DAY 12., It was a trying day hiking with badly chafed legs and a boot that was separated from the sole. I slept over night near Mary's Lake. The next day I tried to take my left sneaker and put the left boot on my right foot. I only put my liner sock on and it felt much better than hiking with the roped concoction. I made a better way down toward the trailhead. It still took me about 5 hours of hiking from here. At the trailhead I hitched a ride to Pinedale where I took a shower, attended to my scrapes and bought new shoes.
Pipestone Lake. At this point my right boot was totally falling apart. I stopped here to fish for fine cutthroats I've seen cruising along the shore. Along came a hiker who encouraged me to be positive about my boot. He was wearing New Balance sneakers and was through hiking CDT from Canada to Mexico.
One of the nice Cutthroats out of Pipestone Lake. I think I caught about 6 fish and moved on. This picture taken with the fish on the line, my fishing rod under my armpit and camera in my hands.
Elevation 9810 feet.The hike from Bonneville's to Sandpoint Lake was mostly flat. Sandpoint lake had a small sandy beach. I took a plunge and had a refreshing swim.
The issue now became my boot. The sole fell completely apart. I tried to use utility rope to tie it back together but after a mile or so it broke again. I realized that I will not complete my hike to Titcomb lakes and to Green River Lake. I had to come down to a trailhead for repairs. This still meant 2 days of hiking. I was in for 2 long days.
Elevation 10,828 feet. Large Bonnevile Lake. It was still worth coming up here. I fished the water for about 30 minutes and saw absolutely nothing. I wonder if there is any fish in this lake. Whenever I thouthgt a lake is too high I got surprised by looking at the map. There is another body of water draining into this lake called Sheila Lake at elevation 11,015 feet.
The cliff was very steep. I wasn't sure I wanted to do it with my backpack on. After a careful study I saw a potential route. I made the decision to go risk it.
About halfway of careful rock hopping I ran into a dead end. This view is basically looking straight down of what I had to complete. I got to a point that was not visible from previous vantage point when I thought I had a route. I did another study of the terrain and found that ascending about a hundred feet to the left and then choosing another way down might be possible.
When I got to the top I realized I made a huge error reading the map. It happens that the map ended on one side and when I flipped it over I asumed the lakes to be more to my left when in fact the lakes were duplicated on the other side. So I passed small Bonneville lake already and instead of just following the water up I turned left and ended up almost at the top of Mt. Bonneville near a nice spring.
Bonneville peak. I was lost. Probably around 11,400 feet and about 1000 feet from Bonneville Peak. I did not want to go back down. I decided to scale the left side to get a glimpse of the Bonneville lake.
The next day I headed to find the Bonneville Lakes. Looking at the map I chose a route to my right. There was no trail so I followed faint outlines of trail that was probably made by elk.
When I reached the top of the first mountain I was puzzled I couldn't see the Bonneville lakes. I chose the next peak to my left and kept on ascending.
I hiked all day through a lot of expansive plains until I reached the mountains with Bonneville Lakes. From there on the trail climbed steeply up. My boot did not look good. I tried to favor my other foot a little bit as not to damage the sole any further.
It seems that every day I finished totally exhausted. I reached Bonnevile basin in the evening, lay in the tent for an hour just recuperating. Then I cooked dinner and fished for a while. I caught lots of 12 inch brookies here. Some of them were picky but a well placed fly next to a boulder would trigger a bite. The basin elevation is about 11,000 feet. There were few mornings where I had to take frost off my tent. The frost on the tent is slightly visible in this picture. Picture was taken early morning on day 9.
I hiked all day, crossing Hailey Pass, back to Pyramid Lake and to Washakie Creek. I followed the creek downstream for a while until I found a suitable camp near the trail. This is the view from my camp. I fished this portion of Washakie creek after dinner. It was full of small 10 inch brookies. They were very easy to catch. I caught about 10 and headed back to my tent.
