Day 6 in Eagle Cap

We awoke to a river running under the tent, but all was dry inside. Good job, little tent. Day 6 looked like it would be a real hard day - 2500 foot climb and 10-12 miles - now made even harder by soaking we gear. We hiked 2 miles down a ceek to the junction to Polaris Pass. The climb to the pass was endless switchbacks through open grassy slopes, occassional forested areas. Swinging back and forth with views of one ridgeline and cascading creek to another. The trail finally chose a side and we began hiking up a meadow with familiar reds and yellows. This meadow felt higher, lazier, less bothered than others. Perhaps it was that we hadn't seen another person all day, or perhaps it was the flock of birds that took flight with our every step. The meadow ended in a basin of scree, and it took a few minutes before we saw our route switching back and forth up the scree.

Excellent. Scree is not my favorite, but I held it together till we lost our path - and I almost my footing - near the top. The pass seemed so wide, and the trail through the steep scree so unclear, that we weren't sure where to aim for. We were helped by a wave from the top, and made it there safely, though I breathlessly. I spent the entire climb through the scree grateful I wouldn't have to descend the same route, and praying the other side was mellower. I was not disappointed.
We lunched on the pass, watching thick clouds come up behind us, making the valley we climbed up from momentarily disappear, before the dissipated above us, leaving our path forward clear. We spoke with Randy, a solo climber, when he returned from Sentinel Peak, got some beta about our destination that day - Jewett Lake - and moved on to Tenderfoot Pass.

Tenderfoot was a mellower pass and opened up on to dryer, browner country. We found Jewett over a hump after the pass. Jewett is off trail - and while we weren't alone - it certainly felt wilder than other sites. The lake was scrappy, with all of its inlet streams dried up. Meadows were tucked back into a basin below Pete's Point. Hilltops afforded views of Aneroid Lake and Mountain, and the desert beyond.

Larry spotted a mountain goat high up on a scree slope above the lake and we sat the rest of the evening watching him graze in unbelievable terrain. We woke in the middle of the night to the starriest sky yet. Nothing like catching a shooting star while you pee.