August 30 – 31
Peter Mahowald and I started at the trail head at very north end of County Road 41 and followed the Canadian River – a misnomor, its really no wider than a ditch – upstream on the Yurt to Yurt trail, which goes from the North Fork Canadian Yurt to the Clark Peak Yurt. Past the yurts, the trail takes a steep climb up a rocky 4×4 road until it ends at the Jewel Lake trailhead. We camped just past the trailhead at the 6.2 miles mark at 10,400 ft. and before the steep climb over the ridge into the Hidden Valley. Luckily the rain showers cleared because the temperatures dropped into the low 30s and we woke up to frost. We had planned a short day two hike up to Kelly Lake but Peter’s knee did not like the rocky jeep road and it swelled up overnight. So instead I left camp with just a day pack and hustled the 10 miles past Kelly Lake and down to the car. Luckily Peter droved, so I had a 4Runner to take up the jeep road, making it back to camp in the early afternoon.
