OldBill
Member
- Joined
- Aug 18, 2015
- Messages
- 444
Planned this year to go with @Bob for loops through Bear Basin and/or across the Divide to fish the lower Fitzpatrick Wilderness. Also made plans for one of my favorite off trail fishing spots in the Popo Agia Wilderness. The weather and the mountains had other plans.
Bought tickets in January, flying out a week earlier than usual. We were expecting to catch warmer weather at the end of August needed for Bear Basin. Ended up moving our plans 2 weeks later, in part due to unstable weather patterns. Coming from sea level, it was good to have extra acclimation time. Set up camp at Fremont L CG while a major T-storm rolled through, fished the Upper Green and took 2 acclimation hikes from Elkhart. Several photos of fish here since Bob has never seen me catch anything.
The weather cleared but there was time before Bob was available so I decided to try a new trailhead: Spring Ck. Figured on a 4 day outing to try for golden trout near Elbow Lake. The quest to catch a golden trout was still unfulfilled after many years. Including a picture of food since that seems to be a popular item for some recent discussions.
The road to Spring Ck TH is definitely AWD/high-clearance, bordering on ATV! I intended to take some photos but was too busy navigating boulders, mud and pools 12' in diameter with unknown depth. Many sections were narrow and I had to squeeze the rental SUV through the trees hoping not to severely scratch it. Managed to get it to the upper TH parking lot which had no other cars in it.
The trail was in much better condition than the road. Great view near the Crow's Nest. Easy hike along the ridge to first night's camp at Trapper L. 3 people were fishing but they soon took off. As I was setting up camp I found substantial garbage left nearby. It included a full sandwich and other uneaten food. I stashed them about 200' away and packed out on my return. The mosquitoes were pretty bad so I didn't bother fishing. Later one exhausted hiker came in having started at Elkhart and come up via the Crow's Nest.
Couldn't read this sign.
Was on the trail around 10 the next morning. Met a guy around noon. First person I'd seen that day. He'd seen my car and was surprised I knew about the TH. He'd been in the Winds since the 60's - had a good time trading stories. Not long after that there was a great view.
It wasn't long before I got to Summit Lake and the CDT. Saw 2 others as I made my way just beyond Pass L to set up camp. Walked over to one of the Twin Lakes and finally caught a golden. First cast. I was pretty pleased, even if only about a foot long. Didn't get a second picture as the fish came loose (I use single, debarbed hooks) and soon sped away. Spent another hour and caught nothing else but weeds.
It was a beautiful night with a full moon but my digestive system was starting to bother me. I'd used a Sawyer squeeze instead of Aquamira on this trip and thought I'd somehow cross-contaminated my water. Wasn't pleasant and took some Immodium. Another weather system was due in 2 days anyway so I started the return the next day. Smoke made the views hazy. Stopped for a long conversation with someone headed for the Crow's Nest and Elkhart. He was the last person I encountered. By the time I reached Trapper L, I decided to just exit that day. Picked up the garbage and continued on. Scared up a grouse along the way and saw a moose at Trapper. Got back to the car after almost 16 miles and began the tedious drive back to town.
Stayed in contact with Bob and figured we'd have to wait out the next system for the next 4 days. Stomach issues settled down and I headed for the Tetons to car camp and day hike. Managed to get the last spot at Colter Bay for 2 nights with a final night of dispersed camping. The park was an absolute crowd-fest. Drove the entire length of the park and couldn't find any reasonable place to park the car. Spaces finally opened up in the early afternoon. Could see rain in the high country but only brief showers down low.
Was happy to leave the crowds and return to Pinedale. Decided to go for a fishing trip in the lower Fitzpatrick rather than Bear Basin as temps had dropped 10 degrees and there was still unstable air around. Met Bob for a late breakfast and hit the trail around 1pm. At Photographer's Pt I found I'd left my phone in the car. Had to rely on my old Sony WX220 subcompact. Luckily Bob was packing a great camera. We made good time for the first ~10 m but hit the middle Pole Ck crossing near dusk. The creek was high with all the recent rain. Usually it's a rock hop in September. Now it was ~2'. That made crossing in the dark slow. We found a nice camp spot just on the other side and quickly set up.
Got a late start the next day because I'm slow. Despite waking up at 6:30 I wasn't ready to leave until around 10. Was cleaning the dirt and needles off my polycro ground sheet. Rinsed, hung it on some willows to dry and a brief gust out of nowhere blew it right into a willow-choked gully. Finally just shook it off, rolled it up and put it on the outside of my pack. We hadn't gone more than an hour before we ran into a young guy heading out. Said hello as he passed me then he said "Are you Bob?" "Yep" "WOW...you're the inspiration for me being out here!!" Had to have a selfie with Bob before taking off. Guess these things happen when you're hiking with a celebrity.
