A shuttered Sperry Chalet and a scary goat. Better (or worse) than a Stephen King novel.

OK. I’ve got one more day before I start five-day sit-down training. About 16 miles in and 3500′ gain from the last two days. Well, I’ll have a lot of time to heal. Go big or go home. I won’t have this much free time to hike most likely for the whole summer.

I set my sights on Sperry Chalet. While just only about 7 miles one way, it is a grueling and non-stop push of just over 3300′ of bone-crushing gain (and ever more so blistering descent). A sure sign of how bad the trail is can be seen by the makeshift lost and found at the start. Is that a baby shoe?

Having some problems with heel pinching in my boots (rookie move – forgot my footbeds in the closet at home), I decided to commit to the point my feet give out while keeping a little in reserve for getting back down. It was a cloudy morning, with rain in the early afternoon forecast. Just packed all the rain gear I had and let’s see where the day takes me.

But as I ascend this monster of a valley, the sun smiles at me. Just a little.

I recall the trail quite well from last year. After the first mile or two, it planes out to a steady grade. The forest fire of 2017 has taken all of the shade, but with an early start, I could keep out of any direct rays coming up for the first couple of hours.

But the sun eventually found me, and surprisingly enough I had to put on some sunscreen. Parts of the trail were a running river. I found out why they put those logs in the trail now. When it wasn’t raging wet, it started to be blocked with snow.

I even passed my first marmot of the season. Walked within three feet of him and shouted “Can you ask your s***head cousin to please return my binoculars from last season?” He responded by masticating with a fresh grass root and grunting with what I’m pretty sure was the marmot equivalent of ‘Bite me, GoatBoy.’

Finally, I can see Sperry Chalet far above, still locked in the throws of winter. Not sure if I’m going to make it up there.

For the last mile and a half (and 1000 feet of gain), everything turns to snow. I was walking across stuff that was 3-10 feet deep in areas. The trail was pretty easy to follow plus you could see where you were going. There were boot prints, but not a whole lot of them. Still very early in the season to get up here, and you need to be comfortable with hiking in unstable snow. Not for the average summer hiker.

The chalet itself and the entire complex of buildings reminded me of a scene out of the Shining.

It was amazing how quiet it was up here. No birds. No wildlife up and moving. No leaves rustling or even a breath of wind. Only the sound of an occasional avalanche. So I was checking out the front deck of the chalet (looks like they remove the balcony rails each year), wanted to take off my boots, wiggle my toes in the mountain air, and massage my inflamed heels a little bit.

But that was not meant to be. Up on the snowfield in the back of the chalet on the sides of Mt Edwards, I spot a weird brown spot. Pulled out the binos, and it’s a grizzly trying to dig out a marmot’s den. Hmmmmm. I sure don’t want to have my shoes off if he catches my scent and decides to glissade downhill for a salty treat.

To seal the deal, I hear the chatter of hooves on the deck of the chalet and turned around to catch this fellow stalking me.

Out of morbid curiosity, I had to get closer. Man, this is the scariest mountain goat I have ever seen. It was the Ozzie Osbourne of goats. Too many ewes and dropping too many salt tablets. This fellow was partied out. Yeah, he will never be on a postcard again. Talk about going off of the rails of a Crazy Train.

He kept chewing on a stick and looking at me. I took my utter exhaustion and sore feet and headed down before some kind of three-headed mountain ram appeared out of nowhere and butted my ass off a cliff. Talk about a freak show at Sperry.

This place was beautiful. At the bridge crossing, I look up the valley that holds the trail that takes you the last four miles to the Sperry Glacier Complex. It’s going to be at least another three weeks before Sperry Glacier sees her first visitor of the season. So peaceful without throngs of people in neon Lyra and bear bells.

Time to buckle up and hit the long long long trail home. At this point, it was another hour until I could see the trail again. I was able to do some standing glissading which sped the descent and took some of the stress off my legs and feet.

About an hour and a quarter from the trailhead, the rain finally came. Threw on my poncho and just kept on walking. I was soaked like a tired old wet dog. Finally reached the Sun Road.

Walked across the road, and right into my dorm room. Set up my gear drying rack (see dorm room post), turned on the fan, showered off the salt and grit, and got some chow in the cafeteria. I smiled and fell asleep thinking it was kind of nice to rack up 30 miles before even starting the training for my job this summer.

Category	Count	Miles	Elv Gain/Loss	Hours	Avg Grade	Avg MPH
Hikes	3	29.2	6,850	12.9	8.9%	2.26