COWBOY UP

I got up before sunrise on Friday hoping to see some alpenglow on the cliffs across Brooks Lake. A steep but easy walk from the campsite brought me to the lakeshore. It turns out that I got up way too early. There were some nice clouds at first light, but no alpenglow to speak of. After waiting a bit I walked back up to the campsite. I had some coffee and read a book while waiting for Christy and Jackson to get up.

It was almost an hour later when I noticed some nice color on the cliffs. I hurried back down to the lakeshore for more photos. The color was nice, but not spectacular. I’m guessing that the big mountains to the east mute the alpenglow.

Christy and Jackson got up shortly after I returned to camp. We packed up and headed for Dubois, as I had promised Christy breakfast at Cowboy Café. Our history with Cowboy Café goes back 26 years. In September of 1999 we made our first trip to Wyoming, spending a week with friends backpacking on the east side of the Wind River Range. Afterwards, we spent the night in Lander before heading back to the airport in Jackson the next day. That last morning, we stopped in DuBois for breakfast. We ended up at the Cowboy Café – probably because it was the only option back in 1999. It was FANTASTIC. Legendary, even. Was our opinion of the food skewed a bit since we had just finished a long backpacking trip? Probably.

In 2003 we found ourselves camping at Colter Bay in Grand Teton National Park. We had a rest day, with no plan for breakfast. Spontaneously we decided to drive all the way to DuBois. That visit was disappointing. Had they gone downhill, or were our expectations inflated?

Fast forward to our current trip. A couple of days earlier, while I was hiking, Christy had lunch at Noon Rock Pizza in DuBois. While chatting with the waitress, Christy mentioned that we hadn’t been in DuBois since our last visit to the Cowboy Café, over 20 years ago. The waitress said, “it has probably been that long since they mopped the floor in there.” Is there anything better than a little friendly trash talk between employees at rival restaurants?

That evening, Christy expressed interest in trying Cowboy Café again. At the time I didn’t think that it would fit into our schedule. However, we had to drive back through DuBois and Lander to get to the trailhead for our first backpacking trip. Stopping for breakfast would make it faster and easier to pack up, since we wouldn’t have to prepare breakfast, cook it, eat it, clean up, and pack everything up. That made it easy for me to talk myself into it.

We broke camp fairly early, thanks to the extra motivation that comes from hunger. The Cowboy Café was busy, but there was no wait. The restaurant, and the menu, seemed fancier than I recalled, but it had been 22 years, and my memory is terrible. The good news is that the breakfast was fantastic again. Two out of three ain’t bad.

That leads to the obvious question – should we risk another visit in the future, or quit while we are ahead?

We drove to Lander, and Christy dropped me and Jackson off at the playground at Lander City Park. She went to Safeway for the groceries we needed for the backpacking trip and then picked us back up. Then we got an oil change before stopping at Wind River Outdoor Company for a few necessities.

The biggest necessity was a water bag. I have a gravity filter, which requires a bag to hold the “dirty” unfiltered water and a bag to catch the clean water. When I was packing for the trip I made a mistake. I packed a bunch of little things in the bear canister to save space. One of those little things was an aerosol can of bug spray. I just dropped the can in there, instead of putting it in a ziplock. This is a mistake that I have made before. I’m not a slow learner, I’m a non-learner. Sure enough, the can discharged somewhere along the way, spraying DEET on everything inside the bear cannister. Lovely.

I was able to clean the bear cannister and most of the contents, but there was one casualty. The plastic bag that I used to collect water to filter had melted. It was not salvageable. I actually had another water bladder that would work, but I would need to replace it with something to hold clean water.

The gear store only had a couple of options, and the cheapest was $38. $38 for a plastic bag. I grumbled a bit about that, but it wasn’t really optional.

After shopping we stopped at the Gannett Grill for lunch. I had intended to go to Cowfish, but they aren’t open for lunch for some reason. Gannett Grill was good, too. Yay, more food!

