Prelude -- This "report" is much longer than past reports. The reason is because, while on the trip, I used
voice texting instead of hand writing notes on paper. So, if you are going to read my entire report, you might
want to plan for more than one sitting in order to complete it.
Wednesday, July 22nd --
I left Casper at 1:55. I estimated that it would take 5-1/2 hours to reach the trail head. It ended up taking
longer because there was construction on Hwy 287 between Rawlins and Laramie. I took a couple of wrong
turns when trying to get onto Hwy 287, which added about 15 minutes to my driving time. But it might have
been a blessing in disguise because a storm had recently passed by and I didn’t have to drive through it. I
barely made it to Laramie at 6 o’clock before running out of gas.
I arrived below the trailhead at 9:15. The road had several potholes that were filled with water. I decided
to camp below the road to the trailhead and then drive to the trailhead the next morning. I slept in the
passenger seat of my vehicle at 9:45. I woke up several times to put on more clothes because it got gradually
colder. I had to use a large towel as a blanket.
I crossed paths with a man who provided me some useful information -- #1: A bear with her 2 cubs lived in
the area, and #2: It was supposed to start sprinkling or raining at 9:30am on Thursday morning, continuing
until Friday afternoon or night.
I had cracked open my window a little bit in order to get some air. About 30 minutes after starting to sleep, I
heard something walking outside of my vehicle. I stayed still, didn't make any noise, and it went away. It
was probably a moose, but it could have been a bear.
Per my custom, when I arrived at the lake, I said 'Hello' to the lake, my dad, and my brother. That
afternoon, per the request of my friend, I did it again for my dad and my brother. And for my other friend,
his wife, I did it for my brother.
After trying and failing to get the water filtration pump to work, I took a sponge bath. Although the water
from the creek was very cold, it felt wonderful to clean up.
The sun set over the mountain around 5:45. But the sky didn't start getting astronomical dark until at 9:30.
Fortunately, I brought my brother's "brick" -- a portable charger -- for his iPhone. Otherwise, it would
have ran out of power sometime during my second day at "the lake."
Airplanes: 0 -- because I wasn't counting them
People: 0 -- because I wasn't either hiking or at "the lake"
Fish: 0 -- because I didn't fish
Temp: High -- I don't know, Low -- Somewhere around 55 degrees
Thursday, July 23rd --
I woke up at 6 o'clock. The sun rose at about 6:10 and I drove from my parking spot at 6:20. I arrived at
the trailhead at 6:35. I finished loading up my backpack and I started hiking at 7:45. Interesting(?) -- this
is nearly exactly the time that my friend, my brother, and I started hiking during previous trips whereas we
stayed in a hotel and started driving from the city around 5:30.
Before hiking, I had a granola bar and a bottle of electrolyte for breakfast. I reached the reservoir at 8:40.
That was my first stop. I ate a protein bar and drank some water. I reached the bridge, the one that didn't
exist during our 2024 trip, at 9:45. I arrived at "the lake" at 10:35. So, it took me 2 hours and 50 minutes.
That included 3 breaks -- with 2 more after hiking up the steep slope after the creek. (It usually took us at
least 4 hours during previous trips.)
I got lucky and no one was already camping at my favorite spot. A tree had fallen down right in the middle
of the campsite. I planned on using my portable saw to cut off the branches later so that I could walk over
the tree instead of taking the lengthier walk around it.
Like I pointed out, a new bridge had been built to cross the creek. (A photo of it is in the 'Pictures' section.)
I was concerned about it because the bridge had been washed out during my last trip 2 years ago. And there
were previous bridges that had been destroyed by rushing runoff waters. As can be seen in the photograph,
the forest rangers and/or wilderness volunteers had raised the foundations by about 3 feet with large rocks.
Plus they added a handrail. Great job!
The first thing that I did was to set up my brother's tent. It took much longer than expected because I
hadn't done it for 2 years. (That's my excuse.) Then, I walked over to the lake, both to "soak it in" and
check out fish activity. At 2:15, there were several fish eating things either just below the surface or on it.
(That was a good sign because, as I mentioned during my trip 2 years ago, there was barely any activity at
all.)
