MOUNTAIN CRY
Our
goal the next morning was to climb Younts Peak.
Younts Peak is the tallest mountain in the area, and it is one of the
most remote peaks in the contiguous United States. The view from the summit encompasses a vast
swath of the Teton and Washakie Wilderness Areas.
We
got up early and carried light packs for our summit attempt. We left our campsite and backtracked on the
trail for a few minutes. Then we left
the trail and headed down to the South Fork of the Yellowstone River. We had to avoid some gullies, but otherwise
the route was straightforward. We hoped
across the infant river and began climbing the south slope of Younts Peak. We climbed to a bench, which we followed west
below the cliffs that form the south face of the mountain. Our goal was to access the south ridge.
We
were passing through a bowl just east of the target ridge when I heard the
unmistakable roar of a mountain lion. It
was one of the most incredible things I’ve ever heard. Every hair on my body stood straight up. The sound was somewhat distant, but I still
spent a couple of minutes looking for the source. I did not see any sign of a cat. My best guess is that he was somewhere among
the cliffs just to our north.
Unfortunately, Larry didn’t have his hearing aids in and missed the
whole thing.
We
climbed a steep snowfield to reach the south ridge. Fortunately the snow
was soft and not icy. Once on the ridge
we headed up. This was a mistake. I could see a lot of snow and a rocky cliff
band farther up, but I figured we could find a way through. It turns out that we should have continued
west to a gap in the southwest ridge. I
think we could have followed that ridge all the way to the summit.
Instead,
we climbed steeply, keeping an eye out for mountain lions. As we neared the crux I grew concerned. There was a lot of snow up there. We reached the base of a steep rock
face. I think I could have climbed it,
but I wasn’t certain. I looked to my
left and saw that the snowpack had pulled away from the base of the cliff. That left a corridor of rock and packed
snow. I decided to follow it. The corridor led along the base of the cliff
before ending at the bottom of a ledge.
Right before the end, I plunged through a soft spot in the snow. Clearly the snowpack was unstable. That was a concern, because getting up onto
the ledge would require forcefully pushing off on the snowpack. I thought it would work, but I couldn’t be
sure that the whole thing wouldn’t give way.
Larry
caught up, and we discussed our options.
Ultimately we decided that it wasn’t worth the
risk. We decided to bail. In hindsight, we still could have worked our
way around to the gap in the southwest ridge and resumed the climb. I wish we had. We were already behind schedule though, as we
had some miles to cover that afternoon.
BEGINNINGS
We
took a slightly different route on our return to camp. Instead of dropping down to the river, we
stayed higher and contoured around below Thorofare Peak. This was mostly easy walking, and it led us
directly to the very beginning of the South Fork of the Yellowstone River. The source wasn’t terribly exciting – it was
just some puddles in a low spot at the base of a small snowfield. Still, it was fascinating to see the very
beginning of the longest undammed river in the contiguous United States.
From
there we hiked southwest, mostly staying on a bench below
rugged cliffs. We worked our way
around to a beautiful alpine tarn. We
were surprised to see tents there. There
was another group of backpackers a short distance from our campsite, but we had
been totally unaware of their presence.
From there, we continued around to rejoin the trail, which we followed
back to camp.
MISSED THE FERRY
We
returned early that afternoon. We had
lunch and broke camp. Our goal for the
afternoon was to backpack to Ferry Lake.
We followed the trail southwest, contouring well below the Continental
Divide. This was rugged stretch of
trail, but with beautiful scenery. After
some steep ups and downs we reached a sketchy
area. The trail crosses two steep
snowfields. Each one leads into a chute
that runs to the brink of a cliff, and the terrain is steep enough that you do
not want to slip. Fortunately
the snow was soft, and we were able to cross by cautiously kicking steps in the
snow. For future reference, it is best
to avoid this stretch of trail in early summer early in the morning, when the
snow is likely to be icy.
From
there we descended quickly to a fork. We
stayed left, as I wanted to take a side trip over to Marston Pass. We followed a faint path over to another
junction with a heavily used trail. We
followed that trail back to the east.
Views were limited from the actual pass, so we continued east on the
trail to a gap in the east ridge.
Although we were well east of the Continental Divide, there is a sign
here, and a great view looking back towards Younts Peak. The trail ahead continues down Marston Creek
to the South Fork of the Shoshone River.
We
doubled-back and continued west on the trail along Lost Creek. We descended gradually through open meadows,
staying well above the creek. We were a
couple of hours behind schedule, but we were making up time thanks to the easy
hiking. We didn’t see any camping
options along Lost Creek. After a couple
of miles Lost Creek turned south to descend into a canyon. We continued ahead on the trail, climbing
over a minor divide. We then descended
into the headwaters of Lake Creek. A bit
farther on we reached a major junction with a trail leading down Lake Creek and
on to the South Fork Buffalo. We
continued ahead, climbing to the crest of a prominent ridge. It was getting late, and we still had over a
mile to go to reach Ferry Lake. I
explored out the ridge and found a spot that was suitable for a campsite. I hated to stop short of Ferry Lake, but it
was almost dusk, and the ridge had a spectacular view of a gorgeous
waterfall. That waterfall is on an
unnamed tributary of Lake Creek. After
setting up camp, I followed the trail down to the creek, which it crosses just
downstream from the waterfall. The view
was nice there, but even better from our campsite.
That
evening I messaged my wife using my Garmin In
Reach. I sent her a message every
evening just to let her know that everything was ok. While I was doing that, I found myself wishing
that I could get a current weather forecast.
We would be finishing our trip with 3 days of off-trail hiking along the
Continental Divide, high above treeline. That would be a bad place to be in bad
weather. My Garmin has a weather
forecast feature, but it is powered by Dark Sky, which is worthless. In a moment of brilliance, I sent my wife
another message and asked her to send me the weather forecast for DuBois,
WY. I checked my messages later, and got the weather forecast. Our long run of good weather was about to
end. The next two days looked good, but
there was a good chance of afternoon thunderstorms on Thursday and Friday.
We
had planned a layover day at Ferry Lake on Tuesday, followed by three days
along the Continental Divide back to Brooks Lake starting on Wednesday. That plan didn’t mesh well with the weather
forecast. Larry and I discussed our
options. We could take a different route
back to Brooks Lake, but I didn’t really want to do that. Instead, I suggested that we skip the layover
day and start the hike out a day early.
That would give us good weather for the Continental Divide on Tuesday,
Wednesday, and Thursday morning. If we
made good time, we could be off the divide before Thursday afternoon’s
storms. I hated to give up the layover
day and the visit to Ferry Lake, but it seemed like the best choice. Larry was in favor of the change, so we
planned to break camp and head back to the Continental Divide in the morning.
Back to Wyoming
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