PHONE WENT WEST

https://youtu.be/M2xZAWgJ8rE

Our cell phones decided to go west this summer. We’re pretty attached to them, so we decided to go with them.

For this year’s trip, we decided to take a monthlong road trip to Wyoming. Our primary goal was a pair of extended backpacking trips. Because of Christy’s knee problems, in recent years we’ve focused more on dayhikes, car camping, and short backpacking trips. Those adventures were great, but many of the hikes were crowded and touristy. This year, we wanted to get back to our true love – extended backpacking trips. Christy’s knees have improved considerably since having stem cell treatment in Colorado in July of 2017. That procedure was designed to regrow the cartilage on the backs of her kneecaps. She has had fewer knee problems and less knee pain since then. However, we knew that we would still need to keep her pack weight to a minimum to maximize our chances of a successful trip. That meant that I would be carrying most of our food and gear. I can only carry so much, so we put a lot of effort into minimizing our pack weight. Christy spent months dehydrating our dinners and making homemade oatmeal. We purchased a new 2-person ultralight tent. I dusted off the alcohol stove, which is much lighter than our Jetboil when fuel weight is considered.

With our emphasis on minimizing pack weight, I felt we could manage a weeklong trip. Ultimately I planned two backpacking trips. The first would be a six day trip in Cascade Corner – the southwest corner of Yellowstone National Park. That trip would focus on remote wilderness, waterfalls, and backcountry hot springs. Then we would tackle an eight day trip in the Wind River Range. That trip would focus on remote wilderness, alpine lake basins and high passes. Our very first extended backpacking trip had been in the Wind River Range, way back in 1999. This trip would revisit some of the premier destinations from that trip while also covering some new territory.

With 14 days of backpacking and the long drive, we wouldn’t have time for much more. We decided to start our trip with a visit with our friends Marsha and Ian in St. Joseph, Michigan. From there we’d drive to Yellowstone, where we’d spend our first couple of days dayhiking and sightseeing. Later we hoped to do a short backpacking trip in the Beartooth Mountains of southern Montana. After that we’d hit Theodore Roosevelt National Park for my first ever hike in North Dakota. Then we’d visit Devil’s Tower National Monument, Jewel Cave National Monument, Wind Cave National Park, and Badlands National Park. We’d finish the trip with a long drive back east to spend the final weekend with Christy’s parents in Clearfield, PA. We had an ulterior motive though – we planned to finish our trip with a college football game. Appalachian State was opening the season at Penn State, and there was no way we were missing that game. Christy’s mom retired from Penn State, and her sister is an alumnus. We both grew up Penn State fans, too. This would be the first time either of us had rooted against them.

I finished up my work obligations on Thursday, August 2^nd, and we packed the car that night. Unfortunately, my flight home from Indianapolis that evening was delayed several hours. As a result, I didn’t finish packing until well after midnight. We had planned to leave first thing in the morning, but scrapped that idea. We ended up leaving around 9am. The goal for the day was to drive to St. Joseph, Michigan. We planned to all day Saturday with our friends Marsha and Ian before resuming our westward journey.

The trip started out in rain, and we encountered a huge traffic jam on I-77 just north of the Virginia State Line. Fortunately I saw the problem on Google Maps in advance. The traffic jam was predicted to add an hour to our drive, which was already expected to take 12 hours. We got off at the last exit before the traffic jam and took back roads to highway 52. Highway 52 took us to Fancy Gap, where we got back on I-77. That detour was fast and painless, and way better than being in a standstill. The rain cleared up by the time we reached West Virginia, and the rest of the drive was relatively painless. We stopped for dinner at a Red Robin in Columbus, Ohio, and still managed to reach Marsha and Ian’s at a semi-reasonable hour.

We spent all day Saturday with Marsha and Ian. Late that morning we spent a few hours at the beach at Jean Klock Park. I enjoyed a nice run along the Paw Paw River before we headed home. Later that afternoon we walked around downtown and checked out the annual chalk art competition. That evening we played a couple of games of Catan and enjoyed a few beers. It was a nice way to start the trip, as we had a long drive to South Dakota on Sunday.