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The 2020 pandemic nearly derailed our summer trip.  Early on, we weren’t sure if we would be able to travel at all.  Travel restrictions eventually relaxed, but there were still challenges.  Originally, we planned to fly to Seattle and spend four weeks hiking, camping, and backpacking in Oregon and Washington.  That trip had four primary components:

 

1)    The U.S. Olympic Track & Field Trials in Eugene, Oregon.  One of Christy’s former high school cross country runners was scheduled to compete.

2)    A weekend of Phish concerts (3 nights!) at the Gorge Amphitheatre in George, Washington.

3)    A chance to visit good friends in Bainbridge Island, Washington.

4)    A 7-day backpacking trip in the northern part of Mount Rainier National Park.  Luckily, we had acquired a permit for a loop trip featuring GREAT campsites each night.

 

Due to the pandemic, the Olympic Trials and Phish concerts were postponed to 2021.  Flying across the country and visiting friends seemed like a questionable idea, at best.  The backpacking trip in Mount Rainier was still an option, but I was concerned about flying across the country and then heading deep into the wilderness.  We had maintained a very low-risk lifestyle throughout the pandemic, leaving home only for essentials.  What if we picked up the virus on the plane, and got sick during the backpacking trip?  The worst-case scenario would be severe illness miles from the nearest road.

 

We decided to scrap the Washington trip and go with something less risky.  We considered all sorts of options.  We wanted a place that we could drive to without any major challenges.  Ideally, we would only visit areas that weren’t touristy or crowded.  Destinations where we would have maximum flexibility to change plans were appealing, too.  Ultimately, we settled on an old reliable – the Wind River Range in Wyoming.  We would spend most of our time backpacking in the wilderness there.  Further, we planned to avoid the most popular areas, like the Cirque of the Towers and Titcomb Basin.  This seemed like the perfect year to check out parts of the Wind River Range that we hadn’t visited previously.

 

We also planned to spend the last few days exploring the Beartooth Mountains in south-central Montana.  That would be an entirely new area for us.  In 2018 we drove the scenic Beartooth Highway, but an early August snowstorm forced us to cancel the one hike we had planned there.

 

Although cancelling the Washington trip was disappointing, I was relieved and thrilled to be able to do any sort of trip at all.  And there is nothing disappointing about having to “settle” for the Wind River Range.  Those mountains offer arguably the best backpacking in the country.

 

 

THE BISCUIT

 

 

Our plan was to spend the first two days (Saturday and Sunday) driving from Charlotte to eastern Wyoming.  Reaching Wyoming by Sunday evening was critical, as that would enable us to begin acclimating to the higher altitude.  Altitude acclimatization is an important consideration with any trip to the Rockies.  Christy always struggles to acclimate.  I seem to adjust faster, but it still takes a week or more before I stop feeling its effects. 

 

We were a little late leaving on Saturday morning.  Our first stop was at Biscuit Head in Asheville for breakfast.  I had planned to eat my breakfast sandwich while driving, but then I got a good look at it.  The biscuit was huge and crumbly.  There was no way I’d be able to eat it while driving.  We got a table outside, which put us even farther behind schedule.

 

Our biscuits were so massive, they became a running joke.  We think we fully digested them before the end of the trip, but we can’t be certain about that.

 

Originally, we had planned to stop and do a quick hike to Ozone Falls in Tennessee along the way.  It would only add a few minutes of driving, and it would provide a great opportunity to stretch our legs.  However, we were so far behind schedule that we decided to skip it.

 

Most of the drive out was reasonably pleasant, aside from a traffic jam in Knoxville.  Also, there was some excitement on the first day.  Christy was driving on I-24 north of Nashville when a truck ahead of us had a tire blow out.  Large chunks of tire went everywhere.  Christy made some quick maneuvers, swerving onto the shoulder to avoid the pieces of tire.  Whew!

 

My plan for Saturday evening was to camp at the Whetstone Creek Natural Area in central Missouri.  Camping is allowed there, and it is free!  However, as we approached the area, it was still 89 degrees.  It was nearly sunset, but the temperature hadn’t dropped much from its afternoon high.  I checked the hourly forecast, and it wasn’t expected to get below 80 until midnight.  The forecasted low was only 75.  Christy and I like it cool at night, and we can’t really sleep if the temperature is much over 70.  Our plan was to go to bed early and get up early Sunday morning.  That wouldn’t work in those temperatures.

