This is going to be a long one with lots of pics…probably broken up into several posts. We’re leaving for Alaska tomorrow, so we’ll see if I can get it all done before then. I’ll get to the story behind the thread title at the end.

I’ve fallen in love with Wyoming. So much so that it’s become pretty much an annual thing for us. This year we got two and a half weeks out there, hiking, fishing, and camping. My wife’s parents, her sister, and uncle came too, in a separate vehicle.

Our first stop was Hanna campground outside of Spearfish, SD. We’ve stopped here before and it’s a convenient waypoint about 17 hours into the trip between Indiana and Wyoming. It’s also a nice little secluded campground in its own right, and close enough to other stuff in the Black Hills to be a good base camp. Our stay there extended an extra day because the weather was looking crappy in WY, and I figured we might as well take advantage of the sunshine in South Dakota.

We spent the first day visiting the DC Booth Fish hatchery in Spearfish, and then went to the community aquatic center in the afternoon. Day 2 we hit up the South Dakota Air and Space Museum and did a lap through the Rushmore area, but didn’t feel compelled to go into the monument itself…we’ve been there before. We also stopped at the Homestake mine visitor center in Lead. One thing about roads in the Black Hills….they made me miss my bike! This is definitely going to be a motorcycle trip destination at some point…just not during Sturgis.

Heron in a tree at Hanna Campground…not sure I’ve ever seen one in a tree before.



A variety of really big trout at the DC Booth Fish Hatchery



South Dakota Air and Space Museum


The Bone has gotta be one of the coolest bombers ever made, after the B58.


Rushmore from an overlook on Iron Mountain Rd


Washington from a little turnout off the main road


A 3D map of the Homestake Mine. The wave thing at the top is a representation of the earth’s surface, and the biggest downward divot is the giant hole (open cut) that you’ll see in the next picture. The deepest shaft goes down over 8,000 feet, and it’s 135 degrees down there. The air handling systems could only bring it down 15 degrees to 120. I can’t fathom working in that environment.


The “open cut”, 1200 feet deep from the top of the rim.


This guy was right outside our campsite at Hanna. The kids and I pulled up some chairs and watched him for about half an hour.



To be continued…

The next stop was the Bighorns. We found a free dispersed camping site off West Ten Sleep Rd that took a little maneuvering around rocks and trees, but we got both vehicles and trailers in there. We had a couple of hikes planned for this portion of the trip. I was wanting to do a three-day up to the Cloud Peak lakes, and also another trip over to Lost Twin Lake, where we’ve been several times in the past. My wife’s uncle, who’s in his late 60s, wanted to join me on the overnight trip, but I knew it was going to be pretty rough, so we did the day hike to Lost Twin first with the whole family to see how that went.

View over upper Lost Twin Lake. Only my middle son and I went up there…the rest of them hung out by the lower lake.


View back down the valley that we hiked up to get to Lost Twin


I didn’t take a lot of fish pics on this trip as I wanted to prioritize getting them back in the water quick and clean (actually unhooked them in the water whenever I could), but my son got a shot of this one at upper Lost Twin. Fishing was pretty good up there…not as active as the last time I went, but they were just as big.



The backdrop at Lost Twin lakes is just awe inspiring. It always blows me away, and although I keep trying, pictures just don’t do it justice.



My wife’s uncle completed the trip to Lost Twin, but the 11 miles took us 12 hours (normally takes me 6-8 with some long breaks to fish), and he was really hurting by the time we got back. Kudos to him, he admitted the next morning that he was too sore from the day before to undertake the other trip. There was going to be a lot of pretty dangerous boulder scrambling that I didn’t want to attempt alone, and I also didn’t want everyone else sitting around waiting on me for three days, so I decided to alter the plan a bit. I left late morning and did a single night solo up in the Mistymoon Lake area instead.

It ended up being an awesome hike. I caught fish in every lake on the way up, and then camped about 200 feet above Mistymoon looking down the valley. I had already set my tent up and climbed down to the lake to fish when a storm rolled in. It lasted about 45 minutes, and the tent handled it just fine…but when I went back outside there was a full-on double rainbow, which was just awesome in that environment.

