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Geezer Trek 2006 Tuesday Trail Diary
(We were right- the weather was perfect for the first two days on the trail and we managed to get out on Thursday before things deteriorated.) We drove north towards Montana and re-entered the park, and after dropping everyone else off at the Fan Creek trailhead at about 8:10 AM, David, Tom and Tony headed north for the Specimen Creek trailhead, where they dropped off Tom's rental car and headed back. It was
cold, with frost on the ground as we did our final gear checks. Tom
led us in prayer (he didn't mention grizzlies, but a few of us were
thinking about them for sure) and
Our official pace car, Tom, took the point as we started a slow, gentle climb. We soon hit the trail junction and headed northeast (see the photo on the left), up Fan Creek and hiking in the meadow next to the creek, alternating hikes in the timber along the edges. We had an 11-mile hike that day, and would be traveling through Fawn Pass at 8,320 feet late in the day. The day slowly warmed as the sun ascended in the sky. The scenery
was truly indescribable. At around 10:15 AM we had our first major river We took a pack break and as we were getting ready to hike on, two wranglers and a double string of pack mules passed us heading north. Based on our past experience in hiking the Grand Canyon, we knew they'd be leaving us "presents" on the trail we'd be experiencing the remainder of the day. Unfortunately, we were right. Nothing smells like "recycled" alfalfa, hay and oats on a western trail. Oh, well.
We hit the trail again,
refreshed and ready to head over the pass! We
After about a half mile of pretty tough uphill climbing in and out of some of the prettiest country on the planet earth-- Ponderosa Pines, Lodgepole Pines, open meadows, Aspens and mountains in the background, we ran into two National Park Service employees that were hiking in the opposite direction. (We had met up with four others earlier in the day.) They gave us a fishing report and told us about a string of horses and mules that were also coming southbound that we would run into. These two
really nice young studleys really
brightened us up when they said 1) the fish up at Sportsmen's Lake were hungry
and would bite just about any fly that we'd throw in the water, 2) we were only
about 1/2 to 3/4 of a mile from the crest of Fawn Pass, and 3) we shouldn't call
ourselves geezers when (OOOOH, here's a quarter, fellers- head into town & show yourself a really good time on the old guys!) REALLY nice couple of guys- we enjoyed the brief chat and the breather, too! We didn't know it, but these guys and the horse packers would be the last people we would see until we got off the trail. Nothing but us and critters.
About ten minutes later, the two horse packers and
their string that we saw
that morning going UPHILL came back downhill us carrying a full load
from the trail crews we had spoken to that day, and we had
to scramble up the rocks on the mountainside to get WAY out of their way.
Gotta love those souvenirs
they had left behind for us on the trail all day. The rest of the
way to the camp site we had a double dose!
The photo to the left shows off the tall grass (which the elk really thrive on) as well as the peaks to the northeast which were just barely in Yellowstone. By now we had exited Wyoming, having hiked about 10 miles across the corner of the state. This photo on the left is exactly as we first saw the pass, from the trail. We passed from the right to the left and re-entered the woods. After
taking a quick breather (huff, puff) our iron man Trail
Boss Dave struck a Captain Morgan pose for us (it was disgusting just how fresh
and ready to go he still was after 9 miles of hard hiking and a big load! And we
thought Tony was tough). Still smiling, too. Go, Doc!
But fire is a part of the cycle of western forests, and we could see the young trees growing up among the dead timber. It made for hot, dusty hiking in the full sun, late in the day when we were pretty pooped; it had been 30 degrees when we started and now it was pushing 80 degrees and in the full sun with no tree cover. And as any experienced backpacker will tell you, downhill hiking can be some of the toughest hiking you'll experience, especially if you're carrying a load. But the scenery all around us, with Electric Peak to the north and other peaks and the beautiful valley below ahead made the hike all day worth it. With
Tom's excellent steady-Eddie pace (as always), we made our way through the downhill
pass and downed timber until we could see our destination through the
burned timber: Sportsman's "A thunder-shower was approaching as we neared the summit of the mountain. I was above the others of the party, and, when about fifty feet below the summit, the electric current began to pass through my body. At first I felt nothing, but heard a crackling noise, similar to a rapid discharge of sparks from a friction machine. Immediately after, I began to feel a tingling or prickling sensation in my head and the ends of my fingers, which, as well as the noise, increased rapidly, until, when I reached the top, the noise, which had not changed its character, was deafening, and my hair stood completely on end, while the tingling, pricking sensation was absolutely painful. Taking off my hat partially relieved it. I started down again, and met the others twenty-five or thirty feet below the summit. They were affected similarly, but in a less degree. One of them attempted to go to the top, but had proceeded but a few feet when he received quite a severe shock, which felled him as if he had stumbled. We then returned down the mountain about three hundred feet, and to this point we still heard and felt the electricity." (Source: Wikipedia.com article about Electric Peak) Not much longer now! We
made our way down numerous and VERY dusty switchbacks as we headed
downhill, having to space ourselves out to keep the dust better under
control- and
So Doc, Tony and Tom decided to take a long walk across the meadow, and sure enough, it was ours. It was a lousy campsite-- too small, too hilly and exposed. We kicked it around a bit and decided to head back to the first site in the trees. We figured the Park Service could always ask us to move. And what a
great site it was! We dropped our packs, hoisted up the bear bags
and made camp. Got our tents pitched in an area about 60 feet from
the cooking area (you never want to sleep close to a cooking area or the
bear bags, which are hoisted 25-feet up.) We pitched our tents
together in an open grassy area in the trees at the edge of the
We were
getting low on water, so it was time to break out the water bladders,
purify water and fill them and the canteens up. Ross & Colby
unpacked their fishing gear- Ross claimed his fly fishing arm was starting
to twitch from Supper time came only too
soon. After purifying water with our filters from a pretty little
creek right next to the campsite, we started boiling water for supper.
