One of the places we really wanted to visit on our roadtrip was the Wind River Range in western Wyoming. Neither of us had been here before, but it was a special spot for my dad, Bill, and thus it was meaningful for Taylor and I to get to see and experience a place that he loved very much.
For decades, my dad went on annual backpacking trips “out west” with his longtime friend Paul and sometimes also Paul’s dad, brother, or another friend. They went to different locations over the years, but returned to “the Winds” many times.
Taylor and I knew we wouldn’t see the exact locations that my dad did, as he and Paul went on proper backpacking trips — plunging deep into the wilderness with 50L packs carrying all of their food, gear, and sleeping pads. Meanwhile, we didn’t have any backpacking gear with us and hadn’t trained for anything more than day hikes.
But we did text Paul to let him know we were thinking about him and were eager to dip a toe into this new-to-us area of the country. Thank you again, Paul, for sharing your hike recommendations and a few memories from your adventures here!
On our first day in the Winds, we drove into the Fitzpatrick Wilderness, located just west of the Wind River Reservation and near the southern end of the Shoshone National Forest. The plan was to do a 4.7 mile out-and-back hike to Lake Louise.
The hike started out sunny and brilliant, climbing through scrubby trees and sage brush, dipping down to Torrey Creek and rushing briefly up against the falls, then ascending again into a landscape dotted with enormous boulders and moss-covered slabs of limestone. We were stunned at the area’s rugged beauty and wild terrain.
About a mile and a half into the hike, however, the sky rapidly turned dark, and imposing storm clouds scraped their way over the peaks in our direction. As usual, we didn’t have any way to look up the weather forecast (without cell service or internet). We tried to discern which way the clouds were moving, but everything seemed to be shifting directionally in the deep bowl of the valley that we sat in. The pockets of blue sky closed up tightly and the first flares of lightening flashed dimly in the distance.
Despite our growing sense of unease, the darkening skies were undeniably spectacular and made the colors around us more vibrant and intense.
We pushed on a bit further, making tentative plans for how and where we might take cover if the lightening picked up. On a broad plane of rock with a breathtaking view of the canyon around us, we decided to make a quick cairn for our dads.
No sooner had I snapped a video of Taylor assembling it, when it tumbled over in the wind and fat raindrops began to fall. Soon, the lightening grew in both proximity and intensity, and we made the hard call to abandon the hike and hustle our way back to the trailhead.
We were bummed to miss out on the views of the lake, but consoled ourselves, saying that we had made the safe and right call. Beyond the quick-onset weather, we had also both been feeling a bit draggy and not up to our usual energy for the hike.
In hindsight — after getting internet access and briefly catching up on the news, more than a week later — we think we may have actually been battling the most prevalent recent strain of Covid. For the previous four or five days, we had both woken up with mild sore throats and headaches, achy all over, and generally feeling fatigued.
It had been easy enough to chalk these things up to the altitude, dehydration, or our daily hikes, but we later realized that our symptoms closely matched the Nimbus strain of Covid and we had just left Grand Teton during a record-setting week of visitorship.
Thankfully, our interactions with others continued to be extremely minimal. And we were never down-and-out entirely; being truly sick while on the road and sleeping in a tent would be pretty miserable.
In the end, it was probably for the best that our hike was cut short. Throughout our trip, we struggled to allow ourselves many “rest days,” mostly because of the ever-present FOMO from being in amazing places for limited periods of time.
But nature handed us the excuse for this one, and we took it…although not before we were able to catch a few views, snap a few pics, and send another “we love you and miss you” out into the universe for our dads.
Plus, a general store that we briefly refueled at in the Wind River Reservation the day before was (very randomly!?) selling $5 boxes of homemade beignets filled with matcha and yuzu cream, so we enjoyed this unexpected but delicious snack back at our campsite after our short hike, and called it a good day.