Cloud Peak from the foot of Lake Helen


My campsite above Mistymoon


Waiting out the rainstorm, with a view at least until it got really heavy and I had to close the fly.


View to the east of a double rainbow over Mistymoon Lake


View to the west after the storm


My view to the north from the tent…setting sun hitting Cloud Peak


Moonrise over Mistymoon lake


I slept pretty decent that night, considering I was on the ground, and instead of hiking back downI decided to pack up the tent and continued another 2 miles up to Florence Lake. It’s steep and rocky (one hiker describe it to me a few years back as “Like trekking to Mordor” lol), and above 11,000 feet, but beautiful and I thought it would be fun to try fishing it.

On the way up I met a couple other groups of hikers, and one of them by some miracle spotted a coyote working his way up a rocky wall, so we watched him for a bit. When I got to the lake it was stunning. There was a group of guys camping up there, and they yelled “This place is Amazing!” as I hiked past. They also told me that the lake was full of cutthroats. I found a good spot near the outlet and proceeded to catch so many fish over the next two hours that I lost count. They were all good ones, too, and I got nice clean releases all around.

Kinda hard to see in the pic, but there’s a waterfall coming down the far side.


When I was on my way up the day before, I’d encountered a hiker who said he ran into a big bull Moose in the canyon on the other side of the lake that forced him to climb 2 hours out of his way to get around it. He also told me that he thought the Moose had a “fully belly” and that’s why it left him alone…which left me wondering if he knew how moose work. Either way, I had to get back by supper, wanted to take my time and fish, and I didn’t want to tangle with a pissed off moose, so I chose this as my turnaround point.

The hike down into the valley was even more spectacular than the hike up.


While fishing one of the lower lakes I spotted this guy on the other side munching on some willow. He didn’t seem grumpy at all, but I gave him plenty of space and used the 300mm for this shot.


I did make it back in time for supper, and even had enough time to jump in the creek for a rinse-off before we ate. This was actually my first solo overnight backpacking trip, and I really enjoyed it. I was able to walk at my own pace and do whatever I wanted without having to worry about anybody else…I think more of these are in my future.

More to come...

Nice! Keep’m coming.

We wanted to head out west with our 5th wheel for the summer when the kids were younger, but my parents were older and needed help.

After 4 days in the bighorns we moved on to Falls Campground in the Shoshone National Forest outside of Dubois. We’ve been here before, and last time the creek was clear and full of fish, and it was a short drive up the road to Brooks Lake and even better fishing. This time, the road to Brooks Lake was closed due to a landslide, and the stream was pretty silty with poor water clarity that negatively affected the fishing. Despite that, we had a pretty good time.

The first day there my FIL, middle son, and I went to the National Museum of Military Vehicles. This is a private museum founded by a local guy, but it’s huge and absolutely top notch. Better still, it was devoid of all the woke revisionist liberal bullcrap that many public museums are rife with. There is a large gun collection (including M60 Serial #1, a Singer 1911, and a really interesting display on the Liberator pistols) and a blatantly pro-sceond amendment message. We spent a full day there, and IMO it was more than worth the $25/person admission fee.

A couple of interesting displays that caught my eye were this Inidian motorcycle with a Moto-Guzzi like 45 degree v-twin and shaft drive:




And as a reloader this WW1 German railway gun projectile and shell peaked my interest. The “case” didn’t actually touch the projectile like a typical cartridge…it sat in the breech behind a column of powder bags and expanded as a gasket to help seal the back of the chamber when the gun fired.




The next day, we went to Yellowstone. Not my favorite place due to the congestion, but my wife’s uncle had never been there so we wanted him to see it.

Middle son and I walked the boardwalk by the Old Faithful geyser basin and actually ended up seeing a dual eruption of Beehive Geyser with Old Faithful going off in the background.



Castle Geyser also went off while we were there.




Grand Prismatic was pretty, but as usual very crowded.






The canyon was spectacular as always.


And of course we saw some close encounters with wildlife…nobody getting tossed, though.



