Chapter Thirty-Three: Bolton Creek—Part I

*This is a photo companion to my book, Crunch: A Million Snowy Steps Along the Pacific Crest Trail, available on Amazon here.

June 11, 2017

Smedberg Lake

Outlet of Smedberg Lake.

Nick enjoying some brief "dry" trail headed down to Piute Creek.

Off-trail, heading down into the Piute Creek drainage.

Beautiful terrain isn't exactly a bad thing to move slowly through...

Benson Lake at the outlet of Piute Creek.

Thinning Manzanita bushes as we neared Piute Creek, Seavey Pass in the distance.

The submerged trail leading away from Piute Creek.

Burly farmboy Nick, happy about dry feet nearing the end of the creek.

Skittles headed to Seavey Pass.

My teammates deciding whether to go straight across, or around a small frozen lake.

The view for the hike up to Seavey Pass.

The last false summit enroute to Seavey Pass.

Standing on the far side of Bolton Creek... too good to be true?

Camp for the night above Bolton Creek.

The view for the better part of 16 hours.