Wind Rivers Backpacking Trip, Sept 2-9, Days 5-8
Sun rose and warmed out camp by 9am, so we were able to get an earlier start today. Day started w/a long descent (giving up lots of altitude that we'd immediately have to make up) followed by a long ascent along creeks to the Highland trail.
Nice view of random peaks in the background
Before we started the ascent to the Highline, we encountered the only humans of the day, 2 sheep hunters on horseback. Very friendly gents, and very curious whether we had seen any sheep in the direction they were heading. As Paul noted, these two guys were straight out of central casting. Both Hispanic, on horseback, thick accents. Cowboy hats. Rifles in slings alongside their saddles. The upper teeth of the older guy seemed too large for his lower teeth - almost certainly dentures. The older guy also had a dog with him - a small terrier of some sort, riding in a canvas bag slung alongside his saddle. Super cute! The dog didn't seem to mind, although I'm curious why they had him along - being small, and a terrier, I doubt he was very useful when the sheep hunt is on.
Had a fierce headwind for the entire climb and along the flats of the Highline Trail, making it even more arduous. I usually only think about the wind being a challenge while biking, and sometime running, but it sure makes climbing with a heavy pack more difficult too!!!
Along the Highline Trail, with Summit Lake on the right
After stopping at Summit Lake (a high, desolate lake along the Highline Trail) we turned to the southwest, where we spotted a moose cow about 75yds away. We proceeded cautiously, having no idea whether the cow had a calf nearby. Moose are pretty dumb animals, but they're big and will be quick to put the hurt on if they feel you're a threat to their young. So we kept moving, keeping her in sight as best we could. Lots of spur trails in this section - pretty confusing. Shortly thereafter spotted 3 mule deer, all does, maybe one younger one.
Moose (you'll have to click on image for large version)
Descended down to a lake whose name I can't remember (starts with a B though) and found a campsite with quite possibly the most stunning campsite view ever - across the lake, in the distance 2 dome peaks, lit with the late day sun. We had some daylight to spare, so took advantage of the time to find a nice rock where I could dive into the frigid lake and rinse off 3 days of trail dirt/stench - I like to imagine the force of the water blasting dirt out of every crevice in my body. Refreshing!
Gorgeous lake, gorgeous backdrop, good food, cleansing swim, great day. Pretty simple needs out here.
Hoped we might not see anyone the next day, but saw several people today before we had even fully broken down camp. A husband/wife couple passed by, headed a few lakes up in search of trout. They were followed by 3 hunters on horseback, with 3 additional pack mules.
Paul and I discussed how the horses and mules must do much more damage than humans. My back-of-the-napkin calculation: Stock have 2x as many legs as humans, and each leg supports 2x the weight of a human (probably more, but I'll give 'em the benefit of the doubt). So each stock animal is generating 4x the trail damage as a human (and I think that's even being generous.) Factor in the fact that stock really don't care where they're walking, and they can't even see where they're planting their rear legs, and I suspect it's actually worse. So for this party of 3 humans, with a total of 6 stock animals, is generating the equivilent trail damage as a party of 24 backpackers would. This would go a long ways toward expaining the terrible trail erosion we'd come across later this day.
Hiked so much today, with so much elevation gained/lost that I could hardly remember all of it at the end of the day. Thought we lost the trail in a meadow by Heart Lake, early in the day, and it took us a while to realize that what looked like a washout was actually the trail leading up from the meadow. Climbed, climbed, and climbed some more. Our target for the day was Parker Lake, but we got off course when we ended up on an *extremely* eroded stock trail along the way. It was all uphill, and pretty brutal, with few switchbacks. Tough on the feet, mostly rocks underfoot due to the dirt being washed away by erosion. In some places the trail was in it's 3rd or 4th iteration, as each previous iteration had become a washed-out trench.
