Day 1: To Bedwell Lake
Eventually we arrived at Bedwell Lake, mind you, a bit earlier then I expected. I wasn't too concerned however. There was a beautiful lake calling me to go for a swim, good company, and breathtaking scenery to be soaked up. We set up camp on one of the many tent pads, refilled and purified water, and prepared to jump in the lake. It was slightly breezy, which made jumping in a bit uncomfortable at first, but it didn't take long to adjust. I even went back for a second dip later in the afternoon when it warmed up even more. We spent the day relaxing and talking to the odd hiker here and there that filtered in to set up camp as well. Most people headed to Cream Lake the following day. We battled an onslaught of bugs that didn't seem to respond at all to bug spray. However, Lauren, being the genius she is, brought us bug nets! Boy did I feel like a dork! But let me tell you, those things worked like a hot damn. I was able to still enjoy myself without the constant sting of a bite and inhalation of pesky insects!
Day 2: Bedwell to Big Interior and out
We left our camp just before 0800 and after some slight confusion carried on up towards Little Jim Lake. The hike up was fairly easy and we made good time. Eventually we hit snow just below the level of the lake, which I expected. At 0835 we arrived at Little Jim and turned our boots off the beaten path. We began to clamber up the flanks of Big Interior over a less defined route. The weather was still moody at this point, but not angry. I could see some threatening clouds in the distance, but visibility was quite good. We followed the description in Island Alpine Select to navigate to the cirque of Big Interior. It is quite tricky. Going too high or too low would certainly leave you stranded on some bluffy cliffs. Luckily we followed the odd flag, cairn, and eyed the GPS appropriately with minimal backtracking to reach the cirque.
The going now was slower. Careful footing on steep snow was necessary. Luckily the people in front of us left some decent tracks to follow. However, visibility became extremely poor. I always get a bad feeling in my gut when fog rolls in. Even if I know exactly where I am and have the GPS to help guide me, I feel uneasy.
We made it back down to the cirque with almost no issues. Other than the fact that we were trudging along downhill discussing our decision so intensely that I did not notice we were walking right on top of a stream. By the time I noticed the water coming out below us from the snow farther downhill, the snow we were standing on collapsed and down we went into the rushing water! How dumb! I was able to quickly clamber out, barely skipping a beat or getting wet. However, Lauren got the worst of it and was in deeper. I offered a hand, but she climbed out on her own, slightly shook up and damp. We took a moment to regroup and carried on.
Down in the cirque we ran into two guys also heading for the summit. We told them of our decision not to summit and they stopped to have a break and discuss their plans. We continued up out of the cirque on our way back to Bedwell. The hike was mostly uneventful except for one small route mishap that resulted in me losing my sunglasses while down climbing through a small waterfall.
When we arrived back at camp it was 1430 and the weather had turned around slightly, which really made me frustrated. Although the summit of Big Interior still seemed to be blanketed in fog. We decided that we would just hightail it out of camp and forgo spending another night with the mosquitos. Right when we made that plan it decided to sprinkle rain and we packed up camp. The rain didn't last more then a few minutes and shortly we were making our way back to the truck. We ran into the two gents from the cirque that also decided not to summit due to danger.
This time the hike out seemed ridiculously long. It was only 6k, but felt like more like 15k. Down, down, and down. We arrived back at the truck and were back on the road around 1830. We decided to make a break for my hometown of Gold River, where we got the last hotel room in the town. We had beer, burgers, and ice-cream. The next day we topped off the trip with a climb in the Crest Creek Craigs. Even though there was no summit, the trip was a success in different ways. Cheers to adventure!