YOU AIN’T GOIN’ NOWHERE
“Clouds
so swift
Rain
won’t lift
Gate
won’t close
Railings
froze
Get
your mind off wintertime
You ain’t goin’ nowhere
I don’t
care
How
many letters they sent
Morning
came and morning went
Pick up
your money
And
pack up your tent
You ain’t goin’ nowhere
Genghis
Khan
He
could not keep
All his
kings
Supplied
with sleep
We’ll
climb that hill no matter how steep
When we get up to it!”
From “You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere”, by Bob Dylan
http://youtu.be/KnCpepih7Wc
(performed by The Radiators)
It
rained all night, and was still coming down when my alarm went off Monday
morning. We dozed in the tent for
awhile, hoping conditions would improve.
After an indefinite amount of time I peeked out the tent door and
verified that conditions were every bit as nasty as they sounded. It was pouring rain, and cold, too. Sigh.
I needed to get up and cook breakfast, but I
have my limits. Instead, we drove into Driggs to find a place to eat.
Unfortunately
we had to break camp in a cold rain. We
took down the soaked tent and stuffed it into the back of the car. We drove into town and found a local coffee
shop that was much warmer and much, much drier than the campground. The food was good and the coffee was better,
and while we were there we discussed our options for the remainder of the trip.
The
original plan called for us to start a 9-day backpacking trip in the
southwestern part of the Wind River Range the next morning. However, the swelling in Christy’s knee
hadn’t diminished at all. There was no
way she could manage the trip we had planned.
I suggested an abbreviated trip that would’ve involved a 5-mile hike in
to Big Sandy Lake, where we could basecamp. That would’ve been a fine place to lounge
around and do dayhikes. However, Christy wasn’t sure she could manage
that hike, either. Ultimately we decided
against risking any further damage to her knee.
We
needed to be in Erie, Pennsylvania by Friday, August 12th for a
wedding. Briefly I considered checking
the flight options from Jackson, WY to PA.
Christy could fly there and spend almost two weeks with her family. I could do some more backpacking with Boone,
and then we could drive east and meet Christy in Erie. However, I never suggested the idea. A big part of the purpose of this trip had
been to spend time together, and I wasn’t feeling enthusiastic about going
separate ways. Later Christy mentioned that
she’d had the same idea, but she never mentioned it, either.
Regretfully,
I gave up on our final backpacking trip.
This was disappointing, as part of the route I’d planned would’ve
overlapped the route we’d taken on our first real backpacking trip out west,
back in September of 1999. I guess we’ll
just have to make another trip to Wyoming to do that one.
With
backpacking out of the question, we had to decide how to spend the next week
and a half. I wanted to do some more
hiking, but I didn’t want to force Christy to spend the entire time waiting
around for me. Ultimately we decided on
something of a compromise. I’d do a
couple of additional dayhikes in Wyoming and then
we’d head east. We’d spend a few days
with Christy’s family in Pennsylvania before the wedding, which would be more
enjoyable for her than sitting in the car or hanging around campgrounds.
First
on my revised agenda was a visit to a couple of waterfalls in eastern Idaho,
just west of Yellowstone. After that, I
wanted to do a short hike to some remote waterfalls in south-central
Yellowstone. From there, we’d drive
towards Dubois, Wyoming. On Tuesday I’d
do a dayhike to Whiskey Mountain in the northeastern
corner of the Wind River Range. After
that, we’d swing back by the Snowy Range west of Laramie, since we’d missed
that area earlier in the trip. From there
we’d head back east.
It
was still cold and rainy when we left the coffee shop. The weather was lousy, but not unreasonable
for a fairly short, easy hike to some waterfalls. We drove north to Ashton, Idaho, and then
continued onto the Mesa Falls Scenic Byway.
We passed a signed turn for the Cave Falls Ranger Station in the
southwestern corner of Yellowstone but continued on. After a few more miles we reached Upper Mesa
Falls, which features a short boardwalk trail, a visitor’s center, and a large
parking lot.
A
light drizzle was falling when we arrived.
We paid the $5 fee, and I walked down the boardwalk to an overlook of
the falls. Christy decided to stay
behind since the boardwalk features a lot of steps, which really aggravated her
knee. It’s a shame she missed it,
because Upper Mesa Falls is breathtaking.
It’s over 100’ high, and on a large river. I took a few photos right before a whole
busload of kids arrived. That was my cue
to head back to the car.
From
there we drove back down the road to the Lower Mesa Falls overlook. Lower Mesa Falls is impressive also, but the
waterfall is down at the bottom of the canyon, and the overlook is high up on
the rim. It may be possible to get a
better view, but it would require a difficult scramble. I decided to save my energy for waterfalls in
Yellowstone.
We
drove back to Ashton and picked up the Ashton-Flagg Ranch Road. This road runs roughly parallel to
Yellowstone’s southern boundary, connecting Ashton with highway 89 / 287 just
south of Yellowstone’s southern entrance.
