Craig Ewing's "Space"
A Description Of 10,000 Feet, 2017

Tuesday, August 15th --
My brother, our friend, and I drove from Casper to Fort Collins in the afternoon.     It took about 3-1/2 hours
and we were lucky to get the room because we arrived prior to check-in time at 3 o'clock.   While my brother
and our friend were checking in while I stayed with the truck, I felt something painful on my lower abdomen.
I shook my shirt and a few seconds later, I felt it again.   I shook my shirt more vigorously and out fell a bee.
Wow, I haven't been stung by a bee for a long, long, LONG time! After putting some things in the room, we
went to dinner with my brother's friend and his friend's wife that night.   Afterwards, we returned to the hotel,
took it easy, and went to bed early in order to get up early.

Wednesday, August 16th --
I woke up at 3:00am.   My brother and our friend woke up when the alarm rang at 3:45.   We ate breakfast at a
Denny's restaurant and left there at 5:15.   We arrived at the trailhead at 7:30.   Along the way, we saw two
mountain goats on the side of the road.   That was a first.   After arriving at the trailhead, we started hiking at
7:40 and arrived at the lake and got our favorite campsite at 10 o'clock.   While hiking, we saw both deer and
moose feces on the trail.   We also saw five different colors of mushrooms during the hike.   (We hiked quicker
than we did two years ago because we all exercised to prepare for the hikes to and from the lake.   Also, both
my brother and our friend took anti-leg cramping pills which worked great, reducing the number of times that
we had to stop along the hike.) When we arrived at the campsite, there was a fire pit there.   (Naughty campers!
This is a wilderness area and campfires, of any type, are not allowed.)   We saw a mushroom near the lake that
was the same color, and as big as, a large pancake.   We also saw more deer and moose feces there.   By the way,
we decided to not tear up the fire pit so that hopefully forest rangers would find it and notice that people are
building such things.
As usual, we set up our tents first and then immediately went fishing.   (This year, we reduced a bunch of weight
by taking my one-man tent that weighs about 1.5 pounds instead of my two-man tent that weighs about 8
pounds.   Also, my brother bought a belly boat/float tube that was significantly lighter than the other
boats/tubes.) My brother and our friend fished from their belly boats (float tubes) while I fished from the shore.
I made my first cast, our friend yelled out "You REALLY should be fishing with a fly," I hooked a fish about
one second later, and I responded "I would if I hadn't caught a fish on my first cast." Ha! Ha!
We fished for about 30 minutes and my friend and I went to get water from "the glacier." Unfortunately, our
usual spot was dry, probably due to the water being redirected from trees and/or rocks.   We searched quite a
bit for other spots to get water, but the only other easily-accessible spot had deer feces about ten feet away from
it.   So, we decided to filter water from the creek behind our campsite.
It rained lightly twice for about 30 minutes each time and then for about one hour afterwards.   We each took
naps during the latter storm.   One thing that I noticed was that I forgot my camera battery, the hand soap, and
the dishwashing towel.   Later, I found the hand soap and the dishwashing towel.   (I never found the camera
battery and remembered leaving it in a bag in the truck and the trailhead.   Bummer!)
We ate beef stroganoff for dinner at 6 o'clock.   (My brother researched foods that were simple to cook, tasted
good, and were filling.   He did a good job!) Interestingly, with all of the rain that had fallen prior to us going on
the trip ... and we could tell because of all of the moist ground ... there were few mosquitoes bothering us either
during the hike or while at the lake.   By the way, our friend discovered that his waders had leaked.
Unfortunately, he didn't discover it until after he woke up after his nap when he had a wet, cold "derriere."
One thing that we noticed, and that I was very concerned that might happen, was that about half of the trees
both around the lake and on the nearby hillsides were dead.   The mountain pine beetles had finally reached the
area, killing both the lodgepole pine trees and the other types of pine trees that mountain pine beetles like to
eat.   (I cannot express how sad it makes me feel to see it.) Our friend pointed out that since the pine beetles
were thriving, it would take approximately two months of constant temperatures at 20 degrees or colder in
order to kill them.   Two months!   That's virtually impossible without creating serious consequences for
humans.
In addition to more dead trees, there were more algae "pods" growing at the bottom of the lake.   There was
about twice as much as there was two years ago when we went on the trip.   My brother and our friend went to
bed between 8:00 and 8:15.   I stayed up and spent time sitting at the edge of the lake, enjoying the absolute
quiet.   I saw a light mist crossing the surface of the lake, a bat flying along the lake's edge, and one star -- Vega.
I went to bed around 9 o'clock ... AFTER urinating so that I would, hopefully, not have to wake up in the
middle of the night to do it.   I would learn in about nine hours that it worked!
Airplanes: 25 -- 13 while hiking and 12 at the lake
People: 0
Fish Caught --
My brother: 9 (including two 20-inch cutthroats)
Our friend: 4
Me: 2

