What started off as a quick trip to Bullhead Lake turned into one of the coolest hikes up Swiftcurrent. At the beginning of the season, there’s a river that needs to be forded in order to get to the Swiftcurrent Pass trail, and the night before I did Bullhead, NPS put down the bridge to cross safely. I had set off early as I’d initially planned to do a longer hike but had changed my mind because of the weather, so I figured I could see how far I could get up the pass.

About a mile after Bullhead Lake, it begun to snow and as I rose higher, I found myself trekking through a thin layer. Then I came across bear paw prints. Judging by the rapidity of the snow building up on the trail, I must have only been a few minutes behind a furry friend. When I begun slipping and sliding, I decided to turn back instead of meeting him.