Grand Gulch 2010

I had been wanting for several years to do a spring backpacking trip to Grand Gulch in southern Utah. With some urging from a friend I made it happen this year.

Grand Gulch is in the southeast corner of Utah. It is southwest of Blanding and north of Mexican Hat only about 50 miles or so north of the Arizona border. It is a deep redrock canyon in an area known as Cedar Mesa. The attraction here is both the scenery and the many Anasazi Indian ruins in the canyons. Another important plus is that it is an area that can be hiked in the spring before the upper elevations open up.

Originally the trip was meant to be a photography trip with my brother Glade and myself. When work tied him up and he couldn't get away I invited Brian Grigsby, a friend who is a hiking fool, and he jumped a the chance to go. The trip changed from a photography trip to a backpacking trip with a little photography along the way.

I worked the morning of April 27th and we left town at 1:00 PM. We drove as far as Hite Marina on the extreme north end of Lake Powell and got there just at dusk. We battled the gale force winds to put up the tent. It was Brian's new tent that he had put up once before so it was a bit of a chore but not too bad considering the conditions. We had eaten along the way so we quickly crawled into the tent and fell to sleep.

The next morning I got up early to take a few pictures. There was still plenty of wind but not nearly as bad as the night before

For breakfast it was merely a matter of boiling some water for my breakfast rice (instant brown rice, cinnamon, raisins, pecan gems and powdered milk) and we then threw everything in the truck and were on our way. We went to the Kane Gulch ranger station to pick up the permit and see if we could find anyone willing to help us shuttle the truck to Bullet Canyon trail head where we would be exiting the canyons 3 days later. The trail head is about nine miles from the ranger station. Brian thought that we could walk back to the ranger station if we needed to but I have known for some time now that he is nuts. Shortly after we got to the ranger station a group of guys from California came in. It turned out that they were doing the same trip as us but taking one more day to do it and hiking it in the reverse direction. They planned on leaving a bike at the ranger station that one of them could ride to the TH to get the truck. When I proposed that we help each other shuttle vehicles they jumped on the idea-especially the guy who was supposed to ride the bike. So I followed them down to the Bullet Canyon TH where I left my truck and then drove their truck back to the Kane Gulch ranger station where we left it for them.

Brian and I were headed down Kane Gulch by 10:00 AM. It was a very pleasant walk in the upper part but got steeper and more rugged further down. It was here that I strained the teres tendon (in my ankle) of the peroneous muscle which got progressively worse as the trip went on.

There was a small stream running in Kane Gulch which added to the beauty. In this picture you can see Brian at the top of the waterfall and to the left which gives a little scale to the scenery. We were just getting into the deeper part of Kane Gulch but nowhere near as deep in the canyon as we would be shortly.
At the bottom of Kane Gulch where it joins Grand Gulch we stopped for a bit to view the Junction Ruins. The canyons down here are full of Anasazi ruins and we saw 24 different ruin sites on the trip. The ruin sites are littered with pot shards, corn cobs, bone fragments, gourd shell fragments etc., all of which are 700-1000 years old. There is quite a bit of rock art as well.

The junction ruins are one of the biggest sets of ruins in the canyon. There are multiple buildings and all quite accessible without climbing. We didn't stay long though as we were about 4 miles into the hike and still had another 3.2 miles to do for the day.

I was already getting tired. It was my first time out this spring and I had not done any conditioning, though I felt that the little bit of snowshoeing that I had done during the winter certainly helped. We were also carrying heavy packs as we were carrying cold weather gear (which came in handy). By the time that we got to the mouth of Todie Canyon where we were spending the night I was beat. It was a little chilly, the wind was howling and I was worrying about my family more than just a little bit. At home I had a new grandson in the NICU and a wife that didn't feel real great. I was ready to give up backpacking. I made it through the night though and life was better the next morning.
At the mouth of Todie Canyon we met a guy named Dave who was from Dallas. He was by himself. This was his 11th trip to Grand Gulch. He said that on each trip he found something that he hadn't seen before. On this trip he had found a ruin 600 feet up on the wall of Todie Canyon that could only be seen when up at that level. Later in the trip we talked to some people that he had taken up to see some pictroglyphs that were several hundred feet up and along a narrow ledge. They said that it was pretty scary-especially when a big gust of wind came along

We had lots of wind on this trip and at times we could hear it coming down the canyon like a freight train before it got to us. Occasionally it would be followed by the sound of falling rocks.

Thursday was originally planned to be 8.5 miles but we decided to try to make it further to shorten up the last day. It was also supposed to be easy hiking as we were going down canyon without climbs. But we crossed the stream (not perennial) many, many times and that got old really fast. Most of the time we could rock-hop the shallow water. But it was often a steep 6-10 feet down to the water edge and then a climb back up the sandy bank. By late in the day there weren't always rocks to cross and I didn't have much hop left. When we stopped for lunch I already had some pretty sore feet and my ankle was starting to bother me more.

Our progress was also hindered by stopping to check out the many ruins. Some were high up on the cliffs and we just looked briefly but others, like the Split Level Ruin pictured below begged for a little exploration.

Split Level Ruin (shown right) was particularly impressive and the middens were especially large and rich in pottery shards.

We pushed on and made it 11 miles for the day and we camped in the cottonwoods right below Jail House Ruin. It is called Jail House ruin because of wooden bars on one of the windows. We climbed up to the ruin and took some pictures. We passed 14-15 ruins that day.

Part of JH Ruins with the barred window on the far left.

The canyon bottom was surprisingly lush. There was lots of green grass in some places as well as cottonwoods, willows and oak trees. There was always an abundance of prickly pear cactus, with occasional barrel cactus and a few claret cup cactus. I found a few of the claret cups in full bloom at Jail House Ruin on the ledge just below the main part of the ruin. We saw some huge cottonwoods that must have been 10 feet in diameter at the base. The big ones always had limbs bending clear down to the ground.

