Wyoming

Got some trip suggestions at another National Park, or know of a great place in the middle of no where? Share them here, plan your trips, and hook up with other individuals on the forum.

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Kevinl
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Wyoming

Post by Kevinl »

I just posted this at backpacker.com, but figure I'll share here too.

My 17 yr. old son and I just spent 3 weeks in Wyoming for my first time out West (we're from southern Minnesota, flatlanders). We didn't do any extended backpacking trips--I didn't want to burn him out so we mostly stayed in or near NFS campgrounds and a few cheap hotels when we noticed our own smells were too much. We dayhiked a lot and fished some. Pictures are here:
http://outdoors.webshots.com/album/573568863eSBQxD

Here's the breakdown. I'll try to be brief.

Badlands NP: we spent time where most of the tourists do, then headed to Sage Creek campground. Place looked depressing so we hiked into the hills and set up camp. Hot, desolate, beautiful.

Black Hills: We looked at a campground on Whitetail Lake, didn't like it, so we set up our own camp on the opposite shore. We also hiked to Harney Peak, started on a path away from the main trail, steep, but we didn't see anyone until close to the peak. We also spent a night at Roubaix Lake, nice dayhike from there.

Big Horns: We stayed at Circle Park. Several moose near campground. Awesome hiking. Would love to come back for extended trip. Drove north to Medicine Wheel, fascinating place. We considered camping near here, but decided to move on to Beartooths.

Beartooths: We stayed at Island Lake Campground. Beautiful place. Campground wasn't open when we first got there, but we parked at the entrance and set up anyway and it opened while we were there. Great hiking, although the streams were high to cross. Fished Beartooth Lake. It hailed and rained all three days we were there. Awesome drive.

We spent a night at The Yodeler Inn in Red Lodge. Seriously one of the best showers ever.

My wife flew into Jackson and we spent a week in the national parks. In Tetons, we hiked Hermitage Point, Cascade Canyon and Paintbrush Canyon. We also took the skytram at Teton Village, which was cool but expensive. In Yellowstone, we hiked in Lamar Valley, Hellroaring Canyon. We drove around a lot, watching wildlife and eavesdropping on tourists. We were going to spend a night at Heart Lake (sign at trailhead said, "Grizzly approaching people!") but my son had the flu, so we drove over Togwotee Pass and stumbled on an awesome place to car camp instead at Brooks Lake. Best fishing of the trip here. My wife and I hiked to Jade Lake in the morning while son slept.

We spent a night in Jackson, at The Anvil Inn, then dropped my wife off at the airport. We headed to the Wind River Mountains. Our plan was to go in at New Fork Lakes, follow that trail to Highline trail and loop back on Doubletop Mtn. trail, but we checked in at Great Outdoors in Pinedale and were told New Fork River is very high. We didn't want to get everything wet swimming at the beginning of our trip, so we did a day hike out of Spring Creek, then came back to Pinedale to watch the craziness of the Rendezvous. The next day we hiked in to Big Sandy Lake, spent three nights there, good place for a base camp. My guidebook calls it a "tent city" but it was nearly deserted when we were there. Mosquitos were worst I've ever experienced, but we got used to them, somehow. Hike to Jackass Pass was my favorite. I'd love to come back in September.

I've done a lot of backpacking in the Midwest. The mountains are awesome, but that thin air makes me ready to quit smoking. We had a great time. Stunning scenery. We got a taste of everything, and want to come back to explore more in depth.
johnhens
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Re: Wyoming

Post by johnhens »

Kevin,
Nice trip!! Love the Tetons and YNP. Did you catch any fish? trout? How was the Rendevouz? We stopped at the Museum of the Mountain Man when coming back from the Tetons, I would like to go to the Rendevous.
Did you get to fish the Winds?
Kevinl
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Re: Wyoming

Post by Kevinl »

Hi John.

We did catch fish, rainbows and brook trout mostly. Ate the rainbows, cooked over the campfire, wrapped in foil with green apples cooking inside them. We didn't catch any cutthroat but everyone told me they were there. But the fishing was really good everywhere. We would have explored even more lakes in the Winds, but we were at the end of a 3 week trip and were ready to head home.

I was looking forward to the Rendezvous, but it wasn't what I was expecting from a rendezvous. Granted, we pulled into town after 5, so unfortunately the museum was closed, and that's where the more traditional type activities were taking place (shooting and archery contests and demonstrations), although when I drove through its parking lot shortly after five, I couldn't see that anything was going on there. What I saw in town was more like my own small town's annual drunkfest. There were street vendors selling leather, fur, antlers, jewelry, and wonderful bacon wrapped hot dogs. There was a huge rodeo that we caught the end of. We saw some serious liquoring (we watched a guy stagger out of the river with his face bloodied). But I assumed there would be some kind of encampment just outside of town and while something may have been around like that I couldn't find it. Still, it was entertaining. And the bacon wrapped hot dogs with mango salsa, mmm.

I bet the inside of that museum is pretty awesome. Wish I had been there a few hours earlier.
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