After lots of pain, water, and heavy breathing (and of course cool scenery), we finally arrived at a saddle that marked what we thought was the end of the heavy climbing for the day...too bad we were wrong...
The trail meandered up, down, and around the contours of Raymond Peak, eventually arriving at the first crossing of Raymond Lake Creek. We stopped for some rest without the packs on our backs, and some food, as looking ahead, the trail looked pretty brutal.
Following our break, the trail climbed like no other. By this point I was losing all motivation as my heels were killing me, I could feel another big blister getting out of control on my toe, and the sun was sucking my strength. The climb mercifully ended in about a half mile, then we began a series of long switchbacks down to the second crossing of Raymond Lake Creek, which was to be our lunch spot. Looking out, the view was great, but the trail looked like it would be pretty bad after lunch. We finally made it to the creek, and promptly dumped the packs and started lunch.
Unfortunately, I made the mistake of taking off my shoes and socks to look at my blisters. By this point, there was basically no skin left on my heels. I had blisters a good 2 by 2 inches square on each heel. Well, "blisters" is probably not the right word, as that would imply there was still some skin. Aside from the heels, the small, 1/4" diameter blister on the side of my right big toe had grown to the diameter of a penny by lunch, and looked like a sixth toe. Combine the blisters with another round of nausea, and it was obvious we were in trouble. But we were still scheduled to go another 6 miles that day, and 15 the next... We realized this was insane and we weren't gonna make it since I couldn't really walk, so we decided to try to get to Blue Lakes (a bit past our supposed Tamarack Lake camping spot for that night) and call my parents for a ride.
After a bunch of rest, we headed onward...
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