Prelude --
This year was special: It was the 50th anniversary of the first time that our family -- my dad, my
mom, my brother, and I -- went to "our lake". This year, my brother and our friend went on the trip.
However, I did not go this year because airplane tickets were too expensive. I should have done the same as
my brother and bought them in March, prior to prices increasing when fuel prices increased as a result of the
Ukraine War and the fuel shortage. Ironically, it was a good thing that I didn't go ... as you'll soon learn.
Sunday, July 31st --
As usual, my brother and our friend drove from Casper to Fort Collins. After checking into a hotel, they
drove to a golf course and ate dinner and visited with our friends who live nearby. My brother and our
friend returned to the hotel and went to bed early because, as usual, as they were getting up very early.
Prior to their trip, I had joked with our friend that there was one reason why I didn't mind not going on the
trip this year -- I wouldn't have to wake up at Oh-Dark-Hundred.
Monday, August 1st --
This promised to be one of the most interesting trips to "the lake." The reason is because no one knew what
the woods would look like after the 2020 fire. So, they got up, checked out of the hotel, and ate breakfast at a
nearby restaurant. Afterwards, they drove into the mountains, observing hillsides with blackened trees. The
fire that burned the trees had started on August 13th and finally ended on December 2nd. Wow, nearly four
months! And if winter hadn't started and snow begun falling, it would have continued beyond the 200,000-
plus acres.
They arrived at the trailhead. And they saw more burned trees -- "snags." Not all of the trees had been
burned. It must have been eerie walking amongst the trees, especially prior to the sun rising. As they hiked
along the trail, more often than not, they passed more and more snags. When hiking past a lake, they noticed
that a mountain on the other side of it was completely devastated by the fire. They could see boulders that
weren't visible in past years because the trees camouflaged them. They also saw new bushes on the other
hillside that had grown during the past two years. The bushes were in a distinct line where a spring fed into
the lake.
They crossed a creek and began hiking up a steep incline along the trail. However, when they looked up, they
could see the sky. This might not sound unusual, but prior to the fire, that wasn't possible. In the past, the
sky was obstructed by countless trees that blocked the sky. Now, most of those trees had been burned and
fallen down, exposing the sky. They attempted to cross some of the fallen trees, but after falling over a couple
of them, they realized that the trail was impassable.
They turned around and hiked back to where the trail forked. One path led to "our lake" and the other one
led to another lake. There weren't as many burned and fallen trees along the other trail, so they began
hiking to the other lake. However, after about two miles, the trail ended. Apparently, no one had hiked to
this lake since the fire occurred. As a result, vegetation had overtaken the trail and it was impossible to find
it. So, they hiked back down to the beginning of that trail. They must have wondered "What's next?"
After having hiked for six or seven hours, they decided to call it a day and pitch their tent near the fork in the
trail. While they were setting up camp, some forest rangers and volunteers hiked up to them. They were
carrying saws that they were going to use to clear the trail to "our lake." (What bad luck that they hadn't
done it prior to my brother and our friend going on the hike.) One of the rangers asked my brother and our
friend if they realized that they were setting up their tent in a spot that wasn't designated for camping. They
said 'Yes'. The woman asked them if they were going to leave the next morning. They said 'Yes'. She said
that, in that case, they could camp there that night.
While speaking with the ranger, my brother and our friend learned that "our lake" is regularly stocked with
1-foot greenback cutthroat trout. Really? We thought that the fish were "natives." Plus it would require
quite an effort to transport fish to the lake. I guessed that they must do it using horses and/or mules. We
believed that it's not possible to dropt fish into the lake via airplane because of the "tightness" of the
surrounding valley. If it's true that the fish are not native, well, that's quite disappointing. Our friend
pointed out that it makes sense that the lake is stocked. His reasoning was that we rarely catch fish smaller
than one foot long.
Tuesday, August 2nd --
My brother and our friend hiked back down to their truck the next morning and drove to Laramie, Wyoming.
They stayed there overnight. The next morning, they returned to Casper. A couple of days later, in order to
prevent the trip from being a complete loss, they drove to the North Platte River and flyfished the river in a
boat with a guide.
Friday, August 5th --
I left a text message on their phones via a group chat. (Little did I know that they had returned from their
trip three days beforehand.) I spoke with our friend. I joked with him that I guessed that I was required to
go on all future trips. The reason was because every time that they go without me, something goes wrong.
The last time that I didn't go on the trip with them, they didn't make it to "our lake" that year. (Refer to the
story of the trip that they took without me in 2011.)
Monday, August 8th --
My brother's girlfriend arrived in Casper a few days earlier. As they had done for a number of years, they
went on the trip by themselves about one week after my brother, our friend, and I had gone on our trip. They
hoped that the trail would be cleared of fallen trees. So, they hiked to the spot where my brother and our
friend had to turn around. The forest rangers and volunteers had cleared the trees from the trail. However,
after hiking about 100 more yards up hill, my brother and his girlfriend couldn't continue the hike because
they ran into too many other fallen trees. Unbelievable! My brother noticed that the ground was dark with
soot and soft due to countless pine needles. So, they turned around and hiked back to the trailhead. Wow!
A few days afterward ... --
... I spoke with my brother about their trip. He said that they had gotten a late start. As a result, the sun
was higher in the sky and it was significantly hotter, especially considering that they were carrying backpacks.
They drank a lot of water and nearly ran out of it during the hike up and down again the trail. (The total
distance was roughly ten miles.) When they reached their vehicle, a forest ranger drove up to them
immediately afterward they arrived. He was there to fill potholes in the road. He asked them how was their
hike. My brother told him about their experience. The ranger had a surprised look. He pointed out that
he was the person who had put the green ribbons that they saw on the fallen trees. The ribbons indicated
what trees needed to be cleared. The ranger's surprised look was because he expected that all of the trees
would have been cleared prior to their hike. My brother asked him about the fish situation and the ranger
pointed out that there were fish in the lake, but not a lot. My brother informed him that the ranger who my
brother and our friend had spoken to the previous week said that the lake was going to be stocked in
September. The ranger said that he didn't know about it. Interesting. The ranger added that there was a
black bear in the area and that it occasionally fed on fish in the lake. My brother's girlfriend didn't enjoy
hearing that. Ha! Ha! So, they camped overnight at a nearby campground and then drove back to Casper
the next morning. By the way, I asked my brother how many people that they crossed paths with along the
trail. He said that the only people that they saw had been in the parking area at the trailhead. Usually,
there are between two and seven or eight vehicles parked in the area. There were only 2 vehicles, including
my brother's. I joked that we obviously hadn't gotten the memo that the trails to the lakes were impassable.