Thursday, August 17th --
We got up at 7:45 to a mostly cloudy sky.   My brother and our friend started fishing at 7:55 and we all finished
at 11 o'clock.   I stayed in camp for a while and updated this log.   I noticed that something had entered our
campsite during the night and ate the trail mix that my brother had spilled.   The next night, we concluded that
it was a mouse because a mouse was "examining" the campsite for food while we were eating dinner.   My
brother decided to let his beard grow during his 3-week vacation, so we nicknamed him "Grizzly Adams."
Related to that, the word of the trip was "mulch" -- related to whenever there was any kind of dirt either in,
on, or around something -- and the phrase of the trip was "This is camping." -- related to whenever anyone
mentioned things that were inconvenient, dirty, etc.
Since the sky was mostly cloudy, I enjoyed the sun on my back since I was somewhat cold.   It was one of the
rmornings when clouds blocked the sun and there was little bird or animal activity.   So, the only sounds were
the creek behind the campsite and the wind in the trees.   Ahh, peace.   Speaking of noises, we heard hawks
while we were hiking and also at the lake while we were fishing.   But we never saw any of them.   Note: The
best fishing was primarily in the usual place -- near the inlet where the water from the spring fed into the lake.
After my brother and our friend returned from fishing, as we had done the previous night for dinner, we boiled
water and ate freeze-dried food for breakfast.   Afterwards at 11:40, our friend took a nap.   Until 2:40!
Meanwhile, my brother and I went fishing.   We each caught a few fish and it sprinkled on us three times,
prompting my brother to stop fishing.   I quit about 30 minutes later.   When I was getting out of my belly boat,
I discovered that all of my clothes were wet slightly below the top of the waders.   At first we thought that I had
sunk too low in the boat and water had leaked over the top of the back of my waders.   Later, we concluded that
there was a leak in my waders, in addition to the leak in our friend's waders.   Wow, two out of three sometimes
isn't good!   So, I changed into dry clothes and hung all of my wet clothes on the clothesline.   (It's good to have
extra clothes!)
We sat around camp for a while waiting for the wind to subside and to determine if it would rain.   It did
subside, it didn't rain, and they went fishing in their boats.   Meanwhile, I updated this document and later
fished from the shore.   At 6:45, we filtered more water from the stream behind the camp.   We ate dinner at
7:45 and then chatted for a while.   My brother and our friend went to bed at 8:15.   As per the previous night,
I stayed up later, went to the lake, watched sparse clouds slowly traverse the sky, saw a couple of bats flying
around me, and went to bed at 9 o'clock.   Ahh, another day and night at the lake without other people!
I had been cold the previous night while sleeping, so I changed my strategy and didn't wear thermal underwear.
When I've done that in the past, I got too hot in the sleeping bag.   But this time, it worked.
Airplanes: 45
People: 0
Fish Caught --
My brother: 14
Our friend: 6 (including a 14-incher)
Me: 4