I had planned a 3 day backpacking trip to Silas Canyon on the southeast side of the Wind River Range. My plan was to load my pack with the gear and food Friday night. I would get up early Saturday morning and hike to Upper Silas Lake and set up camp. We would spend two days there, and hike to Island Lake on our layover day. After setting up camp, I’d hike back to the trailhead. Then we would hike back to Upper Silas Lake together. On Monday, we would reverse the process. This plan meant that I would hike the trail six times.

The most challenging part of this plan was the logistics. It required us to camp at Fiddlers Lake Friday night, so that I could start my hike right from our campsite without waking up the toddler. We also had to spend the night in the small tent, since I would have already packed the 3-person tent. The other tricky part was making sure that I had all of the right stuff in the right place at the right time. Going in, I would carry my pack with the gear and food. I would leave almost everything at the campsite, including the pack, because I would need it there for the return hike. I would carry Christy’s daypack in and back, with one water bottle and a few essentials. Then I’d leave the daypack at the car, but I’d bring the essentials and water bottle in the baby-carrier pack for the hike in with the family. Jackson is becoming a strong hiker, but there was no way that he would be able to hike all the way to Upper Silas Lake on that steep, rocky trail. I knew that I would have to carry him part of the way.

Before we left Lander I checked the National Forest website to make sure that the campground had water. We could have taken water with us, but the website specifically said that drinking water was available, so we didn’t worry about it. Can you tell where this is going?

We drove back through Sinks Canyon and up the switchbacks just as a storm hit. The drive up the mountain was even slower than normal in those conditions. Then we drove Louis Lake Road to Fiddlers Lake. The road was rougher than I recalled. Apparently there has been a lot of logging up there, and the heavy truck traffic must be taking a toll on the road. Luckily, the storm cleared shortly before we reached Fiddlers Lake. We set up at site 10, which is on the lake but a good distance from the other campsites. The campground was maybe half full. It is pretty and it was fairly quiet. However, it would have been a lot better if the water had been turned on. Sigh. Apparently there was no campsite host on site, which may have had something to do with the lack of water.

More storms rolled in right after we set up the tent. We decided to drive up the road to look for moose and drinking water. We thought that the campground at Louis Lake might have water. Plus, the road passes through prime moose habitat. It had been years since Christy last saw a moose. We stopped at a couple of moosy-looking places, but we didn’t see anything. We also stopped at a couple of small campgrounds and a picnic area, but none of them had water.

We turned around at Louis Lake and headed back. We were almost at the Fiddlers Lake boat ramp when I spotted something large and dark through the trees. A moose! We parked at the boat ramp, got Jackson out of the car, and walked back up the road. We reached a point where we had a good view of a large male moose through the trees. We were close enough to see him well, and close enough that he was aware of us, but not too close. Jackson wanted to go closer, and he had a full-blown meltdown when we wouldn’t let him. Yeah, we aren’t those people, but he doesn’t know better (yet).

We returned to our campsite and debated our water options. I didn’t want to go all the way back to Sinks Canyon to get water. I was annoyed, but we had a water filter and a pair of bags. The filter was definitely a necessity, as there was a beaver lodge in the lake. Beavers are known to carry giardia.

I filled the old bag, which was now officially converted over to hold dirty water. I hooked up the filter, which was brand new, and started the water. It ran right through it. That was fast! Too fast. It filtered a couple of quarts of water in about 10 seconds. That was alarming. It was a sure sign that the filter cartridge was broken. It was brand new – I had ordered it online and received it a month or two earlier. However, I hadn’t bothered to test it out. That was another mistake. I’m guessing that it got damaged in shipment. Now we had 2 water bags, but no filter. Sigh.

We drove back to Sinks Canyon State Park to get water. We stopped at the top of the switchbacks, where there is a little bit of cell service. After a bit of research I determined that all of the gear stores in Lander were closed for the day, or would be by the time we got down there. We debated our options and came up with a new plan. I would pack in the morning, while Christy would take Jackson back to town to visit a playground and buy a new water filter.

