Each day we broke camp a little later; this day was no exception as we left North Star Lake just after nine AM for the slow but steady climb up Garfield Basin to the base of Porcupine Pass.  The terrain, as can be seen by the pictures on the day 2 page, was stark, unforgiving, and utterly void of anything but short grasses and rocks.  Line of sight travel was a) particularly easy and b) necessary as the trail dashed in and out of existence for the two miles to the pass.  Large cairns dotted the way but even they were difficult to spot from a not too far away distance.

At about 20 minutes, the climb up Porcupine Pass was quick although the 12,300 foot elevation made it seem like 40.  Just when you think you have seen it all, cresting this pass gives one an awe-inspiring panorama of the Oweep Creek Basin in the Lakefork Drainage.  Words cannot describe and pictures cannot truly capture the grandeur of the scene that awaits the tired hiker up here.  The entire upper Lakefork Drainage unfolds 1,000+ feet below, sprawling westward to Explorer and Squaw Peaks.

Be careful on the way down (or up) the west side of Porcupine Pass.  Guidebooks indicate and resources I have used for itinerary scouting mention that this trail is poorly maintained.  "Sketch-ball" is what I'll call it.  They are correct as carefully placed feet are of paramount importance.

Once of the pass we traveled for about 2.5 miles making extremely fast time practically jogging through the basin.  To the left was a several mile 1,500 foot ridge, with precipitous cliffs clinging to the side, that lines the entire upper basin - the rock walls reminded me of sentinels keeping watch over their majesty.  To the right stood reddish colored rock walls just a high but not quite as pretty due to their rounded nature.

While the trail continued another mile or so west, we cut cross-country, around Squaw Pass Lake, and ventured straight up the mountain side to meet with the Squaw Pass Trail heading up to the pass.  Normally, I would have stayed on the main trail as my luck with very steep "off-piste" scrambling is not exemplary.  But, Tim's great binocs helped us scope the goat path around the lake and our path up the mountain side.  I reached the trail first and had another 15 minutes until the pass.

Remember when I wrote "just when you think you have seen it all"?  Well, I had not.  The view north into the Little East Fork Blacks Fork Drainage was again breath-taking, even more so because one great guidebook I had read mentioned that this drainage was "ugly" as compared to the rest of the range.  True, the lower elevation trail was deep in the forest but the view from the top (and the next five or so miles) was beautiful.

We rested here for about 30 minutes.  The pass is perfectly flat and the two big cairns marking the top provided much-needed support.  It was here that we saw the first two humans, a couple on their way peak-bagging for the next five days.  Seeing them was strange as it had been almost three whole days since we saw any others.  Autumn is a great time to come to these mountains!

The trail drops almost two thousand feet onto a large bench and finally down through thick forest to the valley bottom.  From here it was another several miles to our campsite - a well-used area adjacent to the first of three stream crossings.