Trail erosion - this was bad, but there were areas that were much worse
Paul near the top of the pass - you can see those same twin dome peaks in the far distance - we've already come a long way today
View to the east, from the top of the pass - the Wind River mountain range
View to the south, from the top of the pass - Wyoming flatlands
Made our way up over the pass, picked some landmarks and tried to get our bearings. We suspected we were on our way to Rainbow Lake, not Parker Lake. Pumped water at a small alpine lake, swore a little, and kept going. Came upon a trail marker that verified we were in fact on our way to Rainbow Lake. By this time we're feeling pretty beat up - sore feet feeling like they're bruised from the rocky climb, realizing we still had another hour of hiking ahead of us. We would have been to Parker Lake by this point! Thankfully the remainder of the hike was rolling hills, then a long descent to Rainbow Lake.
Finally see water - the lake is close. Picked the first available flat spot at the lake to pitch our tent - too tired to seek out a better spot. After resting for a bit, we relocated the tent to a more secluded spot up and away from the water. Totally beat. Early dinner. We weren't alone at the lake, as there was a family across the lake. At one point, I heard them across the lake - one woman saying to another - "why did you pack fingernail polish?" Funny.
Rainbow lake
After sundown, I sat in clearing by the lake reading, when I heard a very soft "whoosh whoosh" somewhere above my head. Turned out my headlamp, there was still enough light reflected off the rock face along the lake to make out the silouettes of several owls hunting in the clearing. The "whoosh"ing was the sound of their wings as they flew from pine tree to pine tree, including one pine tree just behind and above my head. They seemed to have 4 trees that they flew to/from over and over. I got the impression that they probably came here to hunt pretty frequently. Don't know if they didn't know I was there, of whether they knew but simply didn't care. Paul was already up in the tent, and I thought about calling him down to see, but was afraid the owls might get scared off. Cool.
Meadow at Rainbow Lake - the owls would show up here after sundown
Final day. Hit the trail thinking we'd have a fairly easy 6 mile day, back to the trailhead. Should be mostly downhill, since we had quite some altitude we had to lose to between here and the trailhead. The family across the lake broke camp and took off shortly before we did, and we ran into them not too far down the trail. In one of those "small world" moments, it turns out that the younger couple in the party were from Mpls, and they had also driven out for their trip. Mike, I think the guy's name was, works at REI. Small world indeed!
I was wholely unprepared for the downhill switchbacks today. I was anticipating an easy downhill day - boy was I wrong. Switchback after steep, rocky downhill switchback was the agenda for the day. And since we were heading away from the alpine meadows and down into the woodlands, the scenery wasn't much to look at either - couldn't see very far into the trees, no overlooks or anything like that. Then, outside the wilderness area, about 2 miles from the trailhead, a stream crossing with no rocks or logs to cross on, and brown murky water - probably colored brown from all the cowpies the pasturing cattle had left behind in the area. Nice. Poo water in my boots - just what we needed on the last day :-)
Poo crossing
Finally arrived back at the trailhead, and took the boots off content in the knowledge that I could spend the rest of the trip in comfy sandles.
View looking up the valley we hike up into on the first day, this photo was taken as we hiked out.
Drove into Pinedale and rented showers at some shitty "campground" in town. Really just a small lot where people could park their RVs or trailers if anyone actually wanted to stay at that shithole. Wanted to get out customary post-backpacking-return-to-civilization pizza pie, but it seemed almost all the restautants in town we closed until like 4 or 5pm - weird. Found a mexican restaurant that looked promising - at least it was open! Had high hopes that were quickly dashed. My food was far from good, Paul later described his burrito as simply horrible. Kind of a downer.
But we were back on the road, headed for home, so we had that going for us! Saw a cool storm, with lightning, in the distance to the south which made for interesting viewing. Had hoped to soak in the hot springs in Thermopolis on the way home through Wyoming, but it was already dark when we passed through. Smelled the sulfur driving though the town, though.
Storm clouds
The mule deer were so think along the highway through the Bighorns that it was a *seriously* stressful time. We were both on full-adrenaline deer alert the whole time, traveling about 40mph most of the way though. Don't know how many deer we saw - dozens, for sure. Oh, and pronghorns here and there throughout the day, too.
Stayed over in Buffalo,WY got a good nights sleep (yeah, sleeping in a bed again!) and hit the road Friday with the goal to be back in Mpls that night. It was a super hot day, with both Paul and I choosing to sweat rather than turn on the air conditioning. Overloaded on New Orleans coverage on NPR. Super windy today, blowing from south to north. I mean Seriously Windy - on numerous occasions we saw birds (seagulls and hawks) trying to fly against the wind, failing, and giving up. Crazy stuff.
