Craig Ewing's "Space"
A Description Of 10,000 Feet, 2018

Monday, August 6th --
My brother, our friend, and I drove that afternoon from Casper to Fort Collins.   As usual, it took about 3-1/2 hours.   Thanks to my brother's girlfriend, we stayed at
the Hilton Hotel.   She used some of her points to do it.   Thanks to her for the generosity.   (Apparently, she has a lot of points.)   After reaching the room, we relaxed for
about 1-1/2 hours and, like the previous year, we then once again went to dinner that afternoon with my brother's friend and his friend's wife at a golf course's outdoor
restaurant.   And, as usual, it rained on us.   Afterwards, we returned to the hotel, took it easy, and went to bed early in order to get up early.

Tuesday, August 7th --
We woke up at 3am.   We went to the same Denny's restaurant as during previous years, had them fill up our six water bottles, ate breakfast, and left there at about 3:45.
We arrived at the trail head at 6 o'clock.   After arriving at the trail head and preparing our gear, we started hiking at 6:30 and arrived at the lake and got our favorite
campsite at 11 o'clock. We hiked slower than we did the previous year.   Apparently, we weren't in as good of shape.   Once again, both my brother and our friend took
anti-leg cramping pills and the pills worked great.   We crossed paths with three men who were hiking back from "the lake".   When we arrived at the campsite, the fire
pit from the previous year was gone.   Maybe our decision last year to not tear up the fire pit so that hopefully forest rangers would find it and notice that people are
building such things worked.   In addition, we saw that all of the logs that had been arranged as benches during previous years had all been moved and stacked in one
spot to the side.
As usual, we set up our tents first and then immediately went fishing.   (This year, we once again reduced weight by my brother buying a 4-man tent that is much lighter
than our friend's 2-man tent.   I don't know how long we fished, but the fish were feeding on or near the lake's surface all day until about 5 o'clock.   We counted four
separate types of flies hatching including Mayflies, tiny white midges, and flying ants.   And we had another first-of-its-kind experience -- a duck and her ducklings were
living at the lake.   We counted three of the little ones.   Amazing ... at 10,000 feet!
When they finished fishing, my brother and our friend went to the creek behind the campsite and got water from it.   As usual, they used a pump-style filtration system.
They filled a 1-gallon bladder, a 1/2-gallon bladder, and all of the empty water bottles.   Note: That much water lasts between one day and 1-1/2 days.   Later that day, I
walked around the lake and when I crossed the spring that feeds into the lake, I saw that it was very low.   It was a good thing that we brought a water filtration system
because the small amount of water would indicate that the water spewing from the spring on the side of the glacier wouldn't be flowing strong enough for us to get water
from it.
My brother and our friend fished, as usual, from belly boats/float tubes.   I didn't fish right off and instead took a nap between 1:35 and 3:35.   I was dizzy every time
that I bent down or bent over.   So, I was feeling the effects of altitude sickness.   At least I wasn't nauseous.   In addition to sleeping, I drank as much water as I could
stand in order to recover.   Both the water and the nap worked because I never felt dizzy again for the rest of the trip.
Related to eating, I decided to go "old school" during this trip.   I decided to only eat granola bars and trail mix while drinking only water and instant breakfasts.
Meanwhile, my brother and our friend ate instant meals such as stroganoff and apple crisps.   At the end of this logbook, I'll provide the results of going back to the old
ways ... something that I discontinued doing around ten years ago.
And we experienced yet another first.   After we had set up camp and prior to going fishing, a "surveyor" visited us.   He was a gentleman around 65 years old.   He was
taking photos and videos of the campsites.   He said that he was going to give the results to the forest service.   I believe that they would be used for the rangers to
determine what work needed to be done and what tools and manpower would be required to do the work.
Like the previous year, we noticed that slightly more than half of the trees both around the lake and on the nearby hillsides were dead.   The mountain pine beetles
continued decimating the trees.   Oh, for a "miracle" to occur!   And there was still more algae growing at the bottom of the lake.   The amount appears to double every
year.   My brother and our friend went to bed at 6:35.   As usual, I stayed up later than them and spent time sitting at the edge of the lake.   That's when I saw the mother
duck and her paddle.   Or her paddling, or badling, or brace, or bunch, or flock, or raft, or team.
Note: I decided to try the suggestion that was in the documentation for my new air mattress.   I would inflate the mattress to completely full and then slightly deflate it.
The documentation stated that a completely full mattress would create an uncomfortable wobbling situation.   We'll see if it works.
Airplanes: 62
People: 3 (on the trail)
Fish Caught --
My brother: 8
Our Friend: 8
Me: 1