Elevation 11,600 feet. The hike to Hailey's pass was very steep. I was surprised that immediately at the top of the pass I saw two beautiful alpine ponds called Twin Lakes. I sat on the left shore and while I rested and resuplied water I was scanning the surface for signs of fish. I did not see any activity so I elected to continue my hike.
I spent the rest of the day fishing for large cuttthroats until a huge thunderstorm chased me into the tent. The rain was strong and I noticed a few seams lose their repelency. The skies after the thunderstorm were magical. I grabbed the camera and the fishing rod and spent the rest of the light photographing and fishing.
The wind was present but when I showed up at the shore to fish the conditions became ideal for about 10 minutes. I could see into the water and couldn't believe my eyes. Huge football trout were cruising the shores looking for food. This rainbow did not want to eat my Royal Coachman until I cast it just to the side of his head when he instinctively turned and snatched the fly.
Soon the trail split. I chose the right side which rose sharply along cliffs above the lake. The views were breathtaking and so was I. I've hiked a lot today and I was totally exhausted. I was nearing the end of the Grave lake and wasn't sure I could go any longer. Fortunately the trail sloped down around this bend and descended all the way to the lake where I found a great camping spot.
After fishign I continued hiking towards Grave Lake. The trail turned sharply up, through gorges and waterfalls. On the way I've met a group of campers from Utah who brought their own horses and horsebacked all the way here. Tough trail for an inexperienced horse. One of their horses has never been on a trail like this before. It has lost a horseshoe somewhere on the trail would not go any further. Tough situation. Grave Lake is at least 2 days hiking to the nearest road. I continued until I reached Grave Lake and as I hiked the shores of the lake I could not believe what I have seen. A beach! Yup. I couldn't believe my eyes. This remote lake has a nice sandy beach. Definitely a good spot for multiple day camping.
The trail was either level or gently sloping down following the South Fork of Wind River. When I got to a fork towards Grave Lake I took a break and had fished for a while. I had the best fishing time of my life, catching cutthroat trout left and right. The river was narrow and fast but loaded with fish. I used high floatation dry flies. The fishing was excellent.
Elevation 10,771 feet. Macon Lake. I camped close to the shore and fished all around the lake. All I landed were Brook Trout. Fishing was slow but I was able to catch fish on sinking line and Tiger Mickey Finns. The color of the fish was bright silver. The fish did not fight a lot. Perhaps the cold high mountain location affected their metabolism. I caught about 5 or 6 fish on sinking line with another fish in the morning on a dry Blue Wing Olive. These fish were slightly bigger than the 8 inch trout I have been catching so far.
After I cleared the snowfield I sat down to soak in all the views. It was also an excuse to take a break. I re-filled my water bottles and rested in this beautiful afternoon.
I reached the top of Washakie pass and discovered a huge snowfield where the trail was supposed to be. I was slightly worried to loose my footing and slide down and hitting the rocks below. I traversed the rock slide to the right about halfway down and then crossed the snowfield diagonally. This reduced the angle at which I was hiking. Perhaps it wasn't necessary. A group of hiker followed shortly after me and simply glissaded down.
I still think I made a wise choice. I was alone. I could not afford anything to happen to me.
I headed for Washakie Pass in the morning. The trail was much steeper than yesterday. Of course I had to hike up to 12000 feet to make it over the continental divide. The sun was slowly chasing away the night. The higher I hiked the wider it got. Remnants of snow were everywhere. I added another layer of clothing and kept going.
After my fishing I continued another climb towards Washakie pass. The storm clouds formed around 5PM and the rain was imminent. I pitched my tent above Skull Lake and climbed in. The downpour started immediately and lasted about an hour. I shot a picture of the lake and went down to fish it's shores. It was overabundant in brook trout. Every cast yielded a fish. I walked all the way around the lake catching fish as I went. I lost count of how many.
I made dinner afterwards. The mosquitoes were vicious in this location. It was hard to complete eating without being chased by the biting insects. I had to walk and eat.
The darkness was approaching. I climbed into my tent for a good night sleep. I hoped that I would again not halucinate through the night.