The camp at Jail House was pleasant and beneath some cottonwoods. It was just a few hundred feet above Jail House Spring. It was a cold night. There was ice on the underside of the rain fly in the morning.

Temperatures on the trip were generally pleasant and the day time temperatures were in the 50's and perfect for hiking. It got up into the 70's on the first day and it was a little too warm. I just about ran out of water at one point. We could have filtered the stream water but it was just cloudy enough to clog the filter pretty fast. We got some light snow flurries twice while hiking and light rain on the first night.

Looking up at Jail House Ruin from Camp. Notice the two large white discs painted on the canyon wall above the ruins. There is another structure on the corner on the left at the upper level just behind the tree branches.

Day three was kind of a fun day but with a few pretty tough climbs. I really like Bullet Canyon. It was much more open and dry than Grand Gulch but the canyon walls were very interesting and beautiful. We left camp at Jail House at 9:00 AM and stopped just a little while up the canyon at Perfect Kiva ruin-so named because of a kiva that was intact when discovered. The roof has been reinforced and a new ladder has been put in place so that you can go down inside. Once inside though there wasn't much to see. It is quite a climb up to the ruins of a couple of hundred feet. There was a nice seep right below the ruins that was running nice, clear water and there was a small place to camp.

Indian Pain Brush growing in some cryptobiotic soil. The cryptobiotic soil is the black soil and is made up of microorganisms. It serves to hold the soil together and prevents erosion. Walking on this soil is a no-no.

This is a view looking down canyon from up on the shelf at Jail House Ruin. Camp is in the bottom left corner

We left Perfect Kiva at 10:00 AM and headed up the canyon. It started as a gradual climb and was quite pleasant. 1.5 hours into the hike we came to a place where the rock cairns indicated that the trail went up a very steep slope with lots of loose rock. Brian thought we should just stay on the easy canon bottom but I told him that there was a reason for the deviation from the canyon bottom and that it was probably a pour-off that couldn't be climbed. I was wrong though. It was a jumble of house-sized boulders on the canyon bottom. We followed the trail up the steep and only somewhat treacherous switch-backs to a wide rock ledge a couple of hundred feet above the canyon bottom that we traversed until the canyon bottom rose to meet it. A short way further up the canyon we came to a low pour off that we climbed without any difficulty and onto a flat, slickrock waterway.

It was easy and fascinating hiking for about 200 yards in a very rugged and wild looking canyon. In the picture you can see a few hikers in the bottom part way up this stretch of canyon. We then came to a pour-off that we couldn't climb. At this point there was another drainage coming in from the left which we climbed with some minor difficulty on my part. Part way up this drainage the trail left the drainage and went onto another shelf that led to the right and around a corner to end up high above Bullet Canyon's bottom. Upon turning the corner there was an overhang that forced you out onto a rounded shoulder of the ledge that had some loose grit on it. Even Brian admitted to some discomfort at this point. At one point I sat down and scooted along a short distance underneath the overhang. Add in my sore ankle that didn't feel like it would hold me and I was very cautious. It was never dangerous but my discomfort with heights made it seem that way.

I sure wouldn't want to do it with snow or ice on the trail. It took about an hour to get through the most difficult parts of the canyon--from the first climb up the loose rock switch backs to just beyond the overhang ledge. After that it was an easy and very pleasant hike up the pretty canyon to the final grueling climb of about 150 feet to the canyon edge and a short hike to the trail head. We got to the trail head at about 2:00 PM

That I afternoon we drove a couple of hours to Cortez Colorado where we met my new pack goats and I booked a motel room, much to Brian's objections. He thought that we could either tent it one more night or load the goats and head home. The hot shower alone was worth the cost of the room.

The next morning (May 1) it was 26 degrees at 6:30 when we loaded the goats (Bubba and George) and headed home. We got home at 2:00 PM.

Grand Gulch was another grand adventure and certainly one that I would do again.

Wind River Range 2009

A couple of years ago I was asked if I would be a course director for a Kodiak course. Kodiak is a BSA leadership skills course in a high adventure setting. It is intended for the Venturing, or 16-18 year old age group. I agreed to do it if it could be a backpacking trip in the Wind River Range or the Beartooths of Montana. I easily recruited Dennis Christensen as another course director and we attended a Course Directors Conference in March of 2008. Last winter we advertised the trip and had 9 young men express interest. Eight of them went with us on an epic adventure in late July of 2009.

I spent a lot of time looking at maps and google earth trying to decide on a route. In the end the route suggested by Swimswithtrout of the backpacker forums proved to be the perfect adventure for our group. Once again-thanks Dave.

Monday, July 27

The plan was to meet at my house at 5:45 AM to load vehicles and head north. To my surprise things went as planned and by 6:15 we were on our way. It was about a 5 1/2 hour drive to the trail head at Big Sandy Opening. We went by way of Rock Springs and Farson. Two miles east of Farson we turned onto a gravel road and continued north. The road was well signed and we easily found the trail head. The last 5 miles past the Dutch John Guard Station was the roughest part of the road but easily negotiated by passenger cars.

At the trail head we met a scout group headed in to Big Sandy Lake for a few days. They would day hike from there to see other areas. Our boys commented that they didn't look very well prepared. They were a younger group hiking in tennis shoes and had all sorts of things tied to the outside of their packs. Given their destination I am sure that they fared just fine.

We were all dressed in light blue Columbia shirts with the Kodiak logo above the right shirt pocket. We got quite a few comments on how sharp we looked and the boys all took pride in it. It also made it easy to identify our group members at a distance.

There were three other adult leaders besides myself. My son David went with us along with Kay Christensen and Dennis Christensen. Dennis was one of the original planners of the trip and one of his boys was with us. Kay was the father of another one of the boys and the Venturing leader for two others on the trip.

From the trail head we headed towards Big Sandy Lake. It started raining shortly after we hit the trail and within a mile we all had to stop and put on our rain gear. Later, most of us ended up stopping to take off the rain gear but it remained dark and threatening with occasional sprinkles.