After spending about 10 minutes at the lake, I grabbed my things to go get water from the creek behind my
campsite. As usual, I used our water filtering pump system. Unfortunately, the pump didn't work. Either
I would have to fix it or I'd have to get my water from the side of the mountain on the other side of the lake.
Starting at 2:10, it's sprinkled for about 10 minutes. So far, The prediction for a lot of rain didn't happen.
Even so, I decided to take a break and get in a nap.
About 10 minutes later, it started sprinkling again. Then it started raining harder. It made me think "I
should make a "trench" above the tent to prevent rain from running into the tent." The temperature felt
like it dropped 15 degrees during the hard rain. So, I put on a flannel shirt to keep warm. When the rain
stopped and the sun started shining, it warmed up about 10 degrees. So, I removed the flannel shirt.
Sheesh! It stopped raining at about 3:20.
Soon after the rain stopped, I got out of the tent to try and fix the problem with the water filtration pump.
Fortunately, I had the instructions to help to determine why it wasn't working. After checking 5 or 6
different things, I concluded that I wasn't going to be able to solve the problem. Now, I had 2 choices --
(1) Go without water until tomorrow when I could go to the mountain and get water out of the spring, or
(2) Get water out of the creek behind my campsite and take the chance of getting giardia poisoning. I chose
(2) because I needed to eat dinner and needed water to do it. Note: It was too late in the day to get water out
of the spring in the mountain.
At about 5:30, I finally did some fishing. I was fishing with a spin casting outfit using a bubble and a
rainbow trout streamer. On my first cast, I got a hit within 3 seconds. It was SO quick that I wasn't ready
for it and missed it. I fished for another 20 minutes and caught 2 fish -- 6 inches and 8 inches long. I hoped
that the fish that I would catch the next day were bigger. MUCH bigger.
I stopped fishing because another storm was passing through the area. As was the case with other storms in
the area, there was a lot of thunder, but I didn't see any lightning. So, I got into my tent and, what was a
trend, it lasted for about 10 minutes. When it finished, I got out of the tent to do 2 things -- (1) Brush my
teeth, and (2) Dig the trench above my tent. I barely got the second task done when it started raining again.
So, back into the tent I went.
A couple of times while I was doing things in the campsite, I could hear things walking around that were
large enough to break twigs and small branches. That can be disconcerting. But they were probably
moose and weren't harmful. IF they don't have calves.
Sleeping was interesting because of the temperature. First, I laid on my air mattress with no sleeping bag.
Then it started getting colder. So, I put the sleeping bag over me. Then it got even colder and I got into the
sleeping bag. These "phases" happened approximately every 2 hours. Naturally, I didn’t sleep well. As a
result, I had multiple strange dreams and nightmares.
Airplanes: 44
People: 0
Fish: 2 (Rainbow trout streamers)
Temp: High -- 75, Low -- 55
Friday, July 24th
It was warmer than the previous morning. Maybe that’s because there was no rain the previous night. I
re-woke up at 6:05. The sun had not risen, at least it had not shined on my tent yet. I didn't get up and I
re-woke up again at 7:05. Now, the sun was shining on the bottom of the tent. It was wonderful to lay in my
sleeping bag and enjoy listening to Nature -- water running in the creek, birds singing, and a breeze gently
flowing through the trees.
The first thing that I did after getting out of the tent, after urinating (Ha! Ha!), was to go to "the lake." I
said 'Hi' to it, my dad, and my brother. The sky was completely clear. Looking at the hill across the lake,
from what I could tell, no more trees had been killed by the pine beetles. Regarding the landslide that
occurred on the face of the mountain, if I remember correctly, it occurred in 1982. So that was 44 years ago.
I remember my brother and father going to "the lake" that summer and telling me about it. I was shocked
when I saw the result the next summer.
After eating a "hearty" breakfast of instant cereal, granola, bars, and trail mix, I brushed my teeth and I got
some more "giardia water" from the creek. (I wondered what were the chances of getting the disease.)
Next, I finished setting up the camp by putting up a clothesline. I could have done it when I was setting up
camp the previous day, but -- (1) I didn't need it, and (2) I didn't feel like it. Moreover, it was obviously
going to rain some more. So, putting anything on the line would have gotten them wet or soaked. Then, I
"improved" the camp by using my portable saw and cutting off branches on the log that blocked the path
going in and out of the camp. I said "I'm sorry" to the forest rangers and wilderness volunteers if they
didn't like it because it might decrease the natural feel of the area.