And this little guy at the West Thumb Geyser Basin


The next day was the Tetons. We got lucky and got a clear morning before the smoke moved in that afternoon. We did a hike from the Leigh Lake trailhead up to Trapper lake and fished a little. We had a black bear cross the trail in front of us on the way back, but I didn’t get any photos. We also did some swimming and paddleboarding on String Lake. Pretty good day and a lot of fun with the kids.

Wow! AMAZING!!! I wish I could do a trip like that. If only in my younger days.... Many things I regret not doing (didn't even think about doing them). Immensely vicariously enjoyable.

Glad you like my "neck of the woods".

PC

quote:

Originally posted by trapper189:
Nice! Keep’m coming.

We wanted to head out west with our 5th wheel for the summer when the kids were younger, but my parents were older and needed help.

You should do it now. Gas prices were awful, but it was worth it. And I think we were in some of the same places that your son got to visit on his recent trip...I'm sure he'll have caught the bug!

quote:

Originally posted by konata88:
Wow! AMAZING!!! I wish I could do a trip like that. If only in my younger days.... Many things I regret not doing (didn't even think about doing them). Immensely vicariously enjoyable.

Glad you're enjoying them! And if you can manage the drive, you really should go. If mobility is a problem you don't have to do long hikes to access cool stuff. The hikes are fun and get you much deeper into the wild, but Yellowstone and the Tetons put a lot of it right by the parking lot. Another spot that we went to later that I haven't got to yet (Medicine Bow National Forest) amazed me at how close to the incredible peaks and lakes that you could drive, and how short and easy the hikes were to start getting back to the really good stuff. My in-laws are in their 70s and my wife's uncle is 68, and they did a lot of the stuff with us. You've just gotta know your limits and when to opt out and stay in the parking lot.

Also forgot to mention that we stopped in Thermopolis between the Bighorns and Dubois. They've got a free Hot Spring fed State Bath House and mineral springs kinda like a mini Yellowstone. All completely accessible and you can park right out front. The drive through Wind River Canyon afterwards is also spectacular.

PCWyoming, I know you and I have corresponded before. I still haven't found a viable way to move out there and make a living, but we're still enjoying our summer trips, have our list of old favorites, yet are still trying new stuff. Your state is amazing and never disappoints.

Terrific trip, photos and descriptions, thanks! First place I go in the AM is to see what you posted.

My wife’s uncle still wanted to do an overnight backpacking trip, and I wanted to get up to Brooks Lake. The creek by the campground still had pretty poor clarity, and the fishing was crap. I had hopes that it would be better upstream above the slide area and construction. We talked to a ranger and he said it was fine if we went up there, we just couldn’t drive through the construction.

I did a little research and determined that the Continental Divide Trail (CDT) actually passed though the area just about 5 miles up US26 from us, and went right by Brooks Lake. I stopped and scouted it on the way to the Tetons, and it looked pretty good. We decided to jump on the CDT, hike to the lake, camp in one of the empty campgrounds (Pit toilets, water spigots, dumpsters, and fire rings….I’m not above cheating if it’s an option!), and then hike back out on the road back to our campground the next day. This made for about 8 miles day 1 on the trail, and 5 day 2 on the road.

The hike in was awesome. There was a short climb (about ½ a mile) off of US26 to Sublette pass, where we passed between Sublette Peak and a big granite Wall that ran the length of the valley. The view down the valley was amazing from up there, and then there was a pretty gradual descent down into the valley, past upper and lower Jade Lakes, and then out to Brooks Creek. I was tempted to turn left and continue to Upper Brooks Lake at this point, but we were about 6 miles in and my wife’s uncle was getting tired, so we turned right and made our way down and around the lower lake to the campground.





We found a good spot and commenced some fishing along the lake shore and the outlet creek. We caught enough to keep us interested, but nothing amazing. The real highlight was coming back to the lake at sundown and seeing the sky lit up and fish jumping all over the place. We put away the poles and just sat there and watched…one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen.



After sundown we made a little fire and hung out by it until bed time. The stars were awesome up there, and since the road was closed there was nobody around and it was really quiet, apart from a deer that tried to walk through our campsite, lol.

