Here's our trip report for those of you still contemplating Gannett this season. I have a list of a half dozen or so HPers who are interested in joining a group for Gannett in late August 2001. We are also looking for seriously interested and accomplished climbers for a Granite trip in early August 2001.
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WY Journal
Climbers: Gary Iversen, Phil Manoff, Mark Foster, Steve Evans, Dale Brown, Robert Delligatti, Ed Fronheiser, and Barry Woolsey
Date(s): August 12-20, 2000
A Trial of Patience
Saturday, August 12, 2000
Wow...what a trip! We had planned this trip to climb Gannett Peak, 13,804 ft. the highest point in the state of Wyoming for nearly a year. Delta Airlines had the least expensive fares to Salt Lake City (beating out Southwest Airlines for a change), but the departure city was San Jose instead of Monterey which necessitated driving 75 minutes north to San Jose Airport on Saturday morning. I had arranged to leave my car at a friend's apartment in order to avoid the newly increased long term parking rates at San Jose Airport (up from $10 to $15 per day for long term parking, and from $15 to $30 per day for short term parking). It was most certainly a harbinger of things to come over the next week when I arrived at his apartment at 11:30 AM and there was no answer when I knocked. I had built in 30 minutes for having him drive me to the airport. After 15 minutes of trying to figure out where he was (found out a week later that he had been in the shower and didn't hear the doorbell) I called a cab from the Apartment Manager's office realizing full well that my odds of making my flight were plummeting. Amazingly, a friendly cab driver in a United taxicab showed up and whisked me away to the USO at the Airport where I even had time for a free cup of coffee and a piece of homemade pie.
After an uneventful flight into Salt Lake City Airport, Phil Manoff met me at my gate. He had flown in earlier from Portland, Oregon. He had successfully corralled Dale Brown (who had drove down from Layton Utah to meet us) and Steve Evans also from Portland. Barry Woolsey (temporarily from Long Grove, Illinois) was about an hour late (because of the summer-long mess called Untied Airlines and their pilot union negotiations). But once he arrived we picked up our van at National's Emerald Isle and we were off to spend the evening and night with our friends in Pleasant Grove, Utah. We made a stop at the State Liquor Store (always a highpoint of our trips into Mormon country), and Albertson's Food Store (where in retrospect we bought enough food to feed a small company for a month). We spent a wonderfully pleasant evening at Steve and Natalie Morton's enjoying their company and a terrific barbeque complete with the obligatory pasta loading and a fresh salad right from their home garden. The neighbor's 2 horses peering over the fence at us also proved to be a harbinger of what we would experience in the week ahead.
Most of us made it through the "Fugitive" video after dinner (except Steve who had summitted Mt. Timpanogos an 11K giant literally right in his backyard). The Morton's neighbors the Mirandas were kind enough to let us use one of their spare bedrooms so we would all be able to sleep in a bed. A warm "thank you" to all 4 of them!
Sunday, August 13, 2000
Sunday began in a glorious manner with a relaxing breakfast with the Mortons and their daughter Sophie. After borrowing odds and ends from the Mortons which we had forgotten, we were off for the Salt Lake City Airport again to pick up Mark Foster who was flying in from Reno, Nevada. As we were driving, Barry casually asked Phil and me "you've got your jeans for riding don't you?" Of course having spent maybe 2 hours on a horse between us over a combined total of 90 years of being alive, it never occurred to us that we didn't want to be on a saddle for 6 days in nylon convertible hiking pants. So a panic stop at COSTCO produced 2 sets of jeans for $12.99 each! At the Airport we spotted Mark in the baggage claim area with no difficulty and zipped off for a last minute stop at a local REI Store (on the east side of Salt Lake City at the first I-215 exit south of the intersection of I-80 and I-215 (just before I-80 goes into the Wasatch Mountains. We made a substantial deposit in the "make REI's owners wealthy"fund picking up such things as cord for prusik loops, propane-butane Gaz canisters, lightweight tripod camp chairs, nylon strap belts (for the jeans) and a seemingly endless list of other stuff I never saw again. These kind of stops are dangerous!
