Marmalade Skies by Courtney Meier Via Flickr: A few small trees dot the upper reaches of the Beartooth Plateau and bear witness to the afterglow from a spectacular sunset that continued to fill the atmosphere with warm, buttered color for some time after the sun descended below the horizon. This day offered the first taste of what was to come over the next day and a half in terms of negotiating a path through the trackless plateau. Earlier, as my hiking partner and I climbed over the high pass from Sky Pilot Lake and finally descended to the Plateau proper, we encountered far more loose talus than either of us had anticipated. The jumble of rocks covered an expansive area, more or less as far as one could reasonably travel on foot in a day's walk in any direction. We apparently both suffer from a lack of imagination when it comes to the profound number of rocks that can be concentrated in one place. Navigation is also interesting because there are many low hills that aren't captured well by a standard contour interval, as well as countless lakes. This topographic arrangement meant that simply looking at the map alone provided only a vague overture as to proximal location. It became necessary to check the compass somewhat frequently to ensure we continued to travel in more or less the direction we envisioned. The plan for the next day was to follow a fault for many miles as the Plateau sloped imperceptibly downward, and hopefully the slightly lower elevations would bring more vegetative cover and springy turf for walking. When we returned back to the tent we watched the last few fish slap the surface of the water at the lakeside near camp. Dessert before bed was a specialty we dubbed the Burrito Guero. It consists of a flour tortilla slathered with peanut butter and rolled up with a little chocolate in the middle. Washed down with a little herbal tea, it is an exquisite way to end a day dominated by physical exertion.
