It was tough leaving our bunks in the morning but we managed to. We made breakfast and put on our not-so-dry gear. We noticed from the deck of the hut (which by the way, looked out onto a big, pretty valley), that the rain was mixed with snow. We set off on the trail and climbed up a few rocky areas around waterfalls and stopped in the middle of the valley to get pictures with the snow and our Alaska flag. We continued climbing up the valley and the snow became much more distinct and accumulated around us.
At one point, we stopped for a trail mix break when the warden from the hut came up to us. He was also headed up to Harris Saddle and he stuck with us until we got to the shelter up there. The trail to the saddle was a good climb high into the valley and we reached the highest point on the trek. We descended to the shelter, warmed up, and snacked. We chatted with the warden and with a two guys from Australia. A whole hoard of Asians arrived and took over the shelter so we departed. I don't much like stopping and taking breaks because once I do, I begin to get really chilled so if I stay moving and hiking, I'm a lot better off.
The trail winded around the faces of a few mountains and the wind continued to blow and the snow kept falling. We passed a good number of the guided hikers along the way and kept up a good pace. We took breaks every now and then and eventually made it to the Howden Hut after 8-9 hours of hiking. Before we made it there, we walked passed a huge waterfall and there was even a detour trail that could be taken when the waterfall caused too much flooding. The waterfall was 174 meters tall and it was difficult to actually bend your neck back far enough to see the top, just far too tall.
So we didn't have reservations to stay at the hut but we were told it was okay to use the hut to warm up and make a hot beverage. We ended up cooking dinner there and tried to dry out our clothes. After we finished, the warden was available to talk to and she said that it was passed the time of night that other people are allowed to use the hut's facilities and we needed to leave as soon as we could. Not excited to go back out into the cold with wet gear, we packed up and left. We trudged through mud and water to get to a campsite 20 minutes away. It was raining fairly hard and we quickly put up the tent and went to bed, hoping for a better tomorrow.
