"Been planning this one for years with my friend Jeb, but theres very little beta on it, so we knew it was going to be an adventure. It did not disappoint! We backpacked in just after sundown, and made it about 5.5 miles and 1200’ of gain in before we decided we were sick of hauling everything on our backs, somewhere around 12:30 at night. The comedic apex of the trip was around 11:45 when we walked around a corner and suddenly heard a dog growling. For whatever reason, I though “BEAR”, and grabbed on to Jeb’s backpack and screamed at the top of my lungs, which prompted him to scream. We then saw the tent and started laughing hysterically. Whoever was in it must have shit their pants, and will probably need some ptsd counseling . Anyway, we went to bed a little after 1, woke up at 3:30 alarm and said “ten more for the back” and repeated that pattern a few more times before finally getting up at 5 to make our bid. Must have been 200 blow down trees covering the trail, so this was an obstacle course, with multiple trails going every direction. Gaia GPS is a god send. We got to Upper Piney Lake just after sunrise, made the crappy scree-filled approach to the saddle, and then sent the F..." — LGH-Dan • Aug 22, 2020