Vista Pass to Mile 1198

Today was supposed to be a big day. I was all setup to go up and over Knapsack Col. One of the most beautiful sections of the entire range according to, well just about everyone. Unfortunately the rain from last night had left a bunch of lingering clouds. As I was climbing up to Cube Rock Pass which is the junction to go over Knapsack they got thicker rather than thinner. Upon reaching the pass I debated what to do, I could go up over the Col and hope that I either got higher than the clouds or they cleared out in the time it took me to go up there. I could setup my tent and crawl back into my sleeping bag and wait for the clouds to clear, except I was on a fairly tight schedule to meet my sister in South Pass City. Or I could just hike on and come back another time to do Knapsack. It was only a 15 mile hike from a car campground and there is a 50 mile loop hike that takes you up and over it. I chose to just hike on and come back. The clouds weren't getting any better and for something like that you really do need to have clear skies to fully appreciate it.
The clouds did clear up a bit more later in the day but whenever I looked back at Knapsack it was still clouded in. I don't know if it cleared up later in the evening but I did get rained on so I doubt it. Anyway once that decision was made I hiked on. Turns out that I had lost my acclimation to the altitude, granted I had only been hiking at 8-9 thousand feet in Montana and here I was at times over 11 but getting very minor headaches and slight dizzy spells was disconcerting. That slowed me down a bit but what slowed me down even more was the sheer grandeur and beauty of the terrain. I kept stopping to gawk and take pictures. There were still way more people out in these mountains than I expected, but with how amazing they are I can totally understand why they'd be out here. I was also constantly running into northbound hikers I knew. Catching up with them on their hikes and giving them the lowdown on what to expect ahead took a lot of time. Time well spent there cause I'm probably not going to many of them again. I ended up camping an hour early to catch up with Bigfoot who I'd spent a lot of time with in New Mexico.