Friday, August 18th --
I figured it out! My friend slept for 13 hours the previous day.   Ha! Ha!
We all got up at 7:15.   We didn't bother eating and went straight to the lake to fish.   This time, even I used a
belly boat.   (Which I usually don't do during morning fishing.)   The primary reason that I fished from a boat
was because this was the last day that we were going to fish since we had planned to leave the lake the next
morning around 10am.   While fishing, I caught my biggest fish, "sizing in" at 17 inches.   And as we predicted
would happen Since it was a Friday, a couple arrived at the lake.   At around 11:15, we finished fishing because
there was little action, plus we wanted to eat breakfast.   One thing that I noticed while fishing was that my fly
line didn't float.   That was strange because I just had new line put on the reel prior to the trip.   Obviously, the
shop who installed it for me didn't dress the line.   Unfortunately, my friend's dressing tool was not with us.
We should add that item to our list of things to take on these trips.   By the way, I used dry fly solution and it
worked so-so.
Immediately after eating, my brother and our friend went fishing again.   I didn't go because my clothes were
wet due to my waders leaking.   So, I was able to update this log.   While writing, I once again noticed that there
were essentially no mosquitoes.   Strange.   After updating the log, I performed an experiment that I'd had
planned for the trip.   I brought a thin sheet of mylar to attach to the top of one of the tents.   The purpose was
to protect the tent from the sun and keep the tent cooler inside.   I checked the heat on the inside of the tent and
then I attached the mylar to the two-man tent using clothes pins.   After two or three hours, I would check the
heat in the tent again to determine the results.
I went fishing again.   After failing to catch anything with a red-and-white daredevil, I noticed some fish
cruising along the shoreline.   (We call them "cruisers.") So, I returned to the launching area -- where we
launch and land our belly boats, retrieved my fly fishing pole, and returned to the same fishing spot.   I dropped
the fly in front of a couple of fish and "Wham!" -- I caught one.   It was a 15-inch cutthroat and it was the most
colorful fish that I had caught during the trip.   THAT was satisfying, especially to catch a fish that you are
purposefully trying to catch as opposed to blindly throwing a line in the water and hoping that a fish crosses
the path of your presentation.   About 15 minutes later, the thrill of the trip occurred when a bald eagle flew
into the area.   It perched on the top of a tree about 50 yards from our friend while he was in his belly boat.
He pulled out his camera and began taking a video of it.   After about 30 seconds, the bird flew around, dove
down, and snatched a fish from the lake.   It then flew back to the same tree and ate the fish.   Then, it flew
around some more, dove down again, and snatched ANOTHER fish from the lake.   It then flew over my
brother in his belly boat and landed in a tree at the far end of the lake.   I later discovered that my friend's
video of the scene was about two minutes long, catching all of the above-mentioned action.   What a show!
My experiment worked! -- the tent was noticeably cooler inside using the mylar tent "shield." So, I took a nap
on top of my air mattress, only wearing my hiking shorts.   As a matter of fact, it was SO cool inside the tent
that after a few minutes, I put on a shirt and laid my fleece pants over my legs because I was too cold.   I'm
going to add this -- the mylar tent shield -- to the list of items to include during future trips, along with fly
fishing line dressing.
After the nap, while my brother and our friend were just finishing, I went fishing.   I fished for about 15 minutes
while they removed their gear and recovered after nearly four hours in the boats.   (That can be tiring because
it's usually necessary to constantly paddle with one's flippers to avoid being pushed around the lake by the
wind.)   Meanwhile, the couple who had arrived earlier that day left the lake early enough to beat the sunset.
By the way, the sun sets around 6 o'clock at the lake because of the mountain towering above it towards the
west side of the lake.
We ate dinner -- pepper steak -- at 7:45.   We cooked all of our freeze-dried food with a small white gas stove
that our friend brought on this trip ... and during around five previous trips to the lake.   Eating this "quality"
of food is a lot different than what I used to eat when I used to go to the lake by myself -- instant breakfasts and
granola bars.   As usual, my brother and our friend went to bed soon after eating and I stayed up late enough to
see bats at the lake, the star Vega, plus a few other stars.
Airplanes: 47
People: 2
Fish Caught --
My brother: 12, including a 7-incher that he called "a whale"
Our friend: 18
Me: 7, including a 17-incher

Saturday, August 19th --
We had packed up the belly boats and other fishing gear the previous night, making it a briefer packing
experience in the morning.   We ate instant cereals for breakfast.   We would have eaten granola bars with
them, as usual, but we had eaten nearly all of them during the trip.   We packed up everything and left the
campsite at 9:45.   We arrived at the trailhead at 12:35.   Along the way, we crossed paths with ten people and
six dogs.   One of the people, a man, was camping in the trees he was nude.   I waved to him and he waved back.
(My brother and our friend laughed.)   We continued hiking, quickly.   While hiking, we experienced something
that had never happened before.   A bag containing waders dropped off of my backpack.   Twice.   And a coat
fell off of my brother's backpack.   Once.   He was wearing the coat when he started hiking and removed it after
a while.   So, it wasn't a complete surprise that it happened but it was a complete surprise about my bag.   Also,
I/we got lucky that I didn't lose my bag because I was following my brother who was following our friend.   I
didn't hear the bag drop, I just felt that something was wrong.   I looked behind me, and there it lay on the trail
about 50 yards behind me.   Wow!   And once again, there were essentially no mosquitoes attacking us during
the hike.   Awesome!
We left in the truck at 12:50 and arrived in Casper at about 6:15.   Because the total solar eclipse was going to
occur in two days on August 21st and the centerline was going to pass directly through Casper, we decided to
drive along a back roads-type two-lane highway instead of taking I-25 because of the possibility of heavy traffic.
It turned out that there wasn't any heavy traffic.   But it only took us about one hour more and it was nice to
have some different, and much more interesting, scenery to look at along the drive.   Also, we saw about 200
antelope during the drive that were hanging out in the fields.   By the way, antelope season for bow hunters
started on August 15th and for gun hunters would start around September 21st, both ending at the end of
October.   So, the antelope were mostly safe ...   for a while.

Epilogue --

  1. Take two rolls of toilet paper on each trip
  2. We need to test things prior to going on trips (e.g., waders for leaking)
  3. Take fly line dressing, and pad, on future trips
  4. Take mylar film on trips to protect tents from the sun's heat
And now, for what could be a once-in-a-lifetime experience and one that it on my "Bucket List" ... watching a
total solar eclipse on Monday, August 21st starting at 10:22am, ending at 1:09pm with totality starting at
11:42am and ending at 11:45am!


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