As an organized group we were required to have a permit for the trip and we were not permitted for Big Sandy so we had to stop short of the lake. After an easy hike of 4 miles or so we found a camp site below the trail and above a large pond on the river. The area was a small burned out area that was coming back nicely. We stayed on the edges of the burned area to avoid the potential widow makers still standing. The mosquitoes were pretty bad here and we only had one other camp site where they were worse.

We did freezer bag cooking with three Mountain House dinners thrown in. So each of us chose what we were going to eat at each meal as all that was required to prepare the meals was boiling water. That way everyone carried their own food for the trip and it was all bagged separately for the bear bags at night. For the mountain House dinners each person had the two serving sized packages and it was about right for one hungry hiker.

Day one was successful with no injuries or incidents. Hiking time was 2 hours-1 hour in the rain.

Tuesday, Day 2

We had to rattle a few tents to get the boys up and on the trail by 9:00 AM. That was the pattern for each morning except for the last when we made it out of camp at about 8:30.

This was expected to be the toughest day of hiking for the entire trip and it met our expectations. The first part of the day was up over Jack Ass Pass to the incomparable Cirque of the Towers. This was 3 1/2-4 miles from the first camp and a 1400 foot climb. With my conditioning I was confident that I could do a 1400 foot climb with relative ease at the lower elevations I had trained at. It wasn't the elevation gain or the distance that made it tough as much as it was the rough and rocky terrain with lots of climbing over rocky outcroppings.

After topping out above Arrowhead lake it was discouraging to see a drop of several hundred feet followed by the final climb to the pass. I was expecting it however, and actually found this to be the easiest part of the climb as the trail was relatively smooth though steep. It was three hours to the top of the pass.

At the pass the wind was quite chilly but we spent about half an hour there taking pictures and eating snacks. The view was spectacular. The 2000 foot granite spire of Pingora was across from us and towered over the blue-green Lonesome Lake. We then quickly dropped down to the outlet of Lonesome Lake where we spent nearly an hour eating and resting before heading down towards Lizard Head Meadows. After an easy but buggy hike of 2-3 miles it was time to start climbing again. It was 500 vertical feet of switchbacks that had me dragging when we got to the trail turn-off to Bear Lake. Bear Lake sits in a beautiful cirque below the impressive Lizard Head Peak. We stopped a few hundred yards short of the lake and camped in some terraced meadows. I hiked down from the trail to check out he possibility of tent sites and then called up to the group that this was camp for the night. There were sighs of relief and cheers from the troops as they quickly dropped down to claim their favored tent site. It was 3:30 PM or 6 1/2 hours after we left camp below Big Sandy Lake to reach camp at Bear Lake. This proved to be our most pleasant camp site of the trip. The scenery was impressive and the bugs were relatively scarce. The weather was nice so we relaxed, doing some laundry and enjoyed the sun and relaxation. Water was quickly boiled for supper and bear bags were hung from the trees with great care. The rain for the day was limited to a few light sprinkles in the evening.

David had eaten dinner and was satisfied. But he burned so many calories during the day's hike that he woke up about midnight and couldn't sleep very well again because of hunger. After that he held back some snacks from the bear bag to be eaten just before going to sleep

Wednesday--Day 3

I was looking forward to taking some pictures of Lizard Head Peak bathed in morning light but it wasn't in the cards. The next morning when I stuck my head out of the tent all I could see was clouds and fog. We saw only brief glimpses of parts of the peak from time to time through the clouds. We had brief showers off and on all morning with fog and threatening skies. We weren't anxious to climb the 1000 foot ascent to the Lizard Head Trail at 11,7000 feet with the weather acting the way it was so we hung out in camp. However, by noon it wasn't looking any better so we decided it was now or never. We used the rented satellite phone to call the sheriffs office for an updated weather report and got a forecast of a 50/50 chance of rain and partly cloudy skies for Thursday. Of course that forecast was for Pinedale so we expected a greater chance of rain where we were. If we waited another day we would not have time to make our loop and the boys were not at all interested in going over Jack Ass Pass again. They knew what was behind them and found the unknown to be a better option though time would change that attitude somewhat.

So at noon we broke camp, shouldered our packs and began the climb. The switchbacks were very steep at first and moderated at midway and then turned to a gradual traversing climb to the top. With the cool morning I was still wearing my rain gear. It wasn't long until we stopped to put the rain gear in the pack and let me catch my breath somewhat. After another couple of switchbacks it was time to take off my thermal top and do some more panting. Further on up the trail it was time to take off the thermal bottoms. I commented to the boys that if it didn't get easier soon I would end up hiking naked. They found the idea to be quite humorous.

On the way to the top we got brief but impressive glimpses of the peaks of The Cirque, Big Sandy Peak across the valley and Lizard Head Peak. The views were extraordinary and left us wishing for better conditions so that we could better enjoy the vista from up high. I had been looking forward to the scenery on this leg of the trip but the scenery was mostly clouds and fog.

As we topped out on our climb the weather really moved in and we found ourselves hiking on a flat, high alpine tundra at 11,700 in the rain and the fog that left us with visibility of less than 200 feet. The trail was pretty sketchy on the rocky terrain and navigation was by rock cairns as much as by following the trail. There were no plants growing more than 3-4 inches in height. The fog made finding cairns in the distance quite difficult. We would walk out into the fog, following the faint trail the best we could and hoped that the next cairn would soon appear. The plan had been to leave the trail after 1 1/2 miles and drop 1400 feet down a steep, boulder strewn chute to Helmut Lake. But with the visibility being so poor for route finding in the maze of boulders and not being able to find the top of the chute in the fog, we felt it was better to hike a few miles further on the plateau and drop down to Valentine Lake on the trail. The change of plan seemed like a good one for about 5 minutes until the thunder started.

