From the Meadows we packed up and continued up the N. Fork of Garnet Canyon to the Lower Saddle. Pat had been ill the last two days so he decided to pack out. Somehow a lot of our unneeded items found their way into his pack. He couldn't figure out why his pack felt heavier. We've had two beautiful days already...would the weather hold out? Three nights ago while kamping in the valley at the KOA there was a microburst and the winds were klocked in the high 50 mph range. Tents and stuff everywhere. We set up camp, explored the saddle and got ready for the route the next day.

This is an excellent view of the Lower Saddle with the black dike towards the top of the picture. Garnet Canyon is to the right, Cascade Canyon and Table Top Mtn. are to the left. The hut nearest the bottom of the picure is the ranger hut, the other is the guide hut. Each has a huge construction box for storing their own equipment. The privy is over the boulders out of view on the left. Ours is the blue tent. Don't let the lack of tents or activity fool you. This shot was taken around noon, we hit it during the lull.

The Park Service is doing a fine job of managing the backcountry. With the large number of visitors to the lower saddle they've installed a "port-a-poty" of sorts. If you like crapping with an audience, this is the place...especially at sunset. Of all the potties I've used, this one's a classic.

The weather was perfect and this sunset was awesome!

We weren't in a big hurry so we slept in on summit day and started up around 7:30 or so. We had intended to do the Upper Exum but decided we would just do the OS route.

Just after leaving the Upper Saddle you encounter the Belly Roll and Crawl. Doug is belaying Kyle across. Pretty straight forward stuff. We should have started earlier because a large group was ahead of us. We graciously allowed a solo climber to pass while waiting an hour for the boy scouts to negotiate what should be a simple maneuver through the Crawl and up the chimney. We passed them on the Catwalk though. From there on it was a cake-walk to the summit.

The views on top are astounding. Didn't have to worry about finding someone to take our picture as there were about 20 people on top.

Kyle readies himself for the rappel to the upper saddle. We had another 1 hour wait at the rappel. To speed things up the kind climbers ahead of us let us rap their rope. We made it back to camp by 16:30.

Word-Up! Marmotts will chew through everything for a meal and eat anything. We eventually hung these packs up out of reach.