The road is dirt for most of its length, but was in reasonably good
shape most of the way despite the recent rain.
Despite this our GPS did not approve of it. It consistently ordered us to turn around
until it eventually seemed to give up.
We
made good time until we got behind a slow-moving truck pulling a trailer. This part of the road was rather rough, with
lots of flooded potholes and washouts.
The rest of the drive was tedious, but we eventually reached Grassy Lake
Reservoir. We
back-tracked 1.8 miles from there to a small parking area on the far side of
Cascade Creek. The trailhead
wasn’t marked, but I knew the trail followed Cascade Creek downstream to the
Falls River, so I figured we were in the right spot.
The
mosquitoes were awful there, so we had lunch in the car before I started my
hike. Luckily the rain had cleared,
though the sky remained overcast. From
the parking area I followed a rough footpath downstream. After a short distance I arrived at the brink
of the first waterfall on Cascade Creek.
My guidebook to Yellowstone’s waterfalls mentions several waterfalls on
Cascade Creek, but didn’t include this one because it is just outside the
boundary of the park. I descended to the
base of the cascade, which is the most impressive one on Cascade Creek. I continued downstream from there, but the
path faded. Eventually it ended at the
creek. A faint path continued on the far
side, but I knew the trail was supposed to remain on the west side of Cascade Creek
for its entire distance. I came to the
realization that I wasn’t on the official trail at all. What to do?
Going
back would’ve been the wise course of action.
However, I reasoned that the actual trail had to be close and somewhere
west of me. I decided to bushwhack in
that direction, sure I’d stumble upon it.
This proved to be more difficult than expected. The lodgepole pine
forest was thick with undergrowth and deadfall, and progress was slow. My plan did eventually pay off though, as I
ultimately found the trail, which is practically a highway compared to the
footpath I’d followed earlier.
I
followed the trail north. After a short
distance I reached the park boundary and some informational signs. Just beyond the boundary the trail joins Cascade
Creek, which it follows downstream.
After a short distance I reached the first waterfall inside the
park. The waterfalls on Cascade Creek
don’t have official names, but my guidebook refers to the first waterfall as
Pothole Cascades. Pothole Cascades was
quite nice, but it was difficult to get a good angle for photographs. Four more cascades followed before I reached
the confluence of Cascade Creek and the Falls River. Cascade Creek is a big stream, but the Falls
River is much larger. It was still
swollen with snowmelt, and I immediately realized that fording it wouldn’t be
possible. This was a little
disappointing, as the best views of Terraced Falls are from the far side of the
river. It wasn’t surprising though. Given the heavy snowfall from the previous
winter, I hadn’t really expected to be able to cross it.
I
continued downstream along the Falls River.
Before long I reached an impressive run of slides and big rapids called
Cascade Acres. After Cascade Acres the
river is calm for the next ¼ mile. Then
I arrived at the brink of Terraced Falls, which is a monster.
Terraced
Falls is a six-tiered waterfall totaling 140’.
The view from the overlook at the end of the trail is pretty good,
particularly upstream towards the uppermost drop and across the gorge to the
impressive cliffs above the falls.
However, the entire waterfall isn’t visible from that point, and the
angle isn’t great for photography. The
view would be much better from the other side of the river, but there simply
was no way to get over there with the river at its current level.
Despite
the limitations, the overlook was exciting.
The river raged over the falls, swollen with runoff from snowmelt and
the recent rain. The cliff I was on was
actually shaking, and mist from the falls rose out of the gorge in front of
me. It’s a cool spot, and I’m glad I
made the hike the hike to it.
I
headed back quickly, as I didn’t want to leave Christy waiting any longer than
necessary. I followed the trail all the
way out, and found that it actually starts from the far end of the same parking
area.
We
drove east past Grassy Lake Reservoir.
These last miles of the Ashton – Flagg Ranch Road were
in good shape, and we noted several official campsites along the way. We reached the highway at Flagg Ranch and
headed south, back into Grand Teton National Park. Our timing was good, as the sky cleared
rapidly as we drove back down along Jackson Lake. We enjoyed more great views of the mighty
Tetons before reaching Moran Junction.
There were turned east, following highway 287 towards DuBois. A few miles
outside of town we picked up a dirt road signed for Brooks Lake. We continued on to the Pinnacle Campground
($10) on the south shore of Brooks Lake.
This is a nice campground, with great views of the lake and rugged
mountains just beyond. Those mountains have
sheer cliffs rising just beyond the calm waters of the lake.
We
took campsite #4, which features a great view.
The water still wasn’t on in the campground though, so I had to filter
from the lake after pitching the tent.
The lack of water was annoying, but I will say that the campground had
the best outhouse of any of the campgrounds on our trip.
We
had jambalaya and salad for dinner and went to bed early. We had a little more rain that night, but
this time it passed quickly.
Continue reading about our trip as I hike to the summit of Whiskey Mountain in the Wind River Range.
Back to Wyoming
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Please remember to Leave No Trace!