I camped a couple of nights near Brooks Lake about 30 miles west of Dubois on US287. Both nights I had a visit from a grizzly bear. I sleep with my head at the back doors of the van which was open a few inches to let in air. About 1am I heard a couple of woofs...as if someone (thing) took a deep breath and then let the air out real fast... and this was right by my head. When I heard something rattle, which may have been my folding aluminum table, I sat up and then didn't hear any more. That was the first night. In the morning I found a big pile of black scat nearby. No noises the second night but another big pile of scat in the morning.
The first morning I also found 150+ elk in a nearby meadow where they spent the night. They weren't there the next morning though.
07/18/05 Lake Louise Trail(4.6 miles round trip):
This one was a keeper. The trail leaves the crowded parking lot and begins an easy ascent up some switchbacks. Great views of what looks like some reddish sandstone cliffs to the right and huge, rounded, granite like rock with pine trees leading up to a ridge on the left.
.8 miles brought me to the Glacier Trail/Lake Louise Trail junction and a beautiful waterfall. The Lake Louise Trail continues along this almost continuous waterfall for the next 1.5 miles to the lake.
The lake itself is as pretty as any you'll find anywhere. Unfortunately the trail ends at the near end of the lake. Mountain goats might continue along the steep rock sides that slope down to the lake but not old guys.
Tried to get to the Dickinson Park area near Fort Washakie but the access road is through the Wind River Indian Reservation and not open to the public. I think a permit is available but I couldn't find tribal headquarters.
07/20/05 Stough Creek Basin Trail (16.2 miles round trip/7.6 miles roundtrip to the pass):
Moved down to Lander and up into the mountains. I just hiked to the Stough Pass. This is an easy but steady incline from 8800 feet at the trailhead to 10600 feet at the top of the pass. For the most part, this was just a walk in the woods. Once you broke out of the trees into a meadow at the top, nice views were available. Presumably all the good stuff was in second half of the hike.
07/22/05 Christina Lake Trail(10 miles round trip):
An easy walk in the woods with the trail only rising from 9400 to 10000 feet over the 5 miles. Logs were placed to help ford a couple of streams. About half way the trail opens into a small meadow with nice views of what I was told are the Cony Mountains.
At 4 miles I got upset when I saw an ATV parked near Gustav Lake. No signs indicated I had come out of the Popo Agie Wilderness and I thought it was one of those people who will do exactly what they want regardless of any rules or laws. They were out of the wilderness though and at the start/end of a 4WD trail.
I turned right at Gustav Lake and followed another, extremely rocky, 4WD trail 1 more mile to Christina Lake. 5-10 acre lake surrounded by forest with those Cony Mountain peaks rising up beyond. One lone tent was pitched on the far side of the lake.
07/27/05 Silas Lakes Trail (9 miles round trip):
A couple of rainy, foggy days kept me close to camp the past few days. Can't complain though, those were the first bad days in a month.
Followed the Christina Lake Trail for 1.5 miles where it branches off to the Silas Lakes Trail. Lower Silas Lake is only .5 miles or so up this trail. The side trail to the lake dips a couple of hundred feet pretty sharply. The lake is surrounded by pine forest with some mountain peaks visible above them.
As usual I'm traveling without maps, guide books, etc. I did read the guide book but, again, as usual I forgot most of what it said. As a result, I spent half an hour wandering around looking for the trail to Upper Silas Lake. I finally figured out I had to climb back up the steep incline to pick up the trail.
It's another mile to Upper Silas Lake. Here a wall rises 1000 feet or so at the far end. Walking along the shore I could see numerous rainbow trout fooling around in the shallows.
I continued another 1.3 miles to Island Lake. Walls and peaks were now in view making the hike more enjoyable. I couldn't reach the lake from my side because of thick bushes and bogs. I didn't have the energy to poke around to find an access point so I turned back.
07/29/05 Fremont Trail (12 miles round trip to Dad's Lake):
Drove about 40 miles on back roads to get to the Big Sandy Opening, yesterday. Checked out the campground and trailhead... what a mess. Room for about 40 cars to park... and there were about 50... major congestion and this was on a weekday. Found a campsite 2 miles from that mess and watched cars go in and out every 5 minutes.
I was lucky to get a parking spot right by the trailhead this morning. The trail starts out as the Meeks Lake Trail and splits .6 miles out where it splits from the Big Sandy Lake Trail. At 1.5 miles it splits again from the Diamond Lakes Trail and becomes the Fremont Trail.
