Thanks! I do have the option of leaving my friends in boulder and camping at a trail head the night before (around 8000-9000). (I don't want to miss out on the last night, but hard decisions must be made at times In this scenario I could do a loop hike the first full day maybe up to 10,000, but then come back down to sleep at 9000 again. (so two nights at 9000). Then on the third day go straight up the drainage to the lake near the divide at 11,000.

This leads to a related question... On the hard day I'll wake up with the sun as usual, break camp and eat "snacks" for most of the day, so I think I can fairly easily cover 14 miles... seven hours of two mph. But is that fairly likely?

I need to re-read the Tyee Lake report, seems like about that distance was covered coming from sea level...

EDIT: adding on... okay the NOLS information was very helpful, especially the guideline of generally sleeping ~2000 ft above the previous night.

So it looks like I'll do 8000, 9000-10,000 and then a night near divide --- unless weather or performance indicates otherwise, of course.