We drove down to Sinks Canyon and stopped at the first campground. The water pump wasn’t working. I was borderline furious at this point. We drove on to the Sawmill Campground, where we were finally able to fill up all of our containers.

We finally made it back to Fiddlers Lake Campground at 8pm. We made a quick dinner, did a little bit of organizing, and went to bed early. I had just crawled into my sleeping bag when I heard a noise. What was that? Then it occurred to me…did I close and lock the bear box? Hmmm. I got back out of my bag, put my shoes back on, and walked over there. Sure enough, it was wide open. Geez, I was really on a roll. I closed it up and headed back to the tent. I don’t know what the source of the noise was, but I was too tired to worry about it.

Every time we do one of these trips we have a day where everything seems to go wrong. This time, things didn’t start going wrong until after lunch, so I guess that’s an improvement.

SILAS CREEK

I got up at sunrise on Saturday. It was a beautiful morning, with fog rising from the lake. I spent all morning organizing our gear and packing. I finally started the hike at 11am, while Christy and Jackson headed back to town. We planned to meet at the actual trailhead (not the campground) later that afternoon.

I didn’t have any trouble finding the old trail that connects Fiddlers Lake Campground with the new(er) trail that starts from Louis Lake Road. It only took a few minutes to reach the official trail. The hike was pleasant at first, with gentle terrain and several small stream crossings. That was followed by a steep, rocky climb that was extremely tedious. I was thrilled at the prospect of hiking that stretch of trail 5 more times over the next 3 days.

The trail was pretty busy, probably because it was a Saturday. In hindsight, it may have been a quieter trip if we started it a little earlier or a little later.

A bit later I reached the junction with the trail to Christina Lake. Another tough climb followed. This stretch of trail is well north of the trail shown on my GAIA app. I’m not sure if it was rerouted, or if the GAIA map is just wrong. After the climb there was a short descent to Silas Creek. I got a kick out of the name, as my mother lives near a Silas Creek in Winston-Salem, NC. Silas Creek is a big stream, as it drains Silas Canyon. I was able to rock hop the first two channels, but the final channel has 90% of the water. I didn’t want to wade it, but I spotted a log just upstream. A beaten path led through some big rocks and a wildflower garden to the log. The log was wide, flat, and sturdy, making a great bridge.

The final big, rocky climb starts right after the crossing. At the top the trail passes through a lovely forest with lots of greenery. An easy stroll from there brought me to Upper Silas Lake. I immediately focused on finding a campsite, as I still needed to set up camp, hike back to the trailhead, and then hike back in with Christy and Jackson.

It looked like there were a lot of people camping on the west side of the lake. I didn’t want to join the crowd, and I thought that the south side of the lake would have a better view, too. I hunted around for a bit before settling on a spot up on the hillside above the lake. It was a short but steep walk from there to the water. There was a gently sloping rock near the tent that Jackson could play on, along with a small patch of snow. Endless entertainment!

I set up the tent, had a snack, and treated a bottle of water with chlorine before starting the hike back. I made good time on the return, since I wasn’t carrying much and it was mostly downhill.

Christy and Jackson were waiting for me at the trailhead parking area. I ate lunch quickly and hydrated, as it was a hot day. Christy’s trip to Lander had been successful. The gear store we had shopped at on Friday had one filter identical to ours in stock. She bought it, and the package came with another pair of bags. Suddenly we had more water bags than we knew what to do with.

The hike back to Upper Silas Lake went well. Jackson walked the easier parts, and I carried him up the steep, rocky climbs. I carried him across the log over Silas Creek, too. We made it to camp at 7:45, which was later than I’d hoped but still well before dark. When we arrived we found another group camped nearby. They were a father and daughter from Cody. They were very friendly, and they offered us suggestions for hiking and backpacking in the Bighorn Mountains – an area that we need to explore.