We drove east on I-80 past Fort Bridger (our home away from home when we climbed King's Peak last year) and briefly toyed with the idea of stopping for Mark's benefit, but there were bigger challenges awaiting us in Wyoming. After passing through Green River, we turned north on Highway 191 at Rock Springs (the only decent sized town in this neck of the woods) toward Pinedale. The hours passed quickly as we practiced knots and chatted about the coming week's schedule. Dale and Steve had spent the night in Layton, Utah and were driving separately up to Dubois (Dew-Boys), Wyoming. One of the highlights of the trip was a stop in Farson, Wyoming to mail some letters. The Farson General Store and Post Office were housed in a very old brick building on the corner of Highways 191 and 28. Well worth a stop as the area is right out of an American western. We passed through Lander, Wyoming with its dozens of metal cowboy sculptures; another All-American cowboy town. An hour southeast of Dubois we began to encounter Red Rock Country highlighted by the prominent and picturesque Crowheart Butte, named after a infamous confrontation between the leaders of the Sioux and Crow Nations which resulted in Sioux Chief Washaki cutting out the heart of his adversary.
We arrived in Dubois in the early evening and drove 2 miles north of town out to Larry Stetter's Ranch. We had contracted with Larry for 6 riding horses and 3 pack burros for the week. We dropped off the gear we intended to put on the burros so it could be weighed and balanced. Larry Stetter has enough western authenticity, charisma, and stories for any 10 Outfitters. A hip replacement has slowed him to the point where he is gradually turning over the reins of his business to his young son Dustin, but his physical challenges did nothing to diminish his sincerity, his hospitality, and his stories! He spent nearly 50 years of his life leading wilderness tours first in the Florida Everglades and then for 31 years in the Wind River region of Wyoming.
We finally heard from Dale and Steve (they took the scenic route to Larry's) and finally met them down at the Rustic Pines Restaurant in town. We were staying at the Wind River Motel (1-Star, if that) just down the street from the Big Horn Sheep Interpretive Center. The secret of Dubois (alluded to in many state highpointers' journals) is the food. Given it's remoteness, the food was terrific. Try the "Beef in Beer" entree at the Rustic Pines Restaurant. Despite the distance to the nearest ocean, even the salmon entree was excellent. We spent dinner getting to know one another and talking about the coming week. The state highpoint totals to date were: Steve (25-ish), Dale (46), Gary (45), Mark (33), Phil (13) and Barry (14). The evening was warm and our prevailing mood was an eagerness to get going. Little did we know that this would turn into a significant "trial of patience." Earlier Larry had encouraged us to bring beer and wine with us on the trail since we had the advantage of the burros, so we swung through the drive-through of one of the 3 saloons in town and bought a case of beer. Mark (given his occupation as a vintner) took care of our grape needs as he always does so well. We learned that you can even order mixed drinks from the drive-through windows and there is no law against consuming alcohol in public. After a brief walk (under the full moon which would be ideally positioned for our summit attempt later in the week) down to the closed Big Horn Sheep Interpretive Center and the outdoors Dubois Museum, we called it a day and agreed to a 6:00 AM get-up for a hearty breakfast the next morning.
Monday, August 14, 2000
We ate incredible breakfasts for under $10 including tips and tax at the Daylight Donuts Village Café (part of our motel). The topic of conversation at most of the tables in the restaurant was the status of the nearby Thermopolis, Wyoming fire and the effects of the driest year on record in many areas of the west. As planned, we called the Stetter Ranch at 8:30 AM to find out when to meet Dustin (Larry's son) at their ranch. It looked like it was going to be a hot & dusty day. Larry reaffirmed his encouragement to bring whatever we wanted to bring. He told us that "weight's no problem, just put it in the saddle bags!" We followed their truck (only a slight resemblance to a truck) out to the trailhead along county road 141. They kept stopping and encouraging us to look at what they described as 2,000 year old petrographs etched on many of the rocks along the gravel road. They encouraged us to stop and examine them up close and take a lot of pictures. It was pretty obvious they didn't want us standing over them as they prepared the horses at the trailhead. (It turned out that the petrographs were produced by the "Sheep Eater" Indians more like 200 years ago...but interesting none the less).
