Woo Hoo!
Gary and Dona's Outrageously Wonderful 2011 Pack Trip to the
North Fork of the Sun River, the Chinese Wall, and Prairie Reef
September - October 2011
Part 4: Below the Chinese Wall
On our layover day the day before
we had started late in the morning for our hike to the wall,
and were a little disappointed because by the time we got to where we could see it,
the sun was already high enough and to the west enough
that most of it was in shadow.
So we wanted to get a relatively early start (for us) the next morning,
as we wanted to catch the wall with the sun on it.
We didn't do anything as radical as setting an alarm;
but we did get up more or less when the sun did.
But we got off to a crummy start.
Sky and Scheba were hobbled and out grazing,
and Sambo was still tied up.
I was off in the trees pooping when I heard the dreaded sound
of bells clanging and hooves thump-jumping.
Sky and Scheba were making a beeline back up towards the lake and the main trail.
By the sound of it, they thought they were headed home.
By the time I got myself put back together they were nowhere in sight.
I ran up looking for them and found hoof tracks headed up the trail,
back the way we had come.
I hurried up that way for a while but couldn't hear anything,
so I turned around and headed back to camp.
I grabbed Sambo, threw a saddle on him,
and was about to start up the trail when Dona yelled.
Sky and Scheba had circled back through the trees
and were now almost back where they had started.
I breathed a sigh of relief and we filled up with breakfast.
Then we packed up and headed back over to the wall.
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| Below the Wall |
Below the Wall, Looking North
Photo by Dona |
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Indian Paintbrush
Photo by Dona |
Rock Creek - Moose Creek Divide
Photo by Dona |
You used to be allowed to camp below the wall,
but it is high alpine terrain and it abuses easily,
and it takes decades to heal.
So now no camping is allowed along most of the wall;
that's disappointing, but a good thing.
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| Below the Wall |
Gary and Max Below the Wall
Photo by Dona |
Below the Wall looking South |
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Moose Creek - Burnt Creek Divide
Photo by Dona |
Moose Creek - Burnt Creek Divide
Photo by Dona |
I had a terrible time on this trip taking pictures from the saddle.
The camera I am using was my father's,
a nikon D80.
The camera itself is ok,
but the kit zoom lens that came with it is a piece of junk.
The lens is cheaply made and has a huge amount of play in it,
both at the outermost end element and in the middle of the body.
Something is stretched or bent inside the lens and doesn't make good contact,
so the electronic connection to the body is intermittent.
So in order to take pictures,
I need both hands free,
one to hold the body,
and the other to push the lens back into the body so the electrical contacts make good contact.
That doesn't leave any hands for the lead rope to the pack horse,
or for the reins for controlling Sambo.
It's kind of a dance sometimes...
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| Below the Wall |
Looking Down Rock Creek |
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| Below the Wall looking South |
Below the Wall looking South |
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| Below the Wall |
We kept our eyes peeled for goats or sheep up on the wall,
and sure enough, we finally found them.
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| Goats on the Wall |
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| Goats on the Wall |
The Chinese Wall extends for a long ways.
We first came up to it just south of My Lake,
and it extends for miles north of there.
We were riding due South,
and we followed it for another ten miles
before turning east down Burnt Creek and the West Fork of the Sun.
The Scapegoat massif thirty miles further south is part of the same formation.
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| Sambo |
Dona and Sky below the Wall |
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| Below the Wall |
Pond below the Wall |
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| Chinese Wall |
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| Looking North |
Looking East |
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| Looking Northeast |
Chinese Wall |
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| Chinese Wall |
At last we came to where we had to leave the wall.
The wall itself kept going as far as we could see,
but our trail headed southeast down Burnt Creek and into the timber.
As we headed down the trail,
I kept looking over my shoulder.
It's an inspiring sight...
one to keep in mind on long winter evenings
when one dreams up things to do the following summer.
We wound our way down and down,
keeping our eyes peeled for a good camp.
There's not a lot of grass for the stock along that stretch.
We were getting tired;
Dona was hiking, and I was riding Sambo and leading Scheba with Sky tied behind her.
Every so often we would wait for Dona to catch up.
I would get off and stretch my legs, grab a nibble of something to eat, and sometimes consult the map.
On these trips I usually wear a day pack while I'm in the saddle,
as I can't fit everything I need handy in my saddle bags.
Things like the water squeