falling Waters, slogged across the ridge, and down Liberty Springs. Ridge was a bear they said. Richard and I had breakfast together, before I realized I had forgotten my boots.

Fantastic hike. The views were absolutely incredible. I started the hike a bit late but brought a headlamp with spare batteries. Hiked up in 2.5 hours and back down in 1.5 hours. The last 45 minutes were in the dark.