I got up around eight in the morning and I could see the sun. I ate breakfast then took a quick nap before I started walking up the mountain. It was nice to be in the sun because the weather looked ominous up the mountain. I was around 6000 feet and I had to climb up to 8000 feet to get back to the trail. Once I got higher up the trail it got very windy and very cold. The clouds were are coming up over the mountain and it was so cold that the moisture from the clouds were freezing all the pine needles on the pine trees on the ridge.
As I went over the pass and it was around 28 degrees. I had a choice to either wait out the storm or try to climb up to 9000 feet to go over Mount Powell.
At the time it wasn't snowing so I decided to just go for it and try to go up. I started up the mountain and then it started to snow very lightly. The snow was the size of BB size pellets. When you go over any pass the wind would blow the and the snow would sting your face and any exposed party your body. The worst part about it was the snow would hit your eyes and would temporarily blind you. As I started to climb Mount Powell it snowed harder and harder. In no time the trail was covered with snow. After a while I didn't cover my backpack all the snow accumulated in my pockets and on my back in between my back and backpack. I dumped out all the snow and put on my poncho to keep a little dryer. When I got up to Mount Powell it was around 7 PM and the storm got worse. Soon it was dark and near white out conditions. It was slow going and I needed to really pay attention to where the trail was. More than once I started going down a creek bed thinking it was the trail but later discovered that I was off track.
Once I got up the pass my camera and my phone stopped working. The camera seemed to turn on but would not take any pictures and my phone just wouldn't turn on.
As I got up the mountain and started going down it got dark and the snow started falling harder. It was close to white out conditions and was getting harder to navigate the trail with my headlamp during the snowstorm.
As I kept walking it got colder and it got later. By the time I got to a place called windy gap it was around 10 PM.
There was a sign that said Crystal Café Crystal Lake 2.5 miles. I decided to take the trail down to the café just in case the storm got really. I figured it would be nice to have a place to get some hot food and be out of the elements for a bit.
It was very slow going getting down the mountain but I eventually made it to Crystal Lake Campground. I found an old outhouse with an overhang. I climbed into my sleeping bag and tried to get warm as I drifted off to sleep.
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