Alpine Scramble - Mount Carrie

Sol Duc to Appleton was easy and well-defined. Appleton Pass and right by Oyster Lake would have been a lovely place to camp. Bugs were minimal, water was warm.

The route from Appleton to Swimming Bear seemed a bit more primitive than last year - more erosion going down and back up from Appleton to Spread Eagle Pass. We discussed changing from approach shoes to climbing boots for that section.

As mentioned above, Swimming Bear was horrendously buggy, and we were mostly confined to our tents once we got there. 

We left for the catwalk at 7:30am on Day 2, but one leader wasn't feeling well and turned back before the trail became skinny and sketchy going up to the jct for Cat Peak and the catwalk. When the 3 remaining folks - one leader and 2 recent graduates - got to the jct and looked at the catwalk, no one was really feeling it, so we hung a left and went up Cat Peak, which is always a fun, varied little scramble. Cat Peak can be a long day, especially if there is routefinding around snowfields. We found a better descent track than the ascent, but it was still a 10hr day. 

The wildflowers were magnificent though.