Wednesday, August 8th --
We got up at 6:30 to a clear sky.   We had a visitor during the night that left a small "deposit" near the cooking area.   Considering its location, we would have noticed it
the day before.   We ate breakfast and they started fishing at 7:30.   I stayed in camp for a while and updated this logbook.   Afterwards, I went fishing in my belly boat.
Between 8:30 and 8:40, the fish were on a feeding frenzy.   I estimate that you could see a fish rising every 1/2 second.   (Yes, every half of a second!)   At 8:45, I finally
caught a fish after changing my flyfishing fly to something similar to the flying ants that were hatching all over the lake.   While I was landing the fish, I noticed that my
boat was sinking.   Really?!   Now?!   So, I paddled towards the shore as I landed the fish.   I released the fish, landed the boat, returned to camp, changed my clothes,
and hung all of the wet clothes that I had been wearing on our clothesline.   Then, I returned to fishing ... from the shore with my casting outfit.
A man and a woman arrived at the lake at 11:30.   I think that I was in "their spot" because they walked about 20 feet from me, reversed course, and sat nearby.   They
ate lunch, fished, and left about 30 minutes later.
At 1:30, our friend took a nap.   It sprinkled for about ten minutes.   And when it wasn't sprinkling, a hawk was flying around the lake during the day.   My brother and
I got more water and fixed the leak in my belly boat.   It turned out that the connector for the pump was leaking.   So, we sealed it with glue.   It would be ready in eight
or twelve hours.   So, the next day.   I wondered if the manufacturer took into account that letting the glue set overnight would work if the temperature dropped below a
particular temperature.   Such as the overnight lows of someplace at 10,000 feet.   We would find out soon.
At 3 o'clock, our friend got up from his nap and we all went fishing.   Once again, I had to fish from the shore.   But the fish didn't cooperate.   Meanwhile, we saw, and
felt, an approaching storm.   So, we returned to camp.   Starting at 4:15, it started sprinkling again and lasted for about 15 minutes.   After that, we ate dinner.   Note: It
was a good thing that we took a few large trash bags because, in addition to using them to cover the backpacks, they were even more useful for covering wet logs that we
sat on.   After our friend started the burner, it behaved strangely.   We decided that its lines et al should be cleaned after each trip.
I would like to point out that the birds that we saw and/or heard during the trip included sparrows, robins, "camp robbers" (albeit not as many as usual), hawks, and an
eagle.   The flies included house flies that bit us.   Or maybe they were deer flies or horse flies that were smaller than what we were used to.   (I've never met a house fly
that bites.)
After dinner, we set up a Thermacell device to fend off mosquitoes.   It takes a while to warm up and work, but it works well.   Then, we returned to the lake. I fished
with a red-and-white daredevil again. This time, I caught a "tree fish".   It was buried in the lake about ten feet from shore.   I decided to leave it there and I would
retrieve it in the morning.
At 6:40, my brother and our friend went to bed.   (If I went to bed that early, I'd wake up around 2am.)   So, I went to the lake to enjoy the peacefulness.   While I was
sitting at its edge, I heard the duck quacking.   I looked in the direction of the sound and saw an eagle fly up from the lake and land on a nearby tree.   Did the eagle
snatch one of the ducklings.   I would find out the next day by doing a "head count".
Airplanes: 31 (much fewer than usual)
People: 2 -- a man and a woman
Fish Caught --
My brother: 2
Our Friend: 2
Me: 1

Thursday, August 9th --
Note: The suggestion in the documentation for my new air mattress didn't work.   By using it, I discovered that when lying on either of my sides, I would sink down to
where I was lying against the ground.   So, I decided to try sleeping with the mattress completely full.   That worked.
All of us got up around 6:45.   We ate breakfast and tested my (hopefully) repaired belly boat's bladder.   It didn't leak.   Whoo-hoo!   So, we deflated the bladder, put it
back into the boat's frame, re-inflated it, and I was good to go.
They went fishing while I updated this logbook.   (I HAD to jot down a note about the success of fixing my boat's bladder.)   One thing that I'd like to point out, as a
reminder to us, was the perpetual twisting of fly line tippets.   We decided that the reason was because of the ages of the lines.   When we replaced the tippets with new
ones, the problem was fixed.
A funny incident.   My brother stretched out the tent by tying strings on it.   Instead of the strings going downwards to the ground, they went out.   So he decided to put
something -- aluminum foil -- on the strings so that no one would trip over them.   Instead of tripping on the outstretched lines, he tripped on one of the stakes on one of
the corners of the tent's frame.   Funny!   Even to him.
When my brother and our friend were on the lake in their boats, our friend counted six ducklings.   Six?   We counted three ducklings the day before.   So, we're not sure
if the eagle had gotten one of the ducklings during the previous night.   (We hoped for the best.   For the ducklings.)   It didn't rain at all that day.   The negative
consequence, I think, is that the fish weren't biting.   Once again.   At least they weren't biting what we were offering them.   So, it was another slow day of fishing.   As a
matter of fact, it was the worst day of fishing at "the lake" that our friend ever experienced.
While we were fishing, I thought about the issue of the top of my head occasionally being cold while sleeping.   My brother and our friend always slept with beanies.   I
decided (conceded?) that it was a good idea.   I need to find the beanie that I had stored somewhere.   Our friend took a 1-1/2 hour nap while my brother and I fished.
Temperatures at night got down to 45 and 50 degrees while during the during the days they got up to 70 and 75 degrees.   More of the bottom of the lake had algae.
That made it more difficult to fish with lures ... even from a boat.  Interestingly, there were few chipmunks, I didn't see or hear any squirrels, and our mouse from the
previous year that would eat food that we would spill wasn't around.  The most successful flies included Chernobyl Ants, Adams (dry or wet), Rainbow trout streamers,
and brown grasshoppers.   As usual, red-and-white daredevils were popular with the fish.   But even more popular daredevils were the yellow ones with red and white
spots.   So, we followed our typical routine after finishing fishing and we all hit the hay at 7:45.
Airplanes: 52
People: 0   Whoo-hoo!
Fish Caught --
My brother: 6
Our Friend: 1
Me: 4 -- one was a 20-incher

