I have done several long hikes this season, once the legs are in shape its hard to stop, each day off I want to get out. Long gone the days when I wanted to summit peaks, it’s about the passes now, providing better opportunities for photography. A few weeks back it was time to do Molar Pass, or was it going to be North Molar Pass or perhaps both. When hiking with friends, its at group pace. But if I’m hiking on my own, then I go as fast I can. Only stopping along the way to take pictures, food breaks are reward, only received when I cover a certain distance. As I got to the junction for the two passes, I decided to head north, it was longer and if I felt good on my way back I may cover Molar Pass as well. About 10 kms into the hike, I had left the trees behind and was walking through a beautiful high alpine meadow full of flowers. Missed the prime time for the wildflowers by about a week, still, it was not too bad. With ten-minute break, I headed up to the North Molar Pass. The pass is known for its heavy winds, they were there with cold and received few snowflakes on the way up and on the way down.
At 2590 meters above sea level, it was a cold morning on the North Molar Pass, I layered up and headed back down. Legs were doing well, it looked good for Molar Pass. As I was getting close to the junction point for the two passes, met a familiar face who was heading for camping and climbing in the back country. Soon after I reached the junction point, with no stopping, I was ascending to Molar Pass. Less flowers on this route, but more pika and marmots could be seen and heard. Got up to the pass and then went a little further to reach the high point. On the way back, I saw the picture I wanted to take as I kept count of pika and marmots in my head. With the clouds, the light was great during early afternoon. Found rock garden surrounded by grass and flowers, with the peaks in the distance, I got my picture for that day. Drank some water and headed to the trail head, second food break was going to be few kms from the end on a rock next to small water falls. It was a great day.