Some people, particularly those who don't hike in the mountains, seem to worry a lot about bears. But bears are way down on my list of worries with lightening being right up there near the top. We felt very vulnerable up high like that in a thunder storm and decided that we had to get down off of there as fast as we could. That lead back to Plan A but finding the point on the trail to drop down the chute was going to be a challenge in the fog. I had noted a way-point on the map so we plugged the coordinates into David's GPS unit and hiked until the GPS unit indicated it was time to leave the trail. We veered to the left and in just a hundred feet or so the world dropped out from beneath our feet. At first it was steep and grassy with lots of big rocks and snow drifts and was actually kind of fun to work our way down the slope. But then we hit the crux of the chute and it turned into a boulder maze. It was nothing but rocks of all sizes and plenty of car and even house sized boulders. This is where another one of my fears in the high country kicked in--the risk of serious falls. We had a couple of falls but nothing serious. I felt very responsible for the current state of affairs and told the boys that they were never to show their mothers the pictures they were taking of this descent.

Just as we were starting down into the most difficult part of the descent we were hit by a hail storm that really hammered us. This was accompanied by flashes of lightening and ground shaking thunder. I was plenty concerned at this point but the boys, having the usual teenage sense of immortality, found it to be quite the adventure and were rather enjoying it. Steven Christensen had a scary fall early in the rock field but was not badly hurt.

As we started down into this contorted rock field I emphasized to the boys that they were all to stay together and within sight of each other. But at one point Zach Christensen disappeared on the other side of one of the rocky ridges running down the chute. It was a good thing for him that I couldn't reach out and touch him at that point. If he had broken a leg over there no one would have known it and no one would have heard any shouting in the storm. It wouldn't have been until some time after we reached the bottom that anyone would have known that he was missing and then we would have had to go back up into that mess looking for him.

When we reached the bottom of the chute and the edge of the lake we found the ground to be covered with hail. Initially I took us to the left or the north looking for shelter and we briefly holed up in the shelter of a large boulder but there was no room for tents. So we had to return to the bottom end of the boulder field to cross it to get to the south. The hail continued as we hiked around the lake shore for another half mile or so looking for level ground on which to pitch the tents. We finally found a suitable place and the boys got under cover. They set up in some partial cover from boulders and boiled water for supper. Two of the boys, having the nocturnal blessings of youth, were not carrying sleeping pads and so had no insulation from the hail already on the ground. They put all of their spare clothing and their backpacks underneath them and managed to get through the night OK.

We had a brief break in the weather which helped with final preparations for the night. After turning in for the night the weather turned to sleet which froze on the walls of the tents. A little later it turned to snow. Towards the pre-dawn hours I reached out of the tent and stuck my finger in the snow and measured 3-4 inches of snow early on July 30th!

The weather stayed nasty all night. I had made the mistake of having a cup of hot chocolate with my supper to warm me up. It had it's usual effect on my middle aged plumbing and I found that the pee bottle I had brought for just such an occasion was one of the most valuable pieces of equipment that I had brought on the trip. It saved me from exposure to the elements and hypothermia.

During the night enough wet snow built up on the flap of my douboe Rainbow vestibule that it popped the velcro tabs and dumped the wet snow into my shoes. The were clear full of snow.

David and I were in our Mountain Hardware Phantom 30 degree bags. They are nice to carry at just 1#6 oz each but not winter bags by any means. With our thermals on and stocking caps we found the temperature rating to be accurate and passed the night in relative comfort though it took me a while to warm up when if first got in the bag. I had my down jacket with me that I could have worn to bed as needed but it spent the night doing pillow duty.

It took 5 hours to do the 4 miles or so from camp to camp.

Thursday--Day4

Morning brought partly cloudy skies and by noon the snow was mostly melted and we had our gear dried out and packed for the day of hiking. I got up early to take some pictures of the morning sun and clouds on the dramatic granite peaks of the South Fork cirque. During the morning the kids did some fishing while the adults mostly sat on the rocks and worked on drying gear. By the time we took off for Valentine Lake it was warm and a very pleasant day for hiking.

When we passed Helmut Lake and Holster Lake came into view we left the faint trail and turned uphill to the northeast to look for the lake above and the unofficial trail down to Valentine. There was no trail on the maps but I knew that there was one there. We saw the first lake but got only glimpses of Valentine Lake as we bypassed it and descended the long and mostly smooth switchbacks to the crossing of the South Fork of the Little Wind River. This turned out to be the only stream crossing all week that we were unable to rock-hop across. Everyone but Ben crossed with some sort of water shoe but his were buried in the bottom of his pack so he crossed bare footed.

On the far side of the crossing we stopped for snacks and to do one of the reinforcing exercises related to the leadership principles for the Kodiak course.

Beyond the stream crossing we descended down the valley for a couple of miles before turning uphill again to climb to Grave Lake. At the outlet of Grave Lake we crossed the only bridge that we saw all week. We were all tired again by the time we reached the lake. I compounded the fatigue by choosing the trail along the rocky shore which required climbing over boulders and it took the last bit of energy out of many of us. If I had chosen the upper trail we would have found a nice trail right along the base of the cliffs of Pilot Knob.

At the extreme north end of Grave Lake we found plenty of level tent sites above the trail and set up camp. It was good to be home for the night.

We got the boys together for the third leadership commission. They were all anxious to go fish but we made them suffer through it before they could take off. The kids that were fishing pulled out their poles as soon as they were set up and the adults with poles quickly followed suit when the boys started pulling in 15-20 inch trout. We watched one lake trout cruising the shallows that was clearly the largest wild trout I have ever seen. He was easily 24 inches long.

Friday, Day 5

This turned out to be my favorite day of hiking. The day started with a bit of a climb from our camp at Grave lake. I expected a more gradual climb along the inlet stream but we started with switchbacks up the east side of the drainage. We had to rock-hop one stream at the top of that first climb. Dennis wanted to take a side trip of about 1 3/4 miles (one way) up to Baptiste Lake but most of us were more concerned with the required mileage for the day. At this point of the trip I was starting to worry about how my feet were holding up and David had a pretty sore knee. We later talked to two guys who had spent the night at Baptiste and said that they were the only two up there and raved about the beauty of the place. Oh well, there is always next year.