The next morning I got up and hiked up the lakeshore to fish. Like an idiot I left my lures in camp, and on my first cast I caught a big one….which promptly broke me off. I had to hike 20 minutes back to camp through the soggy lakeshore (feet got soaked), get my lures, and go back. First cast, hooked up again. I was hoping it was the same fish so I could get my lure back, but it was just another nice rainbow. That spot petered out after that, so I made my way further up the lake to where the main creek from the upper lake dumped into it. It was shallow in the creek, but the bottom dropped off sharply into the lake. I took my shoes and socks off to let them dry and stood in the creek.



I have never had a day of fishing like that…just one big rainbow after another. I was catching a fish almost every cast. And with the creek being there, I didn’t even have to take them out of the water…just reach down and unhook them and watch them swim away. It was an absolutely fantastic morning of fishing, all in front of the backdrop of the moon setting between Sublette Peak and the wall. There was also a resident Bald Eagle flying around, a couple of Ospreys catching fish, and even a flock of White Pelicans to watch. I finally had to force myself away because I knew we still had to walk back.



The hike back down was pretty rough on my wife’s uncle. A hot, hard-surfaced 5 mile slog. But we made it before supper and I even had time to jump in the creek with my kids. It wasn’t the way I’d planned to get to Brooks Lake at the outset of the trip, but the fact that the road was closed made it much quieter up there, and like most things in life if you have to put in some extra effort it’s usually worth it.

The next day, our paths diverged. My in-laws left to drop my SIL off at the airport and then to spend a few days in Nebraska with friends. My wife’s uncle stayed with us, and we made our way around the top of the Wind River Range, through Jackson, and then back down the other side to Granite Creek. We’d never been here before, and I only had bits and pieces from the internet, but I knew there was 9 miles of dirt road, a hot spring, a waterfall, and a campground. After bouncing up the dirt road for miles, we found a nice spot in the campground with the help of a really friendly host. We got set up and went to the waterfall.

There’s a commercialized hot spring swimming pool that you have to pay to use about a mile up the road, but I’d heard there was a natural one at the waterfall. Sure enough, you could see a stream of steaming water coming down the cliff on the other side of the creek. The creek was about knee deep or a bit deeper, the rocks on the bottom were slicker than snot, it was flowing fast, and freezing cold. But when we got over there the water at the base of the hot spring falls was probably over 120 degrees. People had used rocks to form a series of pools to funnel creek water into it to moderate the temperature a bit, and we soaked in it for about half an hour before making way for some new arrivals. After not having a real shower in over a week it felt pretty good, and the kids and I amused ourselves by dunking ourselves in the freezing creek and then getting back into the hot pool. It was a good time. The falls were walking distance from the campground, so we visited that hot spring a few times during our stay (the water was crystal clear...the murkiness in the picture is just from sand we stirred up from sitting in it).





We spent two days here, playing in the creek, relaxing in the campground, and fishing. The fishing was super tough. The banks were overgrown and you pretty much had to stand in the water, which as stated above was rushing, cold, and slippery. We tried near the campground for a few hours the first night with no luck. The second day we drove down the road a bit to a more accessible spot. It was still tough going, but we each caught a couple. My wife’s uncle got his first cutthroat, and my son and I got some golden variety that blended in perfectly with the rocks. Nothing that was going to set any records, but they were rewarding just for the amount of effort that we had to put in to get them.

Stunning. Sounds like a terrific trip.

Always enjoy seeing your trip pics and narratives!

I’ve been to Wyoming a few times. Coming from the east, through flat land, once you reach the Badlands, things just get so much more beautiful.

Black hills are gorgeous, same with Devils Tower.

Did some camping in the Powderhorn pass area years ago. Standing on snow mounds in the middle of July. Headed to the Tetons - Wind River area and camped there as well.

Absolutely fell in love with that part of the Country. Jackson- a little too liberal for me, but a beautiful place. Yellowstone, another beautiful place, but too many tourists.

I would love to move there someday.

Our trip was wrapping up after Granite Creek. We had one day left before we had to start home, and I looked at a map and saw Medicine Bow National Forest over on the east side of the state. We'd driven by there before, but never had time to stop. This time, we had a day to kill and it got us closer to home, so I figured win-win. We should have gone there sooner, the place is spectacular!

