Elbow Lake Backpack Aug08

Every time Susie would head north along the Yellowstone River through Paradise Valley, she would look wistfully at the jagged peaks of the north central Absarokas and wonder if we would ever make the punishing climb to Elbow Lake, jumping off spot for those that would attempt the highest peak in the Absarokas, Mt. Cowen. It had been a very long time since either of us had deliberately carried a fully loaded backpack more than 3000 vertical feet up into the mountains. The trail guide says 3500 feet of climbing, but the GPS tracking does not lie: 3754 feet. Yikes! as Sarah Boomer would say. But where there's a will - and strong legs - there's a way.