LIMESTONE

We finished off our backpacking trip to Stough Creek Basin with cold beers in the parking lot at Worthen Meadow Reservoir. While we were enjoying our refreshment, we started discussing our options going forward. Two days earlier, we thought Christy might need to go to the hospital when we got out. She felt a little better on the hike out, but she was far from fully recovered. Our original plan would’ve required driving from Lander, on the southeast side of the Wind River Range, all the way to Green River Lakes, on the northwest side. Then we would start a backpacking trip the next morning. When I originally planned the trip, this seemed realistic. Now? Not so much.

We decided that showers and food would help us make better decisions. We drove back into Lander and stopped at the Lander Aquatic Center, where we paid $5 each for showers. Afterwards we had dinner at a Mexican restaurant. Over dinner, we decided to push our next backpacking trip back a couple of days. Christy thought that another day or two of rest would help her recover. This meant having to cut something out of our original trip plan. What should go? The obvious choice was a 3 day backpacking trip from Green River Lakes to Slide Lake, with a side trip up Lost Eagle Peak. I had squeezed that trip into the agenda shortly before the trip, so obviously it should be the first to go. Except….I was really excited about that one. In fact, we both were. Ultimately, we decided to take a couple of easy days and start the backpacking trip to Slide Lake on Monday, two days late. We’d sort out the rest of the trip later.

Since we weren’t driving all the way to Green River Lakes, we needed a place to camp for the evening. I was concerned about that, as it was a Friday evening. I thought about heading out to the Sweetwater River, camping, and then hiking to Sweetwater Gap on Saturday while Christy relaxed. That’s a 14 mile round trip hike though, and I wasn’t all that enthusiastic about the idea. I decided to message my friend Dave and ask for suggestions. He has lived in Lander for almost a year, and has become an expert on places to car camp and dayhike in the area.

He replied immediately. He suggested that we drive up to Limestone Mountain, as it has many great car camping spots. He also suggested a dayhike. That sounded ideal, as Limestone Mountain was only a 30 minute drive. We finished dinner, picked up groceries, and headed out of town. We turned off the highway onto a good dirt road, and then turned onto a decent dirt road. We followed that one up Limestone Mountain, passing many, many occupied campsites along the way. This area is a popular rock climbing area. We drove on up to the summit, and passed some communication towers and a nice, vacant site in a meadow. It was tempting, but we were hoping for a spot where we could hang our hammocks. We continued ahead on a rocky road that grew rougher as we continued north. We reached a fork, and eyed an even rougher road heading down into the woods. That looked promising for hammocking, so we headed that way – very slowly. We stopped once to scout, but camping there wasn’t appealing. A bit farther on we found an established campsite with convenient trees. We arrived in time to set up before dark. We missed sunset, per se, but were treated to beautiful, colorful clouds above our campsite.

I woke at first light and enjoyed a lovely sunrise from my hammock. After breakfast, we packed up and drove back down the mountain. We parked at a large, busy trailhead west of the Limestone Mountain Massif. Christy was feeling better, so she decided to join me for a short hike that Dave recommended. We hiked through the parking lot, ducked under a split rail fence, and picked up a trail. We followed it west, up a ridge. It led us to an area of impressive rock slabs with views to the north and west. We found our way down from those rocks, and explored the base of the cliffs. From there we continued west and joined a good dirt road. We followed it west until we reached a side road that Dave had marked. We followed that road north, out to the edge of the escarpment. There we wandered along the plateau, exploring rock outcrops and enjoying the views. Eventually we headed back to the busy parking area. Incredibly, we’d had the entire hike completely to ourselves!

We had lunch at the car, and discussed our options. I was eager to hike back up Limestone Mountain. We had camped up there the previous night, but from where we were, a hike would lead to areas much farther north along the plateau. Christy was feeling ok, but didn’t want to overdo it. She set up her hammock for an afternoon of relaxation. While she was resting, I crossed the road and started up a gated dirt road. The road became a trail, but the hiking was easy as the path contoured along the side of the mountain. Eventually the trail ended, and there was a small backhoe at the end of the trail. This really was a new trail! From there, I continued on the same course, hiking cross country. I headed up more steeply though, as I wanted to reach the plateau. Once on top, I continued north and then around the west side of an impressive cliff. I found some rock climbers there. I thought about traversing around the west side of those cliffs, but the only plausible route would have required passing right under the rock climbers. I suppose I could have done that, but decided against it. Instead, I thought I’d try the east side.

I circled around to the east side and quickly realized that wasn’t the way to go. Instead of doubling-back to the rock climbing area, I decided to hike through the grassy meadow to the actual summit. I walked along the top of some impressive cliffs, and noted an interesting bench directly below. I thought that might be an interesting return route. I even passed a couple of breaks in the cliffs that led down to that bench. I continued up to the summit though, enjoying vast views of the Wind River Range the whole way. The wind was howling, so I didn’t linger on the summit. I thought about doubling back and dropping down to that bench, but from the summit I spotted a trail in the next gap to the south. It headed down the mountain towards my starting point. I headed that way and picked up the trail. It provided a quick, easy hike back down to the car. For once, I made it back from a hike way ahead of schedule!

It was only mid-afternoon, and I seriously considered finishing the day exploring the rim of Red Canyon. However, it was hot and sunny, and that side of Red Canyon would be in the sun for hours. Instead, we decided to start the drive to Green River Lakes. The next time we are in the area, we’ll explore the rim of Red Canyon in the morning.

We took back roads to Pinedale. Google Maps was very unhappy with this decision, but we stubbornly pressed on. We were rewarded with some fun dirt road driving and great views of the Wind River Range from the west side. We drove through Pinedale, and then north up towards Green River Lakes. This road wasn’t nearly as bad as I remembered it. Either the road is better, or I just thought it was terrible because we got a flat tire on it once before.

Our tentative plan was to look for a campsite along the way. We passed many, many campsites. A hundred? Two hundred? Who knows? All of them were occupied. We saw a few places that could have worked in a pinch, but nothing worth stopping for. This continued all the way to the Green River Lakes Campground. There were several open campsites there, surprisingly. Apparently most people in Wyoming prefer to camp for free? Can you blame them?

We found a really nice campsite with good trees for our hammocks and views of Osborn Mountain across the valley. The mosquitoes were awful, but that is to be expected in July. We gathered firewood and made a smoky fire, which helped considerably. We slept well that night, eager to hike the next day.

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