As we approached the mouth of the valley leading up to Hailey Pass we had one more rock-hop. We got across the stream with no difficulty and no wet feet. This was one of the prettiest spots of the trip and I could spend days there fishing the stream and photographing Mount Hooker and the surrounding peaks. We stopped for a 20 minute break here to rest up and to take some pictures. I would really like to make this spot a camp site on a future trip along with a night at Baptiste Lake. (The lower end of course-below the reservation boundary)

From the mouth of the canyon to the last steep climb up Hailey Pass it was a gradual upward grade requiring no stops to rest. When we hit the last 700 vertical feet it was a different matter. The steep part started with a snow field right below an impressive granite peak. There was a second snow field higher up but most of the climb was on a narrow switch-backing path worn into the loose scree. Being in the lead, I insisted on three short, gasping stops along the way. From the top the view wasn't as scenic as Jack Ass Pass but I found the scenery down the other side to have the kind of stark, alpine beauty that I love. From the top you could see both of the Twin Lakes which were still about half iced over. The streamlets winding through the polished granite on the valley bottom and the jagged granite of the sides created a wild and simple beauty.

As we approached the bottom of the descent there started to be some trees and a little less rock. We soon hit Maes Lake and continued on the trail down to the outlet and just beyond. We set up camp on a point of land between a small inlet stream and the outlet. There we battled mosquitoes until bed time. This night was the coldest of the trip, dropping down to 30 deg F. There was frost all over everything and Dennis had ice on both the insideof the tent from frozen condensation and on the outside from frost. This kept the mosquitoes at bay until about the time we started the last day's hike.

Dennis and a couple of the boys climbed the ridge to the west of us and had some beautiful views of the East Fork Valley and it's surrounding peaks. They also got good cell reception and checked on things at home and reassured parents that all were healthy and happy.

Saturday--Day 6

We packed everything a little damp from the not yet dried frost and set the record for departure time-getting away just after 8:30. David and I got a little head start on the others because his knee was slowing him down some on the steep up and down parts of the trail. The others caught up with us at about the 4-5 mile point of the hike. The hike was the longest of the trip but we were confident everyone would make it as we were hiking downhill with light packs. It was a 12-13 mile day and everyone agreed that the last 1 1/2 miles were their least favorite part of the trip and the longest miles ever hiked. There were several open parks along the way that made the hiking a little hot and sweaty as there was no cloud cover. This was the only day of the entire trip without at least a little rain.

Dennis and I had talked about letting the boys go ahead of us once we reached about the 3 mile mark. So at a rest break I caught his eye and asked "Is it time?" He replied that he agreed and I announced to the boys that they didn't have to wait for the old man and if they wanted they could head for the truck. If they went ahead of us they had to stay as a group and not string out along the trail. They jumped at the opportunity and took off. But after they left they started talking and those who had witnessed the exchange between Dennis and I were sure that we knew of a shortcut and would be waiting fo them at the truck when they got there. There was, however, no shortcut and they got to the trailhead 20 minutes ahead of us.

At the trailhead the padded seat of Dennis' truck felt like a little bit of heaven. After resting my feet for a few minutes it was time to grab the clean clothes that we had left in the truck and head for a refreshing, no soap bath in the river.

After $130 worth of pizza at Rock Springs it was on to home at about 9:30 that night where my daughter assured me that my bath in the cold river had been inadequate.

It was a great trip. I was already dreaming about possiblities for next year's trip on the way home. I don't know how many years this aging body will haul me into the high country. But as long as it will I have to go.