Don't anyone tell you that cowboys rise early and complete a day's work before most people rise (that's the U.S. Army)! These cowboys tried our patience repeatedly as evidenced by FINALLY leaving the trailhead at 2:15 PM! It became evident, at least to me, that our "horse preparations" were seriously lacking when we planned this trip. The idea to use horses was first promoted by Barry during our trip out from King's Peak the previous summer. We all agreed that there would be no cost too high for a horse after we summitted and then faced a 26 miles walk out with a full pack! Barry probably had the most experience with horses, but the rest of our experience levels ranged from none to slightly more than none. Considering things like the jeans, proper shoes for the stirrups, and pads for the saddles never crossed our minds. I did assume that given no horseback riding preparation that my butt, my knees and my back would take a beating. I thought mostly about my back and decided to buy a $7.99 back brace from Home Depot before leaving California...an outstanding move as it turned out because my back was never sore. The horse saved all the pain for my knees and butt despite having the softest saddle of the bunch.
Then our odyssey began. One hour and 30 minutes into our trip, as we were crossing a high grassy field called the "Golf Course" on the old Glacier Trail we encountered a group of 12 riders and horses being led by a girl named Mitzi. She informed us that there was a serious forest fire ahead and it was moving our way. Significant smoke over the ridge in the direction we were traveling confirmed her warning and Dustin immediately turned us around and we headed back down the 1,500 ft. vertical we just came up. This total of 3 hours on horseback was probably the most painful of the whole week on my knees. So there we were at 5:30 PM back where we started having effectively lost the one cushion-day we had for our summit attempt. Our situation did not look optimistic. We decided to go back into town and check into the same motel and the same rooms and eat an evening meal at the same restaurant. We left all our gear which was weighed and labeled in Larry's truck (still only a slight resemblance to a truck) and planned to be at the Wind River Ranger Station in town when they opened up at 8:00 AM. We were literally "all acclimatized and no place to go!"
Information about the fire caused us to be very pessimistic about our chances of even being allowed on the Glacier Trail the next day. We even contemplated drastically changing plans and climbing Grand Teton or Granite Peak the highest point in Montana. We learned that the access to Granite was still open, but Teton National Park had major sections closed. Steve contemplated climbing Borah Peak the highest point in Idaho, but everyone else had already completed that highpoint.]
Tuesday, August 15, 2000
We were up again at 6:00 AM with a 7:00 AM breakfast at the Cowboy Café in the center of town. We arrived at the Ranger Station (1 mile northwest of the center of town on the west side of the road) sharply at 8:00 AM to learn that current news about the fire would be obtained from the helicopter crew about 10:00 AM. A fire crew had already been positioned to fight the fire and bombers had already dropped fire retardant in the area. The fire was centered on the timbered area just south of Burro Flats and down the slope and around Phillips Lake. It was burning mostly to the east from that point along the slope and ridge line. It was about ˝ mile deep across the Glacier Pack Trail. The rangers anticipated that the trail would be opened again at 3-4 PM. We made plans with the Outfitter to pack up and get back on the trail by 11:00 AM (wishful thinking because we didn't leave the trailhead until 1:15 PM!). At least this was an hour earlier than the preceding day!
As useful information the "Food Farm" immediately across the street from the Wind River Motel is open 7 days a week from 7:00 AM to 9:00 PM. They don't have a great variety but did carry things like bread, tuna fish, Gatorade, bananas, ice, etc. If you plan to use an Outfitter to get you to a Gannett base camp here's some of my "lessons learned" about traveling by horseback. Buy a cowboy red or blue neckerchief. If it doesn't help you mop up the sweat or keep the mosquitos away, at least you'll feel cool and cowboyish! Wear a waist pack with such things as water bottle, chapstick, camera, sun screen, snacks, etc. Have the food you intend to eat for lunch readily accessible because there are "no stops for a picnic!" I would even go so far as to say, eat a BIG breakfast and a BIG evening meal, and snack during the bulk of the day. It's difficult to get to any gear which is in your saddle bags. I hung my day pack off one side or the other of the saddle horn with one of the shoulder straps which also worked reasonably well. A platypus water container with a long drinking tube carried inside of my day pack proved to be a nice, efficient convenience. It was also nice not to have any pack on my back any day other than the summit day. Horseback riding is very dusty and dirty. Just plan on being filthy especially in dry years. Washing using biodegradable hard water soap was nearly a sexual experience each evening. It was nice to be able to use one of the burro's large side pack saddle bags for all of our garbage...a real treat given that function on normal backpacking trips.