Friday, August 10th --
We got up at 7:25.   Our friend was already up.   One thing that I thought about was that we had not seen, or heard, any large animals.   We had a good opportunity
since there were few people at the lake to potentially scare them away.   After eating breakfast, we went fishing.   Unfortunately, it wasn't good again.   I still believe that
it was because we didn't have any storms pass through the area.   That included the previous day and, according to forecasts, it was supposed to be dry again this day.
Today, being the last full day that we would be at the lake, I fished all day from my belly boat.   They started at 8:30 while I started at 9:00.   It seemed like the morning's
sky was bluer than usual.   While fishing, my brother and our friend were fishing close to each other at one point.   Then, our friend hooked a fish.   When he went to
land it in his boat, it came off of his fly/hook.   My brother happened to snap his photo and his look of disappointment.   It was the photo of the trip and you will find it
on the accompanying 'Pictures' page.   We only stopped fishing for about a half an hour during the day.   So, we finished after about nine hours of fishing, spent some
time in camp putting things in our backpacks for the next morning's hike, ate dinner, and crashed at 7:45.
Airplanes: 31
People: 2 men and a dog
Fish Caught --
My brother: 3
Our Friend: 4
Me: 2

Saturday, August 11th --
We got up around 7:30.   We ate breakfast and then finished packing.   After taking some last-minute photos of us being ready for the hike (Refer to associated photos on
the 'Pictures' page.), we left the lake at 10 o'clock.   Being that it was a Saturday, we crossed paths with several people.   In particular, there were two men and one
woman, six men/cowboys with ten horses and one mule, one man, two men and one woman, two men and one woman and two dogs, and two men, one woman, five girls,
and one two dogs.   Here's a funny story about the guys with the mule ...
As usual, I was hiking in front of my brother and our friend.   When I saw that there was a pack of horses coming down the hill, I moved to the side of the trail.   When
the mule, the fourth animal, saw me, it freaked out.   By "freaked out", I mean that it stopped in its tracks.   The second man on his horse in the line tried to pull the
mule into motion again.   It wouldn't budge.   The man then walked his horse back past the horse behind him and to the mule.   He tugged on its reins and it slightly
moved.   When it got about six feet away from me, it stopped again.   I was guessing that it didn't like my bright orange shirt.   So, I moved back, further away from the
trail.   The man pulled the mule's reins again.   This time it moved.   But it watched me VERY closely as it passed by me.   Later, we had to maneuver around A LOT of
horse and mule manure during our hike.
My friend was having difficulty with an upset stomach during the hike.   So he had to stop frequently, especially during the beginning of the hike.   I wanted to tease him
about it, but I didn't want to potentially upset him to the point where he couldn't continue as well as possible.   Also, my brother got a blister on one of his feet, so one of
our stops included him putting a moleskin on it.   So, we finished the hike and arrived at the truck at 2 o'clock -- a 4-hour hike. After "recovering" and throwing our
packs in the back of his Toyota Forerunner, we started driving at 2:30.

Epilogue --

  1. Ducks at the lake? That's a first.
  2. The result of me eating only granola bars and trail mix had its effect.   I lost six pounds during the trip.   And that was a good thing since I had gained about 25
    pounds during the past five years.   So, the "experiment" worked.
  3. My brother caught the largest fish that we've ever seen pulled from the lake.
  4. Have you ever heard the joke "Number One, I order you to take a number two.?"   Well, I, as usual, never took a number two during the four full days that we were
    at the lake.
  5. Next year's trip will be 15 years since I spread my dad's ashes on our old campsite.   We should do something special for it.


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