August 2008

Beartooths 2008
I am two weeks back from my backpacking trip to the Beartooth Mountains. It was a grand adventure!
Planning for the trip started over a year ago. Because of everything else going on last summer I did not make it to the mountains for a backpacking trip but had to settle for a quick three day trip to Coyote Gulch in southern Utah last October. For over a year now I have been looking at maps, viewing the intended route on Google Earth and asking questions on internet forums and via email. In the over 32 miles and 5100 feet of elevation gain in 5 days I did not look at the maps once to determine our route. I already knew the route as well as I could without actually hiking it. We consulted the maps almost daily after we got to camp to help my partner visualize where we were and where we had been but did not need them to find our way.
A friend who had been with me on our trip to the Beartooths in 2006 had been planning to go with me for over a year. About a month before the trip he informed me that he was too swamped with work to be able to go. My son Craig had decided that he could not get away from work or his computer class and my other sons were tied up with work and family obligations. I began to frantically search for a partner while trying to convince my wife that if I rented a satellite phone I could go by myself. Finally, 2 weeks before the trip, I talked with a patient at work who said that he would love to go and he would check with his wife. He called me back a couple of days later to say that he had clearance from his wife and that he would like to take Cory, his 14 year old son. Normally I would hesitate to take a 14 year-old on a trip like this but Scott said that Cory had climbed the Grand Teton with him last summer. Cory was a little slow on the uphill grinds but was a strong hiker and never stopped. Scott had a heavy pack to take some of Cory’s load but he was Super Man. He is in very good shape and I don’t know if he even got tired. I proved to be the limiting factor but was pleased with how well I did. I had worked to get ready and at elevation still only found myself sucking air a few times on the really steep stretches.
Day 1
Wanting to get some miles behind us on the first day we left home at 4:30 AM. Scott picked me up right on time. We made good time but missed the turn towards West Yellowstone at Idaho Falls and had had to take Highway 33 over to Rexburg. We stopped for gas in West Yellowstone and stopped at a fly shop to get me a filter bottle. Scott and Cory both had filter bottles and I figured if I got one I could leave the water filter in the car. As it turned out Scott threw his filter in his pack anyway. The filter bottle still saved us from having to stop to frequently filter water along the way.
We had a 15 minute delay between Yellowstone and Cooke City for construction and arrived at the Clarks Fork Trailhead at 11:40. We were met as we got out of our car and told not to leave any food in the car as they had been having problems with a bear that was breaking into cars. We were on the trail and headed out by 12:20.
We wanted to get at least to Russell Lake for the first night but knew that it may be crowded so we thought that we would go beyond if time and energy would allow it. The first 4 miles were through thick forest and though pretty it could only be described as tedious. Russell lake was only 6 miles away and 600-700 feet above the trailhead but with all of the ups and downs it was 1200 feet of climbing.
The mosquitoes were as bad as I have ever had to deal with for the full trip but were especially thick for the first 4 miles. At one point I think that Scott must have had 2-3 per square inch on his one shoulder. 100% DEET worked well and we frequently wore our head nets. I ate a few along the way and I am sure that I inhaled more than one of them.
Along the lower portion of this trail we saw some bear scat and a decayed log that had been rolled over and torn apart. It was the only sign of bears we saw for the entire trip until we saw two bears while driving through Yellowstone on our way home.
After the first 4 miles we entered a narrow, steep, granite canyon. Russell Creek flows through the canyon and there were many beautiful waterfalls and cascades along the way. The beauty of the stream and the many cascades helped to ease the work of the climb. The cascades right below the outlet of Russell Lake were especially stunning.
It took us until 5:00 PM to get to Russell Lake. I was ready for a good rest. Cory said that we had gone far enough and I wasn’t going to argue though I thought that after a rest perhaps we could have made it a little farther. I knew that there were switchbacks coming up though so we stayed at Russell Lake. It was crowded there. There must have been 20 tents along the east and north side of the lake. On the way back out on Friday we didn’t see a single tent at Russell Lake.
We found a place to squeeze our tents in and proceeded to fix supper. After supper we cleaned up and hung the food bags from the bear pole. We fought mosquitoes until dark and then I found out that the batteries on my headlight were not very strong and that the light was not bright enough to read by.
As I laid in my tent thinking about how tired I was after a “short” day I began to wonder if my backpacking days were coming to an end. My age seemed to be catching up with me. My feet hurt and my thighs felt like rubber. Perhaps I wasn’t even going to be able to do all that I had planned for this trip. I knew that the elevation gain from the trailhead wasn’t much. I didn’t know how much climbing we had really done for the day. After getting home and tracing the route out on my Topo program I found out that we had done 1200 feet of climbing. It is still not a lot but considerably more that the 600 feet overall gain.
We had just a little light rain that evening but the sky was clear and blue the next morning. There were only two times on the entire trip where we had to duck into the tents to seek shelter from the rain. On days that weren’t overcast we were wishing that it was to give us some shelter from the hot sun.
Day 2
The fun begins! It was 9:00 the next morning before we got breakfast over with and got packed up to hit the trail. Cory needed a little prodding in the mornings to get him going. For breakfast we had Pina Colada Rice--instant rice with sugar, powdered milk, shredded coconut and dried pineapple. Immediately after leaving Russell Lake we hit the switch backs. It was a pretty long climb to a beautiful, green, hanging valley. The valley had a winding stream, pretty meadows and lots of wild flowers. There were some very promising camping sites along this valley-especially in the lower end. The wild flowers really started in this valley and were wonderful the entire trip but we were still a week or two early for the peak display of color. With the cold, late spring things were not in full bloom yet.
It was in this valley that we passed a group of four women all at least 10 years older than me who were backpacking together. I decided that perhaps my problem wasn’t so much my age as my lack of conditioning. Scott isn’t that much younger than me and he never seemed tired on the entire trip. There is no question that he is in much better shape than me.
We also passed a Venturing crew from Minnesota out for a high adventure activity. We also saw them at Fossil Lake but I don’t think that they went beyond there.
At the far end of the hanging valley was another set of switchbacks up the east side of the valley through a boulder field. The trail crews had done a good job of constructing the trail through there so it was challenging because of the climb but not treacherous because of the rocks. At the end of the switchbacks we came to Ouzel Lake. Ouzel is a stunning little lake sitting at the base of a rounded granite peak falling directly to lake edge on the far side. One quarter mile further along we came to Bald Knob Lake. Another lovely lake but this one with some open shore line on 3 sides and some possible camping sites. We stopped at Russell for a break and some snacks. I had plenty of snacks along but it seemed that Scott could have supplied an entire scout troop. No wonder his pack was so heavy.
At Bald Knob we had our first stream crossing without a bridge and it was a little tricky getting across without wading. From there things opened up with fewer and fewer trees and a continuous, gradual climb. We saw Fizzle Lake off to the west, knowing that we would be passing Fizzle in a few days on our way back to the trail after several days of off-trail hiking. We crossed the summit of the East Rosebud trail and arrived at Fossil Lake by 12:30 where we stopped for lunch. It was here that we crossed our first snow field. We also ran into a group of three guys who had been on the trail for three days to get to this point. They said that it was really killing them. They were from Orlando and the elevation was really hard on them.
We went out onto one of the peninsulas where I found the shade of a boulder to have lunch. There was lots of exposed granite and lots of remaining snow banks. It is a stark, imposing landscape. Lunch lasted about 45 minutes and then it was time to move on. We knew that we had a few more miles and some challenges yet ahead of us for the day.
After lunch we started down the trail again feeling somewhat refreshed. About 30 minutes beyond Fossil I began looking for where we would leave the trail to go to Oly Lake. We actually left the trail prior to the point that I had planned on but as we began to lose altitude I began looking for a route that would avoid dropping down lower. We took a rather gradual climb up to a saddle that was almost directly across the canyon south of Oly. From there we dropped down a steep, grassy slope to the canyon bottom and started looking for a way to cross the outlet stream and stay dry. I managed to find a rock-hop that was easy until the last jump. I was a little worried about making the leap with my pack on so I took it off and swung it over to the far side. It was then an easy jump. I made my way up stream and then through a rock field and up a steep slope to the lake. By the time I got to the top I was breathing hard, hot, and in dire need of a drink. Meanwhile Scott had gone up the outlet and found a way across the stream near the top. The outlet is almost a waterfall so it was a very steep climb for him as well. He called to Cory to come up the same way and he did. But Cory ended up with wet boots when he crossed.
It was then around the east end of the lake, a climb up over a knoll at the lake edge and we stayed high to go up into the glaciated valley above Oly. We didn’t go very far as we found a nice place to camp on the north side of the first tarn that we came to. We pulled into camp at about 3:30 PM. This was to be home for the next two nights. The valley floor was relatively flat with lots of smooth granite and a stream wandering and cascading down the valley. There were a few trees on the slopes above the valley floor. At the far end of the valley was a cascade of several hundred feet as the outlet of Billy and Cairn Lakes tumbled down the steep slope. In spite of the continual roaring of the stream as it dropped down the slope below camp to Oly there remained a stillness to this place. In the two days that we were there we did not see anyone else though the next day we would meet a group from Iowa up at Cairn Lake. The valley floor had more of the tundra vegetation while the slopes had colorful expanses of wild flowers. There were patches at the bottoms of the slopes that had obviously just lost their blankets of snow and the plants were just starting to push through the soil surface.