The mentality of being on a horse packing trip is entirely different than being on a backpacking trip. Weight is not the issue...but rather comfort. What to bring is totally different. Some ideas of things to bring when using an Outfitter are: more comfortable (heavier) sleeping pad, small lightweight tripod camp stool, summer sausage, cheese, bagels, butter, crumbled cooked bacon (by Ready Addition; doesn't require refrigeration and goes well with lots of meals), hard boiled and raw eggs. Also, 3 smaller sized propane-butane Gaz canisters would have been sufficient for boiling water and cooking for 6 people for 5 days...we brought 6 canisters.
The highlight of the day was a sighting of 8 Big Horn Sheep including a ram just past the intersection of the old and new Glacier Trails. We arrived at Burro Flats (10,400 ft. elevation) abeam the Forest Service fire fighters encampment at around 6:00 PM to learn that the trail was still closed and we'd have to camp in their vicinity that night. After unpacking the burros and unsaddling all the horses we set up camp, watched the Forest Service helicopter deliver load after load of supplies to the fire fighting camp and shuttle fire fighters in and out of the area. We ate some dinner and then watched well into the night across the meadow as entire trees were consumed by flare ups along the edge of the fire line. It was a frustrated group of climbers that finally hit the sack about 10:30 PM.
Wednesday, August 16, 2000
Up early again at 5:20 PM (enjoyed a beautiful nearly full moon setting over the mountains to the west) to face the challenge of the day...this time 2 of our horses (my trusty horse "Frosty" and one other) broke free of their pickets and decided to "head back to the ranch." Dustin took off north and as we waited impatiently for his return, Dale & Mark hiked over to the trail to intercept 2 day hikers who said they had seen Dustin and the horses. We seriously contemplated walking in the remaining 16 miles or so to base camp carrying our full packs. We actually kept changing our clothes several times from jeans to hiking pants back to jeans as the fortunes of the morning ebbed and flowed. Fortunately Dustin finally returned at 11:00 AM with the 2 horses in tow but of course we were again seriously behind schedule. It was very fortunate that we were able to proceed on horseback because I seriously doubt I would have had the energy to complete that day on foot with a full pack and then attempt the summit early the next morning.
We all had agreed that even if we couldn't summit on our "second chance" summit day and had to stay on the trip an extra day and have to rearrange our travel schedules that we would do it. It was very good for all of us to have so many optimistic and positive thinking people on our team. It helped deal with the frustrations and delays quite a bit. Today was Mark's 47th birthday and an appropriate balloon announcing this happy event was flying over his tent by 6:00 AM. We all wondered whether Robert and Ed had begun their summit attempt as planned this morning. They had walked in 2 days prior leading a burro which carried their gear. It was problematic whether they even knew about the forest fire and the reason for our delay. They had 1 of the 2 ropes we planned to use for the ascent so we were anxious to hook up with them. We had been told by various fire fighters that we might finally get through the burned area later in the morning if we walked the horses through, so we packed up and headed over toward the edge of the burned area around noon. We waited what seemed like an eternity (it actually was about 10 minutes) at the edge of the burned area while Dustin rode up ahead and discussed our options with a few fire fighters. He FINALLY waved us ahead thus dodging another bullet. We got up to the edge of the burning area and walked the horses for about 30 minutes through the blackened trees and ground. It was really sad to see everything burned, and I mean everything completely black and gray with an occasional piece of wood or tree trunk burning bright orange. Word was that the fire had been started at an unauthorized campfire in the middle of the slope by 2 campers. Open fires had not been allowed in this area since August 4th because of the extremely dry summer.