We had originally wanted to cross Angel Pass to the east side, but by 1pm the clouds started getting dark and we were still a few miles away. No serious rain predicted but the weather was clearly unstable. Decided to head to Cook Lakes for a few days. Something new for Bob and I knew the scenery would be good. We set up near the lower lake. My tent was a tight fit, being a hybrid wall. Found a stash of very old bottles and cans so this camp had seen some use. Bob had the courage to cross the feeder stream on boulders to fish. I was much more skeptical so just hung out near camp. Had to take Immodium again. The weather was looking rather nasty on the east side. It starting dissipating late and we had a fine sunset. No one else around that we could see.
The next morning I took off for Upper Cook L, finally doing the sketchy boulder crossing. Bob hung out at Lower Cook to fish. Upper Cook L has some great scenery, but the fishing turned out to be better at Lower Cook. Think Bob said he caught 8. I didn't even see a fish.
We broke camp reasonably early (for me) and headed back the next day, staying overnight at Mary's L. Even with the popularity of this lake as an enroute campsite, we appeared to have it to ourselves. We did share it with an aggressive chipmunk who stole a PB cup from Bob that night and a spoon from my oatmeal the following morning. Bob turned in early while I explored some neighboring sites and took a few pictures. The next morning we were back at Elkhart by about noon. I was relieved to find my phone where I'd left it. Had burgers at the Wrangler and we parted company.
Debated what to do with the time I had left in the Winds. Spent a day fishing the Upper Green again and did rather well. The brown was ~19" and fought for over 10 minutes.
Decided that I really wanted another shot at a golden trout so went to Lander. Had discussed this with Bob and wanted to explore an off trail route that some had used to cut a few miles off. Yet more rain was coming in so I waited that storm out in Riverton as Lander had no rooms available. Used the time to find a description online, printed a few maps and then headed out for my final 3 backcountry days.
About 3 miles I came to the unmarked cutoff. Looked easy to follow. Wouldn't last. Started encountering a lot of downfall and the trail became light, though there were many cairns at the beginning. It soon became a lot of guessing, backtracking, occasionally picking up the trail, then losing it again. Think I found some bear scat along the way. Took a good half-hour to get 0.5 miles to Tomahawk L. The next 1.3 miles was more of the same. Found two paths near a small pond. I took the one heading more direct towards Atlantic L. Made good progress for about 15 min but found the direction shifting too far to the south. The path soon disappeared and the terrain got tougher.
Rather than retracing and taking the alternate path, I saw it was just over 0.5 mile from Atlantic L so figured I'd just forge ahead. At one point I encountered a boulder about chest high in heavy brush but with a tree on the far side. Grabbed a convenient branch. Pulled - seemed good. Dragged myself up with one foot on the boulder. Branch broke. Spun and landed on the boulder. The pack took part of it but my shoulder and knee took the rest.
"That's going to hurt." Patched the knee, put the pack back on and continued the bushwhack. The fastest way out was to intersect the trail on the other side of Atlantic L. It would be 8 miles back to the TH but faster and safer than returning the way I'd come. Sent a preset message on my Garmin Mini 2 "Changed Route, All OK". More downed timber, boulders, swampy meadows and 3 crossings of Atlantic Ck. Back on trail, pushed the pace, pausing once at a conveniently high boulder to slide the pack off to get to my water and food. Sent an identical message to mark position. Then it was just racing against increasing pain.
Made the TH near dusk where a hunter had to help me get the pack off. Did my best one-arm Dukes of Hazard driving the twisting road to Lander where I checked into the clinic. X-rays showed AC separation but nothing broken. Was given pain meds, a sling and discharged. Had to drive another half hour to Riverton as there were no rooms available in Lander. Iced down and thought I was pretty lucky. Not the adventure I'd intended but could have been much worse.
Toured the 1838 Rendezvous site in Lander the following day. Was surprised not to find a commemorative stone to Old Bill Williams or James Clyman. Wrote the association and had some nice response. Didn't realize that stones were only for 1838 participants as I thought I'd seen ones for Hugh Glass and John Colter. Glass died in '33 and Colter around 1812. In any case, they are considering adding a stone for Old Bill as I provided references stating that he did making an appearance at that rendezvous. I found that Clyman did not attend, having retired from the trade.
Felt pretty good the next day so traveled back to Lander, got checked into a room and went up to Popo Agia falls. Must have looked silly hiking with a sling and no pack. But I was happy to be out enjoying (finally) typical Sept weather.
