Miles: 10.5 

Total Trail Miles: 989.6 

Ascent/Descent: 2288/2829 ft 

Start Time: 05:00 

End Time: 15:15 

Temperature: 16°C (61°F)

We had 1.8 miles left of scrambling along the rocks on the right side of the creek before joining back up with the path, luckily this stretch was easier than the bit from yesterday. My headtorch ran out of battery just as we started walking but luckily it wasn't too long until it got light. After a mostly snow free climb we had to descend down on snow and cross a pretty raging creek. We crossed at the trail as it was only knee deep with just a few short fat flowing patches, it was super cold though as the sun wasn't properly out yet, we quickly dried our feet and continued down. At the base of the descent was Stubblefield Canyon Creek which I was dreading as people had written about having to swim across it. As we got to the bottom I noticed one of my trail runners has fallen off my bag somewhere between the river crossing and the bottom so I had to trek back up to find it, Buddy kindly came too and just as I was about to give up he spotted it! We found logs to cross the first few parts of the creek and got shin deep for one but then we came to the final part, it was a wide river, luckily slow current but it was deep. We found a sport where it looked like we should be able to walk across and not swim but it was waist deep. Buddy went first with his pack on his head and then came back for my pack as I was struggling to lift it on my head. it wasn't as bad as I was expecting and it was over quickly. I crossed it my pants and sleeping too as to keep my hiking clothes dry. We hung out on some rocks to dry off in the sun and eat breakfast. Happy Hour and Captain Jack joined us, played the ukulele and chatted. It was nice to chat to some other hikers whilst leaving in the sun but then we realised it was 11 and we had only done a few miles so we packed up and kept going. Another ascent and then descent down to Wilma Lake. We found a snow bridge for the next crossing which was a relief and planned to have lunch at the lake. But as we stopped the clouds rolled in and thunder started. We got moving quickly hoping to make it around the lake and to  a flat spot before the rain started. We tried to see if we could cross Falls Creek, the last main one before the storm rolled in but it was too raging and the meadow was 4 miles away on snow and it soon started to rain. We pitched our tents as soon as we could and hid from the rain.