Day 3
This morning we were a little anxious to get started as we wanted to get to the lakes above to do some fishing. Still, we didn’t get away from camp until 9:00 AM. After a steep climb of several hundred feet we arrived at Billy Lake. I laid claim to the spot out on the end of the little peninsula that Swimswithtrout had pointed out on a map as the place that he fished. The fishing was hot for a half hour or so and then slowed suddenly. Scott out-fished me by a large margin but I managed to land a few. We had been turning loose everything we caught and decided that we had better keep the next few for supper. The brookies at this lake were definitely the biggest I had seen. We were catching quite a few that were over 12 inches and knew that the lake held even bigger fish. We stashed 3 fish in a snow bank for later retrieval and headed up to explore and fish Cairn Lake. There were no trees in this glacial cirque-only rocks, snow, wind and water.
On the moraine at the east end of Cairn was a group of three tents. Four guys from Iowa were camped there. They reported that they had experience very off and on fishing there with the good periods being quite good. They had come over the top of the ridge from Sky Tops but planned on going down to Oly to return up the canyon from there.
By now the sun was heating up and I was looking for shade. My search was in vain and I ended up waiting for the clouds to move in while I read a book. Cory tried for a while to catch some more fish but the water was like glass and was not about to release any fish to our group.
By 4:00 PM we were back in our tents waiting for a rain shower to pass so that we could fix supper. It soon abated and we fought the mosquitoes for our supper. Afterwards I hiked up the valley and found a peaceful spot to sit, relax and soak in the beauty around me. There was a bit of a breeze so the mosquitoes were not quite as bad as they had been but I still made frequent use of my head net.
After a brief but moderate rain shower Scott said that he and Cory were going down to Oly Lake to do some fishing. I told him that I would hike down in a bit to watch. After they left I thought that I remembered something about the lake. I pulled out my RMS map of the Beartooths (kindly sent to me by Hikerjer) and sure enough, there were no species of trout listed for Oly Lake. After Scott returned he announced that he didn’t think that there were any fish in the lake as not only did they not catch any fish but they hadn’t seen a single fish rise. I was able to confirm their suspicions. Scott claimed that I hadn’t come down because I knew all along that there were no fish in the lake. He was right--kind of.
Supper was mountain spaghetti and poached trout. The spaghetti was OK but perhaps not something that I will repeat. It was an easy dish though and one that I will keep on the list.
I had experienced just a little condensation in my Tarptent Double Rainbow the night before so this night I opened up one side of one of the awnings and experienced no condensation at all while Scott had a pretty wet inner surface to his rain fly.
While hiking up the valley I hiked up on the slope on the north side and found the only mountain goat that we saw on the trip. Under the overhang of a boulder there was a pile of goal hair, a jaw bone and a piece of the skull with one horn attatched and the remants of the other horn. It was interesting to speculate on how he met his end.
Day 4
The real fun begins! This was the day that I had been anticipating and worrying a little about. I knew that we would experience some rock-hopping and challenges in route finding. The route finding challenges were not the sort that could get you lost but were more along the line of finding our way through the jumble of rocks and ridges. I had sent an email to SWT asking some questions and expressing some concern and he had reassured me that it was doable and not all that tough but would take some time.
The day before I had checked out the route over the ridge just above Oly Lake and found that getting into the canyon we wanted was really very easy. Working our way up the canyon we found that the first half mile was also easy and pleasant as the north side of the stream was mostly a moderate, grassy slope. But then we came to the crux of the canyon. The canyon narrowed down to about 25 feet wide and was blocked across the entire width by a deep snow bridge with the stream running under it. With just a little anxiety about the stability of the bridge we went up the side next to the rocks and over the top. On the far side we found the entire width of the canyon to be filled by the stream. Along the side however, there were enough rocks to rock-hop up to dry land. We traversed two more snow bridges before the canyon opened up before us into a broad, jagged bowl filled with ponds, boulders and rocky ridges. We hadn’t seen anyone for a day or so and this day was again a day of no contact with other hikers which made the scene more wild and magnificent.
We made excellent time through this upper bowl. This was due to good luck in route finding and being able to go up snow covered slopes that may have been otherwise impassable. On one high, steep slope which I felt was not something that we should try we climbed up a rocky point for the first 2/3 of the climb and then onto the snow and over the top for the remaining 1/3. The hot sun had softened the snow to the point that it was rather easily done. This ridge turned out to be the last major obstacle before the top. From here it was must a matter of crossing minor rocky ridges and snow fields. I stayed to the rocks a fair amount in an effort to keep my feet dry. It really didn’t matter. My feet got good and wet and the remaining hike for that day was pretty short anyway.
The last low ridge at the top put us over the lip and into the Sky Tops Basin. We passed by only the lower lake but the brief visit made me want to return to explore the granite maze of the basin. On the south end of the lake was another snow field that looked steeper than it really was and dropped abruptly into the icy lake with an undercut edge. It was just intimidating enough that we undid the straps on our packs before we crossed in case of a slip into the dark, frigid waters of the lake.