We finally broke through the red colored fire retardant edges of the fire area into the serene, majestic beauty of the Wind River lakes region. All the trees around Phillips Lake had been burned and we passed a dozen or so fire fighters using generators, water pumps and hoses to put out hot spots. Double Lake, Star Lake, and Honeymoon Lake were awesome and untouched by the fire. We went by the Dinwoody Creek gorge, through Downs Meadow, Big Meadow and finally into the heart of Floyd Wilson Meadow where we got our first view of Gannett Peak in the distance. It was difficult to pick out which peak was Gannett at first because we didn't have easy access to our topos and compass on horseback. The scenery rivaled any I've seen anywhere in the United States and that of the southern Alps in New Zealand..
During the middle of the day, Mark's horse threw a shoe and he and Dustin made a short stop at a friend's tack hut out in the middle of nowhere to re-shoe his horse. The only other major challenge of the afternoon was Barry's when he mistakenly led the 3 burros he was leading onto the hikers' trail crossing of Klondike Creek instead of going across the pack trail access. Because of the late start in the morning and the slowness of getting through the burned area, we arrived a the south end of Floyd Wilson Meadows about 8:15 PM. We quickly set up camp, ate dinner and went to bed about 10:00 PM under clear skies with the temperature about 50 degrees F. Our plan was to attempt the summit the next morning despite anticipating only 4 hours of sleep that night.
Thursday, August 17, 2000
I tried to write my thoughts about our awesome experiences on summit day several times during the following 2 days, but just couldn't put pen to paper. It seemed as if the experiences were still too vivid in my mind, the pain still too recent, and my thoughts still too connected to reality to allow myself to continue to focus on them. I was at home in California for more than a week before I could sit down and write what follows.
SUMMIT DAY...finally!!! Phil set his watch for 2:00 AM but promptly slept through it. My Casio altitude watch alarm which had been bugging everyone for 3 nights saved the day and awoke me at 2:15 AM. After a quick trip to the woods, I woke everyone up. A few of us ate warm breakfast items but mostly everyone readied their packs for the task ahead. I was mostly ready to go from the night before so I heated some water for hot chocolate. I was enjoying the warm drink at about 3:10 AM when I looked around and realized no one else was still in the campsite...everyone had already headed out to cross the 3 branches of the Dinwoody Creek next to our campsite. Dustin had taken us across these on horseback the day before because the grazing was better for the horses. This presented us with our first challenge of the young day. We generally crossed on two large logs spanning the creek branches, but most of us had to wade across one or more of the creeks with our tennis shoes. The only one who got across without getting wet was Barry. Steve managed to leave his Gortex rain jacket back at the campsite, a oversight which would cause him to "style" in a garbage bag later in the afternoon. We stopped by the large boulders at the end of the meadow to change back in to our hiking boots and to tape up toes and heels.
Barry went over to Ed and Robert's tent on this side of the creek and woke Robert up. He got dressed and came out to talk to us about their experiences and situation. They did not know why we were delayed in arriving at the base camp and elected to join a group of several other climbers and make their summit attempt the previous day. They had started at 1:45 AM and Robert didn't return to camp until 10:30 PM. In fact, Ed was still not back in camp and Robert didn't know where he was. Included here is the text of an e-mail from Ed received several days after we returned from the trip which describes his day. They both made the summit successfully, but the demands of the ascent and a lengthy, tiring belay down the rocks below the Gooseneck Pinnacle had fatigued Ed so much he elected to rest in the boulder field until he could generate the energy to return to base camp. It was Ed's last continental state highpoint so after 3 attempts to summit Gannett Peak, he became a "48-Completer on August 16, 2000.
"Quote from Ed's E-mail"
We left the meadows and headed up the final segment of the pack trail up toward the Tarns area about 3:30 AM. I was wearing a pair of black thermal underwear under my long nylon hiking pants. It wasn't after more than 10 minutes of uphill hiking that I became overheated and I had to stop and remove the thermals. I continued with just my nylon convertible hiking pants for the rest of the day all the way to the summit and back. It was 5:45 AM by the time we made it to the Tarns area and it was beginning to get light. The temperature was about 45-48 degrees F. General route direction finding was easy because of the good visibility and perfect weather, but specific route finding across the boulder field to the base of the glacier was very arbitrary. The boulder field was much more extensive and time consuming than we expected.
