We woke early again, a new record so far, because we’re going to attempt a more significant hike - the Sepulcher Mountain loop. It’s recorded at 11 miles on the flyer we were given yesterday, but climbing over 3,400ft as we head up to the peak of Sepulcher Mountain. It should take between 6-8 hours and we’re keen to make the most of the light. It’s a beautiful sunny day when we leave, with blue skies and little wind, so we leave in good spirits.
We drive back to Mammoth, and get all our gear together - there’s a reasonably short debate about whether we’ll need snowshoes as the trailhead starts from the town and looks reasonably well travelled by other hikers, but we decide we might need them so sling them on our backpacks.
The trail starts reasonably enough, with a brisk uphill stretch into the forests that line the outlying hills around the mountain. It takes us through snowy valleys and exposed ridges, with a trail that seems to be marked erratically with worn orange tags - more than once we have to stop and check our GPS route as we’re going. An unwelcome surprise occurs when my companion’s phone (our primary source of navigation) suddenly loses a significant amount of battery life - perhaps due to the cold - but luckily our proximity to Mammoth’s mobile antenna means I’m able to pick up the route on my phone.
We continue up, with the altitude increasing in pretty much a straight line, before reaching a steep, snow deep dish. It’s clear that we’re meant to scale it somehow, according to our map, but there are no visible signs of previous tracks on the face. At a suggestion from my companion, I take a pretty much straight line up a what must be a 50-55 degree slope, aiming for a broken tree stump at the midway point in the ascent. My thighs are screaming with every step I have to kick into the slope to gain any purchase, and my legs have become jelly by the time I’ve scrambled bear-style to the stump - I turn around and see that my hiking bro, having seen me struggle, has taken a much more sensible weaving route instead. From the stump, adrenaline forces me in a straight line to the top, where I have to sit on a fallen tree for a few minutes to allow my pulse to settle and my mind to recompose itself.
Somewhat restored, the route continues straight up - the torture of my thighs is far from over. Finally, after what seems like an endless climb, we reach a flattish overlook - amazingly, from this point we can see back down to Gardiner and our hotel. From here, we’re back into a hair-raising climb through deep snow that edges onto a deep ravine - this route would be pretty exhilarating in the summer, with clear trails, but is pretty intense when you’re stood on packed snow with no visible edge.
After another hour or so, in the admittedly glorious weather, the route levels out a little and we arrive at Sepulcher’s peak. It’s a great moment and we sit for a few minutes taking in the amazing views across the national park - the clear skies give perfect visibility to all of the surrounding peaks that seem tantalisingly close. After a quick top up on water (we’ve drank all the beers we had on previous hikes), we start the what turns out to be a rather quick descent.
The path downwards takes us along a deep, snowy ridge, with lots of sudden drops that allow our snowshoes to act a little like skis - it’s a lot of fun, and a few face plants aside, makes for quick progress. After this, we arrive at a long, deep hillside - normally this would be a winding series of switchbacks and traverses, but the snow means we pretty much take a straight line down the side. The weather is so good, and the slope south facing, that I’m actually regretting no bringing sunscreen as I can feel my face start to prickle in the sun.
The last stretch of the return is through the forests again, which after a while developed the noticeable smell of eggs - Yellowstone is famous for it’s geological activity and the trail leads us right past some some examples. Large pits in the ground pour smoke and steam into the sky, hot water creates veins in the snow and yellow-blue chemical deposits lace the ground - all held together by the pervasive smell of sulphur. It’s strange to see a herd of deer drinking the hot water, which must be incredibly rich in minerals, and they bolt as soon as we near them. We even pass the shelved springs that Mammoth is famous for and they mark our eventual return to the car - it’s been a long, tiring walk, but a very worthwhile one and we make our return to Gardiner exhausted but happy.
Given our tiredness, we decide to stay another night in Gardiner and make the dinner we’d bought a couple of days before - sausage pasta in a tomato sauce - it’s not the best food I’ve ever prepared, but we are ravenous and the entire lot disappears alongside a few icy drinks that we’d left out on the balcony. Having eaten our fill, showered and making the mistake of lying on our beds ‘for a couple of minutes’ it’s not long before we’re dead to the world.