Some random thoughts -- (1) I saw 1 or 2 chipmunks that morning; (2) I used my shovel to wipe away three
piles of deer scat ... they were directly in the walking path area of the camp ... I supposed that I would have to
do it again the next time that I went there; (3) At exactly 10:34, I heard a tree crash to the ground. I
estimated that it was 200 yards away from the camp.
At 10:55, I began my trek around the lake to get water from the mountain spring. My plan was to walk
around the entire lake for the trip, so, at the lake, I went left --South. It took about 10 Minutes to reach the
other side, including taking some photographs. While trying to find the best place to walk up the
mountainside to get water, I crossed paths with an irate chipmunk. Apparently, it was protecting its
"home." So, I took some trail mix and water, walked about 50 feet around the corner, hoping that it would
calm down. It didn't and stopped after about 5 minutes. That's a long time for a chipmunk to "talk." (A
photo of it is in the 'Pictures' section.)
At 11:35, I started walking up the mountain side. I took a photo of some black scat during my walk. After
about 10 minutes, I turned left into the "thicket." (It's easier to walk in the open area instead of through the
trees, fallen down trees, and branches.) After about 5 minutes, I found the "babbling brook", but the water
was inaccessible to fill a water jug. So, I walked a little ways uphill but couldn't find anything better. So, I
walked downhill and, after about 10 minutes, I found the perfect spot -- I could get my water jug completely
submerged. I filled up the entire 2.5-gallon water bladder in about 5 minutes. (It only took about 2 seconds
to fill a 20-ounce water jug.) After I was finished, I looked "downstream" and saw that I was only about 20
feet from where I started walking up the mountain side. D'oh! It was about 12:05 and I walked back to my
campsite. Along the way, I took photographs of both the lake and the mountainsides. I noticed that the one
mountainside that we named "The Snow Field" barely had any snow on it. I got back to my campsite at
12:35.
I went to the lake at 1:50. There was no wind. Occasionally, a fish would hit something near or at the
surface. I guessed that the lake had been stocked during the previous Fall. Most importantly, there was no
other person at the lake. Perfect! Soon afterwards, the wind started to blow. Now was the time to fish.
(By the way, the wind felt great -- decreasing the temperature by about 5 degrees instantly to around 70
degrees.)
I caught 3 fish that were all between 6 and 9 inches long. One of them got caught in the twigs of a tree that
had fallen into the lake. So, I had to "play it" so that it could untangle itself. It worked, I landed it, and as
with all of the fish that I catch, I released it. At about 2:45, fish stopped jumping and hitting my offerings.
So, I stopped fishing and returned to my campsite. I had some more water, ate some more trail mix, and
started taking a nap at 3:15.
By 3:45, I couldn't stand it anymore. Unfortunately, the place where I set up my tent, as usual, isn't
protected by trees from the sun. So, unless there are clouds, it's a sauna inside the tent. My guess is that the
temperature was between 85 and 90 degrees. So, I got out of there, went down to the creek, and did another
sponge bath. When I returned to my campsite, I heard a large animal running away from it. It was
probably a deer or a moose.
Due to fallen trees, there were multiple walking obstructions around the campsite. Fortunately, I took our
portable saw with me. So, I removed branches on the fallen trees both inside and around the campsite. I
also walked a few hundred yards down the south side of the lake and removed other walking obstructions.
Oh, the things that we do when we have too much time on our hands! However, any time spent at "the lake"
is wonderful.
After finishing removing walking obstructions along the lake, I took some photographs of rings that were the
results of rising fish. At 5:10, I went fishing. When leaving the campsite, I could hear a large animal
walking between the campsite and the creek. Maybe it was getting giardia water. Ha! Ha! The lake was
like a mirror. And the fish were jumping a lot. Finally, for the first time during this trip, I heard an eagle.
Meanwhile, I had heard one or more hawks as soon as I arrived at "the lake."