Things didn't go as planned this year - not even close. But a memorable trip for sure. About 120 miles of hiking, avoiding the worst weather. Great company and learned a lot. Looking forward to next year.
Bought tickets in January, flying out a week earlier than usual. We were expecting to catch warmer weather at the end of August needed for Bear Basin. Ended up moving our plans 2 weeks later, in part due to unstable weather patterns. Coming from sea level, it was good to have extra acclimation time. Set up camp at Fremont L CG while a major T-storm rolled through, fished the Upper Green and took 2 acclimation hikes from Elkhart. Several photos of fish here since Bob has never seen me catch anything.
The weather cleared but there was time before Bob was available so I decided to try a new trailhead: Spring Ck. Figured on a 4 day outing to try for golden trout near Elbow Lake. The quest to catch a golden trout was still unfulfilled after many years. Including a picture of food since that seems to be a popular item for some recent discussions.
The road to Spring Ck TH is definitely AWD/high-clearance, bordering on ATV! I intended to take some photos but was too busy navigating boulders, mud and pools 12' in diameter with unknown depth. Many sections were narrow and I had to squeeze the rental SUV through the trees hoping not to severely scratch it. Managed to get it to the upper TH parking lot which had no other cars in it.
The trail was in much better condition than the road. Great view near the Crow's Nest. Easy hike along the ridge to first night's camp at Trapper L. 3 people were fishing but they soon took off. As I was setting up camp I found substantial garbage left nearby. It included a full sandwich and other uneaten food. I stashed them about 200' away and packed out on my return. The mosquitoes were pretty bad so I didn't bother fishing. Later one exhausted hiker came in having started at Elkhart and come up via the Crow's Nest.
Couldn't read this sign.
Was on the trail around 10 the next morning. Met a guy around noon. First person I'd seen that day. He'd seen my car and was surprised I knew about the TH. He'd been in the Winds since the 60's - had a good time trading stories. Not long after that there was a great view.
It wasn't long before I got to Summit Lake and the CDT. Saw 2 others as I made my way just beyond Pass L to set up camp. Walked over to one of the Twin Lakes and finally caught a golden. First cast. I was pretty pleased, even if only about a foot long. Didn't get a second picture as the fish came loose (I use single, debarbed hooks) and soon sped away. Spent another hour and caught nothing else but weeds.
It was a beautiful night with a full moon but my digestive system was starting to bother me. I'd used a Sawyer squeeze instead of Aquamira on this trip and thought I'd somehow cross-contaminated my water. Wasn't pleasant and took some Immodium. Another weather system was due in 2 days anyway so I started the return the next day. Smoke made the views hazy. Stopped for a long conversation with someone headed for the Crow's Nest and Elkhart. He was the last person I encountered. By the time I reached Trapper L, I decided to just exit that day. Picked up the garbage and continued on. Scared up a grouse along the way and saw a moose at Trapper. Got back to the car after almost 16 miles and began the tedious drive back to town.
Stayed in contact with Bob and figured we'd have to wait out the next system for the next 4 days. Stomach issues settled down and I headed for the Tetons to car camp and day hike. Managed to get the last spot at Colter Bay for 2 nights with a final night of dispersed camping. The park was an absolute crowd-fest. Drove the entire length of the park and couldn't find any reasonable place to park the car. Spaces finally opened up in the early afternoon. Could see rain in the high country but only brief showers down low.
Was happy to leave the crowds and return to Pinedale. Decided to go for a fishing trip in the lower Fitzpatrick rather than Bear Basin as temps had dropped 10 degrees and there was still unstable air around. Met Bob for a late breakfast and hit the trail around 1pm. At Photographer's Pt I found I'd left my phone in the car. Had to rely on my old Sony WX220 subcompact. Luckily Bob was packing a great camera. We made good time for the first ~10 m but hit the middle Pole Ck crossing near dusk. The creek was high with all the recent rain. Usually it's a rock hop in September. Now it was ~2'. That made crossing in the dark slow. We found a nice camp spot just on the other side and quickly set up.
Got a late start the next day because I'm slow. Despite waking up at 6:30 I wasn't ready to leave until around 10. Was cleaning the dirt and needles off my polycro ground sheet. Rinsed, hung it on some willows to dry and a brief gust out of nowhere blew it right into a willow-choked gully. Finally just shook it off, rolled it up and put it on the outside of my pack. We hadn't gone more than an hour before we ran into a young guy heading out. Said hello as he passed me then he said "Are you Bob?" "Yep" "WOW...you're the inspiration for me being out here!!" Had to have a selfie with Bob before taking off. Guess these things happen when you're hiking with a celebrity.