It was unfortunate that we were not aware of Ed's safety because we all yelled his name, looked for him and blew our emergency whistle constantly as we ascended the boulder field. It's surprising that more journals do not mention the extensiveness of the boulder field (sizes ranging from bread boxes to automobiles) which took much longer to negotiate than we anticipated both going up and eventually descending in the dark. The moon, at a waning gibbous was considerable help as we scrambled our way up. As we neared the top of the initial boulder field, the sun rose and the morning alpenglow on the upper ridges of Gannett Peak was spectacular. The moon eventually set just to the left of the Gooseneck Pinnacle and I got a strong sensation of the actual earth's rotation as the moon sank into the rocks.
Then the real work began. We tried to follow the recommended route described by Don Holmes but since it was an extremely low snowfall year, some of the normally present snowfields were absent and we somehow ended up ascending a jumble of numerous rock fields and found ourselves at the lower end of the Gannett Glacier instead of crossing over from the Dinwoody Glacier higher up. What characterized all the rock fields on the mountain was their instability. It was often disconcerting to feel a several ton boulder noticeably move with the simple step of my foot. Our dubious route finding caused us to negotiate a very steep (55-60 degree slope) of maybe 50-75 vertical feet which was very icy. Steve as the Rope Team Leader (6 persons on a 160 ft rope) set ice pickets which Barry as tail-end Charlie removed. I'm not sure how everyone else felt, but this section was right at the limit of my abilities and exposure comfort. Once above this section we were faced with a constant "crampons ON, crampons OFF, crampons ON, crampons OFF" scenario because of so many of the rock sections having no snow coverage. The weather was exceptionally good up to this point with most of us wearing just convertible climbing pants and a single layer of synthetic material on our upper bodies. Everyone's light gloves or climbing gloves became completely soaked from the melting snow on the glaciers. The slope was so steep that many times we used our hands on the surface and had to use the pick end of our ice axes for stability because using the normal belay techniques would not allow us to penetrate the ice surface. Don't let the 3,500 ft. vertical and 2.1 trail miles from the Tarns to the summit fool you. This is a demanding and difficult mountain which takes its best shots at you. If I climbed this mountain again I would take only (2) 1-liter bottles of fluids and carry one water filter per every 3 persons because water was readily available from base camp well through the glacial area below the Gooseneck Pinnacle. We did drink unfiltered water, but only above the camping areas above the Tarns. Most of the glacial runoff had significant silt in the water but it sure tasted good and was very cold when we replenished our bottles on the descent.
We eventually came to the relatively flat area of the Gannett Glacier just below Gooseneck Pinnacle and we made our way up to the bergshund still roped up. The snow bridge on the extreme left side of the bergshund was still available to cross, but barely. We actually went down into the bergshund at that point a few feet before moving onto the granite rocks on the left side. The security of the rocks for about 20 vertical feet was a good, reassuring feeling only to be shattered moments later as we headed out diagonally across the steep slope above the bergshund. We again used snow pickets for protection and slowly inched our way up to lesser steepness above. Again the crampons came off and we headed up several rock fields toward the final ridge. It was at this point that Phil decided to call it a day because he felt he didn't have the energy to finish the ascent and still do the full descent safely. Given the now deteriorating weather conditions, the lateness in the day, and everyone's general fatigue, it was probably a good decision. Dale left his pack with Phil just above the Gooseneck Pinnacle and the 5 of us continued the trudge up toward the final ridge. I seriously wanted to stop at least a half dozen times, but when I finally realized that everyone else was exhausted too, it strengthened my will not to quit significantly. The weather continued to threaten rain as we put our crampons on twice more. When we reached the final ridge line leading to the summit we roped up again because of our general fatigue and successfully walked the last 1/4 mile on an easy snow field with considerable exposure to the right (east).
One of the benefits to our earlier delays at the trailhead and along the trail (2 nights above 7,000 ft. and 2 nights above 10,000 ft.) was that everyone had ample time to acclimate to the altitude and no one experienced even the mildest symptom of AMS. When we arrived at the 50 foot high pile of rocks which was the summit Barry went up first to determine whether this was a false summit before we un-roped. Thank goodness it was our goal because the weather was continuing to deteriorate and it was 2:28 PM as we finally touched the top. Adrenalin took us through the next hour or so and allowed us to take numerous combination photographs with several banners in the span of the 12 minutes we were on the summit. Not the shortest time on a state highpoint summit (5 minutes spent on CT, NJ, RI and DE state highpoints) but it was close. We were also faced with the certainty now of having to negotiate much of the boulder field and rock scrambling in the dark later in the evening.