The first part of the trail is a walk in the woods with the trees blocking any good views. This section is also where most of the elevation gains are... nothing serious, just a mile or two of steady inclines. Eventually views can be seen through the trees and then the trees give way to a long meadow. Peaks and cirques at the far end of meadow make the trip so far worthwhile.
Back into a small stand of trees and then the trail dips down to a very long and wide meadow. 1.5 miles across this meadow brings you to Mirror Lake with those peaks and cirques rising up in the distance. Dad's Lake is another .5 miles on. Dotted with small islands and the peaks in the background make this a very pretty lake.
This was my destination at 6 miles but it only took 2.5 hours and I was feeling good and continued on to Marm's Lake a mile farther on. More peaks in the background and lots of varied colored flowers made for another pretty lake.
I met a guy on the trail who was hiking the entire Continental Divide Trail. He'd already been out for 3 months and had 2 more months to go.
07/31/05 Big Sandy Lake Trail (12 miles round trip):
Left the trailhead at Big Sandy Campground at 7:30am. A walk in the woods for the first mile until I came to a long meadow with views of towering peaks on three sides. Shortly after that I entered the Bridger Wilderness and then came to the Diamond Lakes Trail junction. More woods and only the slightest of inclines the rest of the way to Big Sandy Lake.
What a lake... about a .75 miles long with towering walls on one side and ragged peaks peaking over the treetops on the other. Yellow and purple flowers were in full bloom around the lake. This is where most backpackers camp, at least their first night. A lot of them will do day trips from here but there was hardly anybody here on this Sunday. Presumably the rest of them moved on farther into the back country.
I met a group of 11 women in their 50's from different states. They insisted I needed to continue to Clear Lake and then on to Deep Lake. I was feeling pretty good from the easy trail up so off I went. I followed Big Sandy Lake all the way around to the other side. The first sign to Clear Lake simply points to the trail along the edge of a meadow. 100 yards past where the trail gets very rocky and muddy is a sign you have too look behind you to see pointing to the Clear Lake Trail moving upward.
This trail goes up a couple hundred feet for .5 miles or so and there is Clear Lake with huge towering walls looming directly out of the lake and many more in the distance... and of course, flowers blooming everywhere.
I followed the trail around Clear Lake to the other side to a huge slick rock area with water trickling down from Deep Lake 600 feet above. I just followed the water upwards and enjoyed the fantastic views along the way.
Deep Lake is the smallest of the 3 lakes I passed on this day but has more towering peaks rising out of the waters. I had lunch there watching the storm clouds moving around the peaks and then headed down. The storm clouds had been threatening and fighting with the sun since about 10am and continued to do so the rest of the afternoon.
The rains came when I was 3 minutes from the trailhead and quit 2 minutes later. I had visions of being hit by lightning as I was signing out on the trail register but nothing bad happened. I got back to the van right at 4pm making for an 8.5 hour hike I estimate to have been 18 miles.
08/02/05 Diamond Lake Trail (7.5 miles round trip):
The Diamond Lake Trail connects Dad's Lake Trail (@ mile 1.4) to Big Sandy Lake Trail (@ mile 3.2) and is about 2.8 miles long. As usual, I hit the trailhead at Big Sandy Campground at 7:30 and followed Dad's Lake Trail 1.4 miles to the Diamond Lake Trail junction. The ups and downs were a little steeper than Dad's Lake Trail but nothing of concern.
V Lake appeared after a mile or so. Very pretty with the usual peaks and ridges in the background. Most of the walk was through woods and meadows. Diamond Lake showed up after another mile or so. In fact, it is right at the junction of Big Sand Lake Trail.
Storm clouds were moving in as I got back to the van after 2.5 hours on the trail and it started raining when I got back to the campsite. Didn't feel like hanging out in the rain so decided to go back to Rock Springs for chores and shopping rather than Pinedale because it's larger and not as touristy.
Would you believe I ran into a wagon train on the way out? No kidding! About 30 covered wagons, buggies and a lot of horsemen were coming in for some shindig. They looked kinda miserable out there in the rain though. Drove 35 miles of slick, hard packed dirt roads in the rain to get out of Big Sandy Opening. Just like driving on ice and I did some slipping and sliding around but made it OK.