 

I booked a free room at the Staybridge Suites in Columbia, Missouri.  Columbia was only another 30 minutes or so down the highway.  Before we checked in, we picked up dinner at Noodles and Company and took it to the hotel with us.  We checked in and went straight to our room.  After dinner, we took showers and went straight to bed.

 

We got up early the next morning and picked up a free breakfast in the hotel lobby.  After eating we checked out and hit the road.  Sunday’s drive was uneventful.  The highlight was probably crossing the Blackwater and Lamine Rivers in western Missouri.  Both rivers looked pretty, and we even spotted a primitive, free camping area along the Blackwater River below the highway bridge.  It didn’t take long to reach Kansas City, which we passed on the east and north sides.  That was followed by a long, boring drive through northwest Missouri.  We cut through a little corner of Iowa, and stopped at a park in Lincoln, Nebraska for lunch. 

 

We had gotten pizza Friday evening, and had the leftovers for lunch on Saturday and Sunday.  That worked out great, as it was an easy, quick lunch that didn’t require stopping at a restaurant. 

 

 

THE DEVILS PLAYGROUND

 

 

From there, we endured the long, dull drive across Nebraska.  We made it to Cheyenne, Wyoming that evening, and took back roads toward Curt Gowdy State Park, on the eastern edge of the Sherman Mountains.  As we left Cheyenne, we approached a raging, violent thunderstorm.  We drove through hail, heavy rain, and high winds as we passed the park and headed up into the mountains.  We turned off Happy Jack Road, onto Vedauwoo Glen Road into the Pole Mountain Area.  This area features 73 free, official dispersed campsites in the Sherman Mountains between Cheyenne and Laramie.  I first noticed the Sherman Mountains on a previous trip, while driving on I-80.  Checking out that area was one of my initial goals for this trip.

 

The Sherman Mountains are close to the Snowy Range, but very different.  The Snowy Range features classic Wyoming peaks, with alpine lakes, forested hillsides, and impressive summits.  The Sherman Mountains are in a rocky, desert area.  These peaks feature rugged, unusual rock formations and sparse vegetation.

 

We drove to the Devils Playground area, as it looked interesting on the topo map and aerial imagery.  There are also several campsites near there.  All of them were occupied except one, but that one was perfect for us.  It had a few trees, several of which were adequate for hanging hammocks.  The rain passed shortly after we arrived.  We set up camp and Christy cooked a quick meal.  We had time to eat before sunset, which we watched from the hillside above camp.  It was a spectacular show thanks to the lingering clouds from the storm.

 

We slept well that night, despite being at 8,000’ in elevation.  Sometimes those first couple of nights at high altitude are pretty restless.

 

I was confident that the bad weather had passed, so we slept in our hammocks without a tarp.  I woke at first light to rain drops hitting me in the face.  Ugh.  Fortunately, it was just a light passing shower, and we were able to ride it out.  That’s lucky, because our only backup plan was to get in the car.  After the rain passed, I enjoyed some pretty colors in the sky before dozing some more.  Christy happened to look the other direction from her hammock, and caught a double rainbow! 

 

We slept a little longer before I got up and made breakfast.  After eating, we packed up our gear and did a short hike to get a better look at the Devils Playground.  We walked across the hill where we had watched sunset the previous evening.  We descended to a campsite at the base of an impressive outcropping of large boulders.  We hiked around it, and Christy even climbed part of the way up through a boulder maze on the back side.  Apparently there is a way to reach the top – we spotted someone up there later on – but an obvious route was not apparent. 

 

Instead we continued northwest along a ridge, towards Middle Crow Creek and Reynolds Hill.  Before long we encountered a barbed wire fence.  We followed it until we found a place to cross, then continued to another area of rock outcroppings.  From there we enjoyed views of Reynolds Hill and Turtle Rock. 

 

We headed back from there, returning to our campsite in time for lunch.  That afternoon we started the drive towards Lander, Wyoming and the southeastern end of the Wind River Range.

 

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