We picked up Phil and Dale's backpack above the Gooseneck Pinnacle and began the slow, methodical descent of the steep slope above the bergshund. Barry was in the Lead and painstakingly kicked in terrific steps for us in the softer snow. The icy sections were again a risky challenge, but no one slipped throughout the entire day. The only difficulty I encountered was adapting to the distance between Barry's steps. At 6'6" his stride is 50% greater than mine. Once we were below the bergshund, the slope moderated to about 40 degrees, but it seemed like it was nearly level in comparison.
Then we noticed what looked like fog coming across the upper slopes of the Dinwoody Glacier and the upper portions of other nearby peaks. Well it wasn't fog...it was snow! Snow pellets about 3/8" in size covered our clothes and made our footing a little more difficult. We were fortunate that the weather held off long enough to get below the Gooseneck Pinnacle. We stopped and donned our rain gear and put pack covers over several of our packs. And of course as we descended into warmer air, the snow turned to rain, heavy at times. We did finally find the upper snow finger (which we had sought earlier in the day) and ascended that section of the Gannett Glacier and then traversed rocks over to the Dinwiddy Glacier side never leaving the rocks again until down into the lower boulder field. Halfway through the boulder field darkness came and we continued to negotiate the boulders and rocks with our headlamps. I was mucho tired by now with 9 hours of horseback riding and only 4 hours of sleep the day and night before. My balance, agility and awareness were still good but my muscles lacked adequate oxygen replenishment so frequent stops to rest were necessary. I was prepared to bivy for a few hours if necessary but visions of the fleece liner of my sleeping bag kept my motivation high.
The boulder field seemed endless as we searched to pick up the trail leading from the Tarns area back down below timberline. I think it was Steve who finally located the pack trail near one of the several small lakes in the area. It was pitch black by then. Mark was considerate enough to stay with me in the boulder field just to be paired up in case of a fall. Everyone else on the team waited as well later on so we could all be assured that everyone was safe. Phil and I were behind the other 4 for the initial section of the 2.5-mile trail back to base camp, so we stopped once for a good rest stop and water stop. We caught up to everyone else who were waiting for us ahead. I think because of the length of their stop their muscles had stiffened more than ours. We then headed out on the final hour and a half "death march" back down the pack trail, across a couple of creek branches and into the southern end of Floyd Wilson meadow.
Everyone was over-tired, but we still faced one last challenge of crossing the now swollen branches of Dinwoody Creek to get to our campsite. We all crossed several smaller sections of the creek by rock hopping and jumping, but then came to a significantly wider section about 15 feet across. The water was moving very swiftly and was too deep to wade so everyone was proposing various ideas of how to cross. I remember Steve suggesting that we all hook arms and jump together so no one would fall. Although probably a pretty good idea, at this moment there at the edge of the creek, I thought - "oh yeah and then everyone drowns!" Well, just when I turned around and had decided to look for a better spot up stream, Phil comes racing by me and launches himself toward the water! This was a man destined for his sleeping bag and would not be denied! Not to be left on that rocky island, I quickly walked back 10 feet and did the same thing landing in the water with one foot and quickly gaining the dry rocks on the island. One last obstacle to that "fleece lining" and that was a large tree across the biggest section of the creek. The surface was now wet, headlamp beams seemed to be shining in every direction, the water high and moving swiftly, and we all had full packs and we were tired...a perfect formula for disaster. But with one last focus on balance and agility we each in turn negotiated the log. It had several branches sticking out and up from the trunk which made the first half pretty easy, but the last 20 feet were without hand holds and I asked Barry to move back from the bank and jumped once I reached the point of no return (he had been there to catch me if I fell)! The fleece liner of my sleeping bag was now 50 feet away and my heart rate finally dipped below 100 for the first time in 20 hours and 18 minutes!