We easily passed around the end of the lake without incident and faced the climb down to Rough Lake. On Google Earth and pictures this appears as a forbidding obstacle. SWT had assured me however that it was really not that bad and totally a doable thing. It required some care through the rocks but I found that the biggest risk was in crossing a few patches of bare dirt up high on the really steep part where the risk of slipping was the greatest. Once to the lake edge we hiked through a few more sizable but rapidly melting show fields until we reached the peninsula on the east side. This was camp. We had made the trip from Oly in just 3 hours and 40 minutes. We had been lucky in our route choice through the rocky labyrinth and the snow made some of the climbs easier than climbing over bare rock and rubble.
The tents were quickly put up and water filtered. The other two decided to try their hand at some fishing while I relaxed and did a little reading. I fixed some lunch. It was here that we had the only prepared lunch of the trip. It was Thai Peanut Rice (recipe compliments of BP forums) and was pretty good. After lunch the others headed out for fishing again. I decided to hike down to Lone Elk lake and check out the hills between the two lakes. They followed me down to fish down there as my understanding was that the fish down there were bigger. They did not find this to be the case and caught only very small brook trout. While hiking I saw three tents on a bench above Lone Elk’s inlet on the north west end and a single tent tucked between ridges at the south end of Rough.
About the time that we got back from our exploring and fishing it started clouding up pretty good. We hurried and boiled some water for the Mountain House (used for two nights on this trip) and got supper over with. Just as we were finishing the clean-up (1930) it started to rain. We dove for the tents and I got out my book to read. It was dark before the rain started to let up. I was wanting to open the awnings for some breeze and looked out at about 11:00 PM and I could see a few stars peeking through the clouds. A half hour later they had disappeared again so I kept things pretty well shut up and in storm mode for the rest of the night. The next morning I got out the small sponge that I carry and wiped of the roof of my Double Rainbow. It was nowhere wet enough to drip or run--just a little damp.
The next morning the sky was clear and blue and it was time to move towards the trailhead. I was ready to sleep in my bed, more than ready for a hot shower and looked forward to a meal without mosquitoes. But I was rather reluctant to drop back down into the trees. I was anxious to see my family. I do well on the trail but during my down-time I tend to miss my family on these trips. I had a grandson (my first grandchild) who was just a day and a half old when I left home and a daughter-in-law who was still having some post-op problems last I heard. Even still, I was reluctant to leave this setting that I had planned and dreamed about for the last year.
We climbed the steep slope above camp and started working our way through another confusion or rocks, ridges and ponds. Route finding was easy though as we merely had to let gravity take us to the low ground and we soon found our way into a long, grassy and lovely valley. As we got lower the wild flowers got thicker with a profusion of yellow and reds with just a few blue tones thrown in. We soon crossed the outlet of No Bones Lake and found ourselves looking down on Fizzle Lake. After an easy climb around the southwest shore we descended the outlet. We were slowed by our futile efforts to photograph and preserve the dazzling display of blooms.
We got down to the stream crossing at Bald Knob and found the rock hop back was a little trickier than it was in the other direction. I lunged from a log up onto the biggest rock in the chain and just about lost it. I was waving arms and lurching about but finally regained my balance enough to propel myself to the next rock and on across. Cory didn’t do quite so well as he ended up with another set of wet boots. We hiked on down to Ouzel where we took a break and Cory wiped out his boots and found some dry socks in his pack.
The hike on down to Russell Lake was delightful. It was a little cloudy which helped to keep us cool and the scenery was magnificent. After quickly hiking the hanging valley above Russell it was on to the switch backs down to the lake. I honestly didn’t remember them seeming as long on the way up as they did on the way down. At the inlet stream it was time to sit on a log for a few minutes and refill our water bottles. From there it was all down hill-both literally and figuratively.
We had dropped down out of the alpine splendor that I love and into the forest. With every step my feet seemed to hurt more and the mosquitoes got thicker. The air traffic controller of the mosquito world had his hands full that day. Our goal for the day was to get to Fox Lake to get us within easy striking distance of the trailhead for an earlier start for home on Saturday. We took the fork in the trail towards Fox and quickly found ourselves steeply descending into a mosquito infested hell. We located what seemed to be the best camp site with a nearby bear pole and enough standing dead trees to wipe out Patton’s 5th Army if the wind should blow. We hesitated in setting up camp though it was starting to rain. It was only 3:00 PM and we seemed doomed to spend the rest of the day in our tents hiding from the mosquitoes. Finally I proposed to Scott that we go on to the trailhead and look for a shower. The next 4 miles seemed to go on forever with their rock strewn ups and downs. I survived somehow and we were soon driving through Yellowstone and getting stuck in the traffic jams at critter sightings. A stop for Pizza in Rexburg and then on to a welcome hot shower and soft bed at about 12:30 AM.
My feet hurt so bad for the next couple of days that it was almost two days before I began planning next years trip. I enjoyed this trip so much that I wouldn’t mind doing it all again but I think that I will look for new sights. Perhaps into Aero Lakes, over to Rough and day-hike up to spend a day exploring Sky Tops Basin instead of merely passing through the lower end. The planning and dreaming will help get me through the long dark days of winter.
A special thanks to all on the Backpacker Forums who answered my many questions and provided encouragement-especially SWT and Hikerjer. Thanks to Scott for saving my trip and thus saving my summer by being my hiking partner. Thanks to my wife for letting me escape every summer and enjoy the majesty of the high country. Thanks to God and the majesty of his works.