Fishing was interesting. Like the day before, I used a Rainbow Trout streamer. (I replaced the one that I
used before because it was destroyed.) Here's why it was interesting --
1) On my first cast, a fish hit the streamer before I was ready for it. So I missed it. Wow, those were hungry
fish!
2) I proceeded to catch 4 fish, all in the same 6- to 9-inch range. Even though they were small, since they
were cutthroat trout, they were fighters. So, it was still fun.
3) With another fish, it hit my streamer far out in the water. I estimate that it was 40 yards away. When I
set the hook, the line snapped. Fortunately, It snapped very close to me, I tried to snag it with my pole, but it
drifted out of reach. So, I tied on the largest daredevil lure that I had and planned on snagging the line with
it. Lo and behold, it worked on the first attempt. So, I was able to retrieve it and not lose the streamer, the
bubble, and the weights.
4) With the last fish that I caught, I wasn't paying enough attention and it swam underneath the branches of
that submerged tree again. I tried to use the same strategy as I used the day before and let the fish swim out
of it, but it couldn't because the line went under the tree trunk. So, I planned on doing the same thing as the
previous day. So, I cut the line, tied on the same daredevil, and began trying to hook the line. Fortunately, I
did it on the 2nd attempt. So, I dragged the line over the tree, including with the fish, and successfully
landed the fish, released the fish, and retrieved all of my equipment.
Summary: Would you call that "interesting fishing"? I do. And I wish it wasn't so interesting. Ha! Ha!
By the way, I finished fishing at about 7:15.
I returned to my campsite. While preparing to have dinner, I listened to thunderstorms both to the North
and the South of my canyon. The typical afternoon storms arrived later than usual. Obviously. But at
least it wasn't raining on and off all afternoon like it did the day before. For dinner, I had instant cereal,
granola bars, and 2 packets of trail mix. When I was finishing, I heard a thunderstorm coming towards my
canyon. So, I hustled -- putting things into my backpack, brushing my teeth, and getting into the tent. It
was 8 o'clock. For the first time during this trip, I saw the flashes of lightning on the top of my tent. It
turned out that the storm grazed where I was at, and I got just a small sprinkling for about 2 minutes. So, I
was ready for a long, good night sleep.
Before getting into the tent, I heard something moving about 15 feet away from my tent. I looked over a
log and it was a rabbit. I don't know which one of us was more scared of the other. Ha! Ha!
Airplanes: 59
People: 0
Fish: 7 (Rainbow trout streamers)
Temp: High -- 70, Low -- 55
Saturday, July 25th --
I woke up at about 7 o'clock and I got up at about 8 o'clock. I ate breakfast at about 8:30 and I started
breaking down camp at 8:50. Interesting -- The sky was completely clear, except for one small cloud
blocking the sun about 1/2 of the time. That made it much cooler. Along with a slight breeze. "Thanks
Dad and Eric!"
I finished with the camp at 11:20 and I started backpacking at 11:30. It was cloudy during most of my hike.
There was no wind at the reservoir. That was unusual. It was 12:55. I crossed paths with a couple in their
60s with one dog and later a couple in their 30s with 2 dogs. I finished my hike and reached the trailhead at
2:10. So, including 4 breaks, it took 2 hours and 50 minutes.
I started driving at 2:25. I reached Hwy 287 at 3:50. I reached Laramie at 5 o’clock, filled up with gas, and
quickly ate fast food in my vehicle. I left Laramie at 5:20. I arrived at my friend’s place at 9 o’clock — 1
hour later than expected. Neither of us could understand why it took me between 1 and 1-1/2 hours longer
than predicted. I must have driven the long way somewhere.
Airplanes: 35
People: 4 -- 1 couple with 1 dog and 1 couple with 2 dogs
Fish: 0 -- because I didn’t fish
Temp: High -- 65 (thanks to the clouds), Low -- I don't know because I wasn't there
Epilogue
- Totals --
Airplanes: 138
People: 4 ... and 3 dogs
Fish: 9 -- during 3 sessions
- The Thermacell mosquito-repelling device worked well. When it was on.
- The reason why the water filtration pump didn't work is that it needed to be primed. To do that, it was
necessary to get the profilter wet. That wasn't mentioned in the instruction manual
- I lost 7 lbs. in 4 days