We had originally wanted to cross Angel Pass to the east side, but by 1pm the clouds started getting dark and we were still a few miles away. No serious rain predicted but the weather was clearly unstable. Decided to head to Cook Lakes for a few days. Something new for Bob and I knew the scenery would be good. We set up near the lower lake. My tent was a tight fit, being a hybrid wall. Found a stash of very old bottles and cans so this camp had seen some use. Bob had the courage to cross the feeder stream on boulders to fish. I was much more skeptical so just hung out near camp. Had to take Immodium again. The weather was looking rather nasty on the east side. It starting dissipating late and we had a fine sunset. No one else around that we could see.
The next morning I took off for Upper Cook L, finally doing the sketchy boulder crossing. Bob hung out at Lower Cook to fish. Upper Cook L has some great scenery, but the fishing turned out to be better at Lower Cook. Think Bob said he caught 8. I didn't even see a fish.
We broke camp reasonably early (for me) and headed back the next day, staying overnight at Mary's L. Even with the popularity of this lake as an enroute campsite, we appeared to have it to ourselves. We did share it with an aggressive chipmunk who stole a PB cup from Bob that night and a spoon from my oatmeal the following morning. Bob turned in early while I explored some neighboring sites and took a few pictures. The next morning we were back at Elkhart by about noon. I was relieved to find my phone where I'd left it. Had burgers at the Wrangler and we parted company.
Debated what to do with the time I had left in the Winds. Spent a day fishing the Upper Green again and did rather well. The brown was ~19" and fought for over 10 minutes.
Decided that I really wanted another shot at a golden trout so went to Lander. Had discussed this with Bob and wanted to explore an off trail route that some had used to cut a few miles off. Yet more rain was coming in so I waited that storm out in Riverton as Lander had no rooms available. Used the time to find a description online, printed a few maps and then headed out for my final 3 backcountry days.
About 3 miles I came to the unmarked cutoff. Looked easy to follow. Wouldn't last. Started encountering a lot of downfall and the trail became light, though there were many cairns at the beginning. It soon became a lot of guessing, backtracking, occasionally picking up the trail, then losing it again. Think I found some bear scat along the way. Took a good half-hour to get 0.5 miles to Tomahawk L. The next 1.3 miles was more of the same. Found two paths near a small pond. I took the one heading more direct towards Atlantic L. Made good progress for about 15 min but found the direction shifting too far to the south. The path soon disappeared and the terrain got tougher.
Rather than retracing and taking the alternate path, I saw it was just over 0.5 mile from Atlantic L so figured I'd just forge ahead. At one point I encountered a boulder about chest high in heavy brush but with a tree on the far side. Grabbed a convenient branch. Pulled - seemed good. Dragged myself up with one foot on the boulder. Branch broke. Spun and landed on the boulder. The pack took part of it but my shoulder and knee took the rest.
"That's going to hurt." Patched the knee, put the pack back on and continued the bushwhack. The fastest way out was to intersect the trail on the other side of Atlantic L. It would be 8 miles back to the TH but faster and safer than returning the way I'd come. Sent a preset message on my Garmin Mini 2 "Changed Route, All OK". More downed timber, boulders, swampy meadows and 3 crossings of Atlantic Ck. Back on trail, pushed the pace, pausing once at a conveniently high boulder to slide the pack off to get to my water and food. Sent an identical message to mark position. Then it was just racing against increasing pain.
Made the TH near dusk where a hunter had to help me get the pack off. Did my best one-arm Dukes of Hazard driving the twisting road to Lander where I checked into the clinic. X-rays showed AC separation but nothing broken. Was given pain meds, a sling and discharged. Had to drive another half hour to Riverton as there were no rooms available in Lander. Iced down and thought I was pretty lucky. Not the adventure I'd intended but could have been much worse.
Toured the 1838 Rendezvous site in Lander the following day. Was surprised not to find a commemorative stone to Old Bill Williams or James Clyman. Wrote the association and had some nice response. Didn't realize that stones were only for 1838 participants as I thought I'd seen ones for Hugh Glass and John Colter. Glass died in '33 and Colter around 1812. In any case, they are considering adding a stone for Old Bill as I provided references stating that he did making an appearance at that rendezvous. I found that Clyman did not attend, having retired from the trade.
Felt pretty good the next day so traveled back to Lander, got checked into a room and went up to Popo Agia falls. Must have looked silly hiking with a sling and no pack. But I was happy to be out enjoying (finally) typical Sept weather.
Things didn't go as planned this year - not even close. But a memorable trip for sure. About 120 miles of hiking, avoiding the worst weather. Great company and learned a lot. Looking forward to next year.