ISLAND AND BEYOND

On Sunday we all hiked together to Island Lake. It’s only about a mile and a half, but it is a tough, primitive trail. Jackson hiked almost the whole way, but he ran out of gas with about a ¼ mile to go. We were so proud of him! We made it to the west side of the lake in time for lunch and a leisurely afternoon. Island Lake is very scenic, with an impressive cliff towering above the water to the north. The wildflowers were profuse, and yeah, there was a small, rocky island out there somewhere, too. I’m shocked that Christy didn’t swim out to it.

After a little while I got restless, and Christy gave me a couple of hours to have fun. I hiked solo from Island Lake farther up the canyon. My starting point was sub-optimal – it was too far north – but I eventually got on the correct route. There is a beaten path all the way to Thumb Lake, but it is hard to find at the east end. Along the way I enjoyed a good view of Fawn Lake and more views of the vast desert to the east and south of Lander. Thumb Lake is an alpine gem, tucked in a bowl surrounded by cliffs. There are a couple of small lakes even farther up in the drainage, but getting to them from Thumb Lake would’ve taken at least another hour or more. I was content, and I headed back down after a short break.

I returned to Island Lake and played with Jackson while Christy napped. Then we all hiked back to our campsite at Upper Silas Lake. Jackson hiked the whole way back. It was really nice getting a break from carrying him.

Jackson did great on this trip. There were some challenging moments, but that was to be expected. He was good about 90% of the time, which is basically the same as when we are at home. He did great hiking, and seemed to enjoy the camping, too. Sleeping went well, though he wouldn’t stay in his sleeping bag. Christy and I each pulled the bag or his blanket over him multiple times each night. The one difficulty was that he seemed to have an aversion to pooping in the woods. We were prepared for that, and I was worried about the potential for accidents, but that wasn’t an issue. Of course, it isn’t exactly ideal that he wasn’t pooping on a regular basis. It was even a struggle while we were car camping. Hopefully that won’t continue to be a concern on future trips.

On Monday we got up early, had breakfast, and hiked out together without the gear. We reached the trailhead and had lunch at the car. Christy and Jackson went back to Lander and went to a playground while I hiked back to Upper Silas Lake to retrieve the gear. One more round trip! I made one mistake. I left the water treatment drops in the car, which meant that I only had one bottle of water for the 8 ½ mile round trip hike. It was a very hot afternoon, too, and I was severely dehydrated by the time I finished. I packed up and hiked back, returning to the trailhead at 5:35, which was 5 minutes after our planned meeting time. Not too shabby!

From there we drove south on Louis Lake Road and then on to Pinedale. We had two nights reserved at the Hampton Inn, with a much-needed rest day in between. We stopped for a great dinner at Wind River Brewing, which features a nice view of the Wind River Range from their deck. Then it was on to the hotel, which has a fantastic pool. We had planned to visit the Pinedale aquatic center, but the hotel pool was sufficient to entertain Jackson.

On Tuesday we had breakfast at Heart and Soul. The food was ok, but the coffee was great. Afterwards I tackled the laundry. The hotel has two coin washing machines and two dryers, but we had a lot of laundry to do. I decided to look for another option. The first laundromat that I found wasn’t crowded. At first that seemed encouraging. Then I realized that almost all of the machines were out of order. That explained why it wasn’t crowded. I decided to try the other laundromat. That one has functioning machines, but it was very crowded. After all of that, I ended up back at the hotel. It took hours and almost $30 in quarters, but I eventually made it through all of the laundry.

We went back to Wind River Brewing for dinner that night. On the way we got pulled over by a State Trooper because a headlight was out. Except…it wasn’t. So that was odd. He was a really nice guy though, and we ended up chatting about backpacking. He was just getting into it. It was funny – he was local, but he was asking a couple from North Carolina for suggestions for backpacking trips in the Wind River Range.

We had another great dinner and spent the evening at the hotel pool. On Wednesday we had breakfast at Heart and Soul again. Then we drove to Jackson. I entertained the boy at a park while Christy went to REI, the drug store, and the grocery store. Then it was on to the west side of the Tetons for the final week of our trip.

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