Pulled off the highway in Mitchell to look from some dinner. Drove by the Corn Palace - what a piece of junk that thing is. I was imagining a building make entirely from corn. No such luck - it has a brick first floor, with upper floors having what looks to be an outer facade made of corn. Disappointment. Ate dinner at some semi-depressing diner, complete with waitstaff with that deer-in-the-headlights look that belies mental numbness and understimulation. Diner was sort of quintessential, however, in that it had these two guys (regulars, I'm sure) drinking coffee and chatting/bitching nonstop - I bet that diner is a second home for those guys.
It was very interesting to observe the transition as the prairies of Wyoming and western South Dakota gave way to the first row crops (corn) as we progressed eastward across South Dakota, and finally reach the comparatively lush farmland in Minnesota. Maybe it was just the opressive heat while driving all day, but being back in MN surrounded by green fields as opposed to brown or gold prairie was truly refreshing.
Some general observations about the west:
Having never driven out west, I didn't know what to expect. Whenever I travel somewhere new, I really Really REALLY want to like the new place. I want to love it, and add it to my list of places I could imagine relocating to someday. But very few of the places we passed through on this trip made me feel that way. Actually, Jackson was the only place that came close, and Jackson is too small. The rest of the west really didn't appeal. The west seems like a land of extraction (mining and oil drilling) populated with all the heavy equipment that goes with it. Everywhere you went, tractor-trailers, big rigs, heavy equipment, heavy-duty pickup trucks.
The West
However, I also have to note that the PEOPLE in the west seemed much more open and friendly than midwestern folk. I've always described Minnesota "Nice" sort of like Minnesota "Mind Your Own Business" or maybe better as Minnesota "I'll Be Nice, But Keep You At A Distance". I didn't feel any of that in the west - everyone seemed genuinely nice, helpful, and well, just plain NICE. It was refreshing and appreciated.
Nice view of random peaks in the background
Before we started the ascent to the Highline, we encountered the only humans of the day, 2 sheep hunters on horseback. Very friendly gents, and very curious whether we had seen any sheep in the direction they were heading. As Paul noted, these two guys were straight out of central casting. Both Hispanic, on horseback, thick accents. Cowboy hats. Rifles in slings alongside their saddles. The upper teeth of the older guy seemed too large for his lower teeth - almost certainly dentures. The older guy also had a dog with him - a small terrier of some sort, riding in a canvas bag slung alongside his saddle. Super cute! The dog didn't seem to mind, although I'm curious why they had him along - being small, and a terrier, I doubt he was very useful when the sheep hunt is on.
Had a fierce headwind for the entire climb and along the flats of the Highline Trail, making it even more arduous. I usually only think about the wind being a challenge while biking, and sometime running, but it sure makes climbing with a heavy pack more difficult too!!!
Along the Highline Trail, with Summit Lake on the right
After stopping at Summit Lake (a high, desolate lake along the Highline Trail) we turned to the southwest, where we spotted a moose cow about 75yds away. We proceeded cautiously, having no idea whether the cow had a calf nearby. Moose are pretty dumb animals, but they're big and will be quick to put the hurt on if they feel you're a threat to their young. So we kept moving, keeping her in sight as best we could. Lots of spur trails in this section - pretty confusing. Shortly thereafter spotted 3 mule deer, all does, maybe one younger one.
Moose (you'll have to click on image for large version)
Descended down to a lake whose name I can't remember (starts with a B though) and found a campsite with quite possibly the most stunning campsite view ever - across the lake, in the distance 2 dome peaks, lit with the late day sun. We had some daylight to spare, so took advantage of the time to find a nice rock where I could dive into the frigid lake and rinse off 3 days of trail dirt/stench - I like to imagine the force of the water blasting dirt out of every crevice in my body. Refreshing!
Gorgeous lake, gorgeous backdrop, good food, cleansing swim, great day. Pretty simple needs out here.