The view from the main trailhead at Lewis Lake is just spectacular to start with, and gets even better as you hike up in. A relatively short mile hike got us to South Gap Lake. I left the family there and went further up to North Gap Lake. Caught a few fish then headed back down to meet back up with them.








They had made their way around the lake to the west side where there was a big snowfield/glacier? Thing hanging out over the water, and of course the kids had a snowball fight in August. It looked cool from a distance ,but was even more impressive up close.



To head back to the car, my wife's uncle and I opted to cross-country it past a number of lakes below us so we could fish them on the way out while my wife took the kids down the trail. We caught a few, and the walk was absolutely stunning.



We did a little more exploring after supper and drove up the road to check out another campground where we might want to stay in the future. On the way up we passed these two young bull moose eating alongside the road.



Medicine Bow is definitely going on the list of places to return.

And finally, the reason for the title. It seems if we have a problem on these trips, it's always on the way home.

A few years back we left the Bighorns and were driving east on I90 east of Gilette when the fuel pump died. We had to get towed 30 miles back into Gilette and pay for a new fuel pump ($1300 including the tow). The wrecker guy was great and dropped us and our trailer off at a campground in town. The campground was called the "Crazy Woman Campground". It wasn't particularly nice...basically an RV park next to a parking garage...and it was an outrageous $50/night. It was also our 15th wedding anniversary, and while we were eating dinner we got pooped on by a bird. Not the best day.

This time we had no problems with the Suburban (it actually turned 444,444 miles on the odometer, but it happened while my wife was driving through Illinois and I missed it ).

About 7:30am we were on I80 outside of Laramie and had just crested a pass that had been a bit of a struggle to get up. We were heading downhill, the speed limit was 80, and I was letting her eat. Next thing I know, "Bang!", the trailer starts shimmying a little and I see stuff flying off the trailer in my driver-side mirror.

Turns out the tread came off the trailer tire and ripped the driver-side fender and marker light off. Thankfully it held air, and I was able to get it onto the nice wide shoulder with enough room to work on it and not be in the travel lane. Traffic was light, and my wife's uncle asked me if I wanted him to go back and get the fender. Not wanting somebody to hit it and damage their vehicle or get hurt, I said "Yeah, if you can do it safely." He ran back to get it while I changed the tire. Right before he got to it, a semi ran it over and absolutely pancaked it. There was plenty of room to avoid it and the asshole didn't have to do that, but it was probably trashed anyway, and at least we were able to get it off the road before it hurt somebody.

The cheap chinesium tires were only a couple of years old, and I know they were properly inflated, but to be fair I was probably exceeding their speed rating by quite a bit. The spare was a little dry rotted but I kept it below 70 and we made it 40 miles down the road to WalMart in Cheyenne where they got us right in and out the door with three new tires in about an hour. Big kudos to those guys, they were awesome. Turned our 18 hour drive home into 20, but it could have been much worse. And the kids got ice cream while we waited, so they were happy. When I get back to Alaska I have to source a new trailer fender and some marker lights, though.

I see China bombed your trip. I have some experience with that:

China bombed my trip to Michigan today

Your tire that blew is rated for 81 mph max. Check the speed ratings of your new tires and do not exceed that.

Thank you for posting your fantastic pictures and story. Two year and our youngest will be out.

quote:

Originally posted by trapper189:
I see China bombed your trip. I have some experience with that:

China bombed my trip to Michigan today

Your tire that blew is rated for 81 mph max. Check the speed ratings of your new tires and do not exceed that.

Thank you for posting your fantastic pictures and story. Two year and our youngest will be out.

Yeah, the new ones are probably chinesium, too...I haven't checked. I took what they had. But I did read the speed rating and it said 75mph. So 80+ was probably a bad idea. They've done it before, but I probably just got lucky. Normally I struggle to even go 75 with that thing behind the Suburban, but this was downhill with a tailwind and I got excited. Thankfully, I just need a new fender and didn't flip the whole rig.