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.