Hoped we might not see anyone the next day, but saw several people today before we had even fully broken down camp. A husband/wife couple passed by, headed a few lakes up in search of trout. They were followed by 3 hunters on horseback, with 3 additional pack mules.
Paul and I discussed how the horses and mules must do much more damage than humans. My back-of-the-napkin calculation: Stock have 2x as many legs as humans, and each leg supports 2x the weight of a human (probably more, but I'll give 'em the benefit of the doubt). So each stock animal is generating 4x the trail damage as a human (and I think that's even being generous.) Factor in the fact that stock really don't care where they're walking, and they can't even see where they're planting their rear legs, and I suspect it's actually worse. So for this party of 3 humans, with a total of 6 stock animals, is generating the equivilent trail damage as a party of 24 backpackers would. This would go a long ways toward expaining the terrible trail erosion we'd come across later this day.
Hiked so much today, with so much elevation gained/lost that I could hardly remember all of it at the end of the day. Thought we lost the trail in a meadow by Heart Lake, early in the day, and it took us a while to realize that what looked like a washout was actually the trail leading up from the meadow. Climbed, climbed, and climbed some more. Our target for the day was Parker Lake, but we got off course when we ended up on an *extremely* eroded stock trail along the way. It was all uphill, and pretty brutal, with few switchbacks. Tough on the feet, mostly rocks underfoot due to the dirt being washed away by erosion. In some places the trail was in it's 3rd or 4th iteration, as each previous iteration had become a washed-out trench.
Trail erosion - this was bad, but there were areas that were much worse
Paul near the top of the pass - you can see those same twin dome peaks in the far distance - we've already come a long way today
View to the east, from the top of the pass - the Wind River mountain range
View to the south, from the top of the pass - Wyoming flatlands
Made our way up over the pass, picked some landmarks and tried to get our bearings. We suspected we were on our way to Rainbow Lake, not Parker Lake. Pumped water at a small alpine lake, swore a little, and kept going. Came upon a trail marker that verified we were in fact on our way to Rainbow Lake. By this time we're feeling pretty beat up - sore feet feeling like they're bruised from the rocky climb, realizing we still had another hour of hiking ahead of us. We would have been to Parker Lake by this point! Thankfully the remainder of the hike was rolling hills, then a long descent to Rainbow Lake.
Finally see water - the lake is close. Picked the first available flat spot at the lake to pitch our tent - too tired to seek out a better spot. After resting for a bit, we relocated the tent to a more secluded spot up and away from the water. Totally beat. Early dinner. We weren't alone at the lake, as there was a family across the lake. At one point, I heard them across the lake - one woman saying to another - "why did you pack fingernail polish?" Funny.
Rainbow lake
After sundown, I sat in clearing by the lake reading, when I heard a very soft "whoosh whoosh" somewhere above my head. Turned out my headlamp, there was still enough light reflected off the rock face along the lake to make out the silouettes of several owls hunting in the clearing. The "whoosh"ing was the sound of their wings as they flew from pine tree to pine tree, including one pine tree just behind and above my head. They seemed to have 4 trees that they flew to/from over and over. I got the impression that they probably came here to hunt pretty frequently. Don't know if they didn't know I was there, of whether they knew but simply didn't care. Paul was already up in the tent, and I thought about calling him down to see, but was afraid the owls might get scared off. Cool.
Meadow at Rainbow Lake - the owls would show up here after sundown
Final day. Hit the trail thinking we'd have a fairly easy 6 mile day, back to the trailhead. Should be mostly downhill, since we had quite some altitude we had to lose to between here and the trailhead. The family across the lake broke camp and took off shortly before we did, and we ran into them not too far down the trail. In one of those "small world" moments, it turns out that the younger couple in the party were from Mpls, and they had also driven out for their trip. Mike, I think the guy's name was, works at REI. Small world indeed!
I was wholely unprepared for the downhill switchbacks today. I was anticipating an easy downhill day - boy was I wrong. Switchback after steep, rocky downhill switchback was the agenda for the day. And since we were heading away from the alpine meadows and down into the woodlands, the scenery wasn't much to look at either - couldn't see very far into the trees, no overlooks or anything like that. Then, outside the wilderness area, about 2 miles from the trailhead, a stream crossing with no rocks or logs to cross on, and brown murky water - probably colored brown from all the cowpies the pasturing cattle had left behind in the area. Nice. Poo water in my boots - just what we needed on the last day :-)
Poo crossing
Finally arrived back at the trailhead, and took the boots off content in the knowledge that I could spend the rest of the trip in comfy sandles.