Karl did his usual great job of menu planning- chicken noodle soup for
appetizer, with a choice of Mountain House freeze-dried dinners.
Food the entire trip was plentiful and tasty, as well as being light and
easy to prepare. (Who says you can't eat well in the outdoors?) Had a little free time to wander the area. Tom took this GREAT photo (right) of Electric Peak and one of the feeder streams that fed the area. One thing about Yellowstone is that no one really understands descriptions of the Park- and even photos like this don't do it justice. You can see the late afternoon sun head behind the trees and the crisp and clear air. At every turn at Yellowstone is a beautiful mountain stream, a high meadow, tall pine trees, blue skies and the wonders of God's creation. Did we get tired of it? No way! At dusk we had our first trail devotional, this one from Dave. It was great. He talked about the proofs of God not only from the perspective of the out-of-doors, but also from just looking at one small part of creation- the human eye. He spoke to us as evening fell, and as darkness descended, Karl lit a campfire- there was plenty of downed timber from the 1988 fire all around our copse of trees, which seems to have survived the fire. The
planets and the stars came out, with Ursa Major (the Great Bear)
dominating our view immediately over the mountain to our northwest.
No moon that night, so the stars looked like you could reach up and touch
them in the inky-black western sky. God's hand certainly But after the long day, the 11 miles of strenuous hiking and the heavy loads we were carrying, we all had one thing on our mind: Ibuprofen! (And bed.) So by 9 pm we had all retreated to our trees for a good night's sleep. Into the sleeping bags and out with the headlamps. Today was a pretty tough hike, but tomorrow was just for fun.
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Tuesday
morning we got an early start- a really BIG hot breakfast at the hotel at
6:30 am. It was about 30 degrees that morning in West Yellowstone,
but we knew that things would be warming up as soon as we put on our packs
and the day progressed. 
we
hit the trail at 8:32 AM and headed east.
crossing of the trip, so we had to
be careful about keeping our feet dry (or suffering blisters later!)
Ross worked out a deal with Tony where he agreed not to publish the movie
of Tony holding his pants up and still getting his feet wet.
(Details of the transaction between the two were not disclosed but
negotiations did seem to involve extensive name calling.) 
A slow, gentle
climb along the western side of the meadow, when we stopped for lunch and
a good, long pack break to rest our weary dogs, which were starting to
bark pretty hard, as well as our mooing calves. (Karl reported that his feet were "starting to squeal like girls".) About the time we finished our lunch
we were trying to get the gumption to get up and get going, Dave spotted a
small group of elk (!!) crossing the creek only 200 yards to the northeast
of us. They ambled along until they got a whiff of us, then.... ZIP.
Gone.
shortly left the meadow and Fan Creek, turned west after crossing a side
stream that gave a few minutes of anxiety- slick rocks are nothing to
sneeze at when you're carrying a load. But we managed to get over
with minimal wet feet and started to climb pretty hard into a deeply
forested area between us, the Sportsman Lake Trail junction and Fawn Pass.
After
about 45 minutes of some moderately hard hiking, another really pretty
stream crossing, this one small enough not to give us much trouble, we hit
the trail junction. We were glad to see the trail sign, because our
map (which didn't show as much detail as we'd like) didn't jive with our
compass
headings, but finding the trail head and knowing that we were 7.8 miles
down and only 3 miles to go was a big relief for all of us.
we could do THIS hike.
But we almost immediately afterwards hit Fawn Pass, which was a
beautiful high meadow in the trees at about 8,300 feet elevation. 
After
hiking just a bit downhill for about 1/4 mile through heavy western
forest, it was disconcerting to enter one of the heavily burned areas from
the 1988 Yellowstone fire.
Lake! Sited in a huge meadow between three peaks, including Electric
Peak (11,115 feet), one of the highest peaks in all of Montana and a
massive mountain. Electric Peak was named in 1872 from an event that
occurred to a survey team while they were climbing the peak. Henry Gannett
described the incident:
dodging mule poop, which had been an all-day occurrence.
We passed by a National Park Service log cabin (more on that later) and
after only seven hours of hiking that day, came to a nice little grove of
trees with a campsite- but not our campsite. 
meadow-
one of the most beautiful spots that we'd ever camped in. With a
view of the lake, Electric Peak and other mountains all around us, it was
simply amazing.
being in the proximity of so many trout.
seemed to be close to us after such a wonderful day of hiking, friendship
and the blessings of safety, good supper and good companionship.