Friday, August 18, 2000
Understandably we "slept in" this morning until nearly 8:30 AM. I was dehydrated to some extent and voraciously hungry, and woke up with an overwhelming desire to visit the woods. Morning trail coffee prepared by Dustin was wonderful but led to his statement "we need to have a team meeting." I thought - "this can't be good!" It turned out that one of the pack burros had developed 2 very unusual sore spots on her back and wouldn't be able to pack out 1/3 of our gear. Our choice would be to carry that gear in backpacks on our backs or pack that gear on one of the riding horses and take turns walking. We quickly chose the latter and then Dustin informed us that we wouldn't be leaving that day but rather we would attempt to ride out the whole 26 miles in one day on Saturday. That was bad news as far as our airline reservations were concerned, but good news that we would have the whole day Friday to enjoy the achievement of our labors, get much needed rest, eat a significant portion of the ton of food and beer & wine we had hauled in and generally have a relaxing day in one of the most beautiful places in America.
We learned later in the morning of Ed's experience and that Ed and Robert had headed out that morning with their burro. We all took a nap for about 3 hours midday during a well-timed major thunderstorm just after lunch. The thunder reverberating off the tall mountains on each side of the Meadows was really loud and never seemed to die away. A cow moose walked through the campsite in the afternoon. The highlight of the day was dinner when we shared two 2 bottles of award winning wine from Mark's vineyards. I only had the Sarah but it seemed to go with just about every kind of food we ate. Lots of picture taking this afternoon.
Saturday, August 19, 2000
Again I was up at 6:00 AM and woke everyone up. Barry volunteered to stay behind with Dustin to pack the burros as the rest of us got going on the riding horses. Mark was the first "walker" for the first 30 minutes followed by me. It was actually fun hiking in such a beautiful place without the burden of a backpack. I walked for about an hour from just south of the Ink Well Trail junction to the north end of Big Meadow and the Dinwoody Creek gorge. It was a nice break to weary knees and butt in the saddle. The ride out was very long, but relatively uneventful. The forest fire area was still smoldering and the fire fighters were still hard at work putting out hot spots and flare ups. On the grassy hillside north of Arrow Pass we almost got thrown off our horses in mass when one horse began galloping toward home and the rest followed suit. Seth (Dustin's friend who came along on the trip) did most of the walking later in the day and had no inclement weather gear when another brief snowstorm (and then rain) descended on us for about 75 minutes. We did see a family of 3 mountain goats on the "golf course" before heading down the switchbacks to the last river crossing near the trailhead. We pried ourselves out of the saddles at exactly 6:00 PM followed by the arrival of Barry & Dustin at 8:00 PM. We unpacked, said farewells, took a swig of Dustin's whiskey and headed toward civilization. With perfect hindsight, I would wholeheartedly recommend Stetter Outfitters for this trip. Dustin conducted himself professionally throughout the trip, always erred on the prudent side, was a fun and entertaining campsite conversationalist, and made GREAT coffee. If we could only have gotten him and Seth to get up a little earlier each day we would have been totally happy climbers.
We still faced a 6-1/2 drive from Dubois to Salt Lake City and it didn't make any sense trying to stay with Natalie and Steve that night. Once in cellular phone range everyone made calls to family and friends and we decided to ask Barry's wife Karen to make reservations for us at a motel near the Salt Lake City Airport. Good thing we did because we didn't arrive there until 4:00 AM. Barry and Mark shared the driving duties, bless their hearts! We called ahead to Lander, WY and ordered 2 large pizzas which we inhaled in 9 minutes after driving into town around 10:15 PM. It's a good thing for that Pizza Hut that they didn't have an "all you can drink" beverage option.
Sunday, August 20, 2000
Up again bright and early at 8:00 AM after a full night's sleep of 4 hours to find Phil and Steve, with whom I had shared a room, had already left for the Airport. I had a little of the Comfort Inn's continental breakfast and then took the courtesy van to the Delta Airlines curbside service. I departed SLC Airport at 11:20 a.m. for San Jose, CA arriving back in Monterey at 3:00 p.m. The total miles flown round trip were 1,764. The total miles driven round trip were 950. Amazingly I stayed awake for two evening appointments with my agents at 4:00 PM and 6:30 PM, finally arriving home at 11:30 PM where I finally "turned my engine off" for the next 9 hours. Wow...what a trip!
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