Out of order, as usual, but I blog when the mood strikes me...
If I told anyone what I did for Labor Day weekend without explaining the reasoning behind it, it would have made absolutely no sense. It still probably won't make sense to anyone but me.
I planned on hiking in my new favorite mountain range on Friday and spending the night in Idaho Falls that night. That was kind of out of the way, but it was about an hour from the beginning of this dirt road that I planned to drive on Saturday. The road traverses the mountains from north to south, so I figured I'd do some more exploring and hiking off that road, then head home Saturday night.
My hike on Friday was a FAIL. There were multiple trails leaving from the parking lot. It looked like the waterfall was located on the southernmost trail, so that's the one I chose. (Oh, I should mention that my new thing is just choosing trailheads from the Forest Service site that have no information about them.) The wide, obvious trail ended pretty quickly, leaving just a narrow, overgrown trail to follow. I stayed on this for a while because when you hike canyons, you get used to following the most faint of trails. But as I cautiously edged down the side of a ridge, building cairns to find my way back, I finally had to be honest with myself- I was following a game trail. It was time to turn around.
Back in the parking lot, I chose another trail. Within 5 minutes, there was a sign confirming that I was in the right spot. The only problem was, it was getting late. I had to turn around without seeing the waterfall.
When I got back to cell service, my phone said 3 hours to my hotel. I hadn't realized it would be so far. And then my tire light went on, and I almost lost it. But nothing was flat... maybe just a slow leak? I had another 35 miles on a dirt road, plus 70-something miles on pavement to Idaho Falls, but I made it. The other problem was that my GPS sent me up the road I'd planned on taking the next day. And it was an absolute nightmare- massive RV's flying down the road, kicking up so much dust you couldn't see where you were going. So much traffic, so crowded... no way did I want to venture down this road again the next day. I needed a new plan.
(The views were nice, at least!)
I was at the Walmart Tire Center when they opened the next morning and was less than thrilled when they wouldn't even look for a leak and just put air in my tires and insisted everything was fine. The light stayed off for the rest of the weekend but went on again last night. I don't even have words right now for how angry I am about my tires.
I decided to go for a hike in the Tetons, about 2 hours away from Idaho Falls. This trail was perfect! Flat and easy and beautiful. And I stumbled upon a wedding on my way back! Other than that, the trail wasn't too crowded. There were people on it, but everyone was being quiet and respectful of nature (like, not harassing the badger that was hanging out by the trail) and it just had really good vibes. I was very pleased with this choice.
My next stop probably sounds crazy, but it just felt right, so I went with it. I drove all the way across the state to a town near Laramie. Another thing I do a lot lately is rely on my intuition. The night before, I had looked at three possible options. For some reason, I just felt like this would be a really good idea. And it was! I mean, who knows, maybe the other (closer) hikes would have been good, too, but I have no regrets about what I did. It was a 5 hour drive to my hotel that night, but I saw parts of Wyoming I've never seen and would like to come back to. I was going to do a waterfall hike, but it was too long for the almost 100 degree temps, so I detoured to Independence Rock instead. I have to say, it was disappointing. I'm a huge fan of Oregon Trail sites and lore, but this rock looked like all the other ones and there weren't many visible names on it. Oh well, I'm still glad I saw it.
The next morning, I had a 90 minute drive to the trailhead and started hiking just before 7. I got there just in time! I mostly had solitude on the way out, but saw tons of people on the way back. This hike was gorgeous; there wasn't a single part of it that wasn't scenic. I was soooo tempted to hike Medicine Bow Peak (that trail connected with the one I was on), but I behaved and stuck to the easy 5 mile hike I had planned. Everything about it was perfect, even the temperature! The 5.5 hour drive home sucked, but still... no regrets. I saw a lot of Wyoming this weekend and have some places on my list to go back to!
(I only brought Chacos for hiking, but it was in the 30’s, so I had to stop at a gas station at 5:30 a.m. for a pair of socks. This is all they had.)
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