View looking up the valley we hike up into on the first day, this photo was taken as we hiked out.
Drove into Pinedale and rented showers at some shitty "campground" in town. Really just a small lot where people could park their RVs or trailers if anyone actually wanted to stay at that shithole. Wanted to get out customary post-backpacking-return-to-civilization pizza pie, but it seemed almost all the restautants in town we closed until like 4 or 5pm - weird. Found a mexican restaurant that looked promising - at least it was open! Had high hopes that were quickly dashed. My food was far from good, Paul later described his burrito as simply horrible. Kind of a downer.
But we were back on the road, headed for home, so we had that going for us! Saw a cool storm, with lightning, in the distance to the south which made for interesting viewing. Had hoped to soak in the hot springs in Thermopolis on the way home through Wyoming, but it was already dark when we passed through. Smelled the sulfur driving though the town, though.
Storm clouds
The mule deer were so think along the highway through the Bighorns that it was a *seriously* stressful time. We were both on full-adrenaline deer alert the whole time, traveling about 40mph most of the way though. Don't know how many deer we saw - dozens, for sure. Oh, and pronghorns here and there throughout the day, too.
Stayed over in Buffalo,WY got a good nights sleep (yeah, sleeping in a bed again!) and hit the road Friday with the goal to be back in Mpls that night. It was a super hot day, with both Paul and I choosing to sweat rather than turn on the air conditioning. Overloaded on New Orleans coverage on NPR. Super windy today, blowing from south to north. I mean Seriously Windy - on numerous occasions we saw birds (seagulls and hawks) trying to fly against the wind, failing, and giving up. Crazy stuff.
Pulled off the highway in Mitchell to look from some dinner. Drove by the Corn Palace - what a piece of junk that thing is. I was imagining a building make entirely from corn. No such luck - it has a brick first floor, with upper floors having what looks to be an outer facade made of corn. Disappointment. Ate dinner at some semi-depressing diner, complete with waitstaff with that deer-in-the-headlights look that belies mental numbness and understimulation. Diner was sort of quintessential, however, in that it had these two guys (regulars, I'm sure) drinking coffee and chatting/bitching nonstop - I bet that diner is a second home for those guys.
It was very interesting to observe the transition as the prairies of Wyoming and western South Dakota gave way to the first row crops (corn) as we progressed eastward across South Dakota, and finally reach the comparatively lush farmland in Minnesota. Maybe it was just the opressive heat while driving all day, but being back in MN surrounded by green fields as opposed to brown or gold prairie was truly refreshing.
Some general observations about the west:
Having never driven out west, I didn't know what to expect. Whenever I travel somewhere new, I really Really REALLY want to like the new place. I want to love it, and add it to my list of places I could imagine relocating to someday. But very few of the places we passed through on this trip made me feel that way. Actually, Jackson was the only place that came close, and Jackson is too small. The rest of the west really didn't appeal. The west seems like a land of extraction (mining and oil drilling) populated with all the heavy equipment that goes with it. Everywhere you went, tractor-trailers, big rigs, heavy equipment, heavy-duty pickup trucks.
The West
However, I also have to note that the PEOPLE in the west seemed much more open and friendly than midwestern folk. I've always described Minnesota "Nice" sort of like Minnesota "Mind Your Own Business" or maybe better as Minnesota "I'll Be Nice, But Keep You At A Distance". I didn't feel any of that in the west - everyone seemed genuinely nice, helpful, and well, just plain NICE. It was refreshing and appreciated.
posted by equipoise at 10:32 PM
2 Comments:
Good pics. FYI, if you post them using the blogger picture option, you can show them in much larger resolution than what FlickR allows.
Fabulous photos, good commentary. I too find the Wyoming area a little on the bleak side....but then I live by the ocean. :) You really need to move to California, dude.
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