Here are pics from August 2019. We started at Bowman Lake on 8/24, then up to Hole in the Wall on 8/25, Upper Kintla Lake on 8/26, and then out at Kintla Lake on 8/27.
This trip was exactly 25 years since I had last been to Bowman and Hole in the Wall. (We had camped two nights in July 1994 at Bowman, and day hiked up to Hole in the Wall, so getting back up there and camping at HOL had been on my bucket list!)
Other than the first picture below of us taking a break on the shore of Bowman Lake on our first day, all of the rest of the pics are from Hole in the Wall and beyond on 8/26 and 8/27.
I have no pics from Sunday 8/25. It was one of the most challenging backpacking days I've experienced. Not because it's a challenging hike from Bowman Lake up to Brown Pass and then over to Hole in the Wall (which it is), but because we had heavy, cold, steady rain all morning through miles of chest-high thimbleberry. I've never been so wet, and it was cold. On the steeper ascent up to Brown Pass, a thunderstorm came up from the lake and passed right over us. We had taken a lot of breaks, so when we finally got up to the Brown Pass campground it was around 6pm. We were cold and tired. We thought about just camping there, but it was gloomy, wet and muddy, with no views (it's really one of the worst campsites in the park)...so we pushed on for the last couple of miles of traverse over to Hole in the Wall. And we were glad we did.
Monday 8/26 we woke up in Hole in the Wall to a beautiful day. We hung everything out to dry and planned for a late start to let our gear dry out and enjoy Hole in the Wall. It turned into an even later start when a huge grizzly and her two almost-adult cubs showed up about 20 yards from the food prep area. We spent the next hour or so watching them meander around the Hole in the Wall meadows.
From one of the worst backpacking days the day before, Monday 8/26 was one of the best ever. With the morning bear show at Hole in the Wall, then an amazing hike up over Boulder Pass, a long stop for lunch just over the pass, a beautiful hike down to Upper Kintla Lake, and a gorgeous night enjoying the stars on the beach at Upper Kintla....it was an amazing day.
The morning at Upper Kintla Lake on 8/27, then the hike out to the foot of Kintla Lake, was a beautiful blue-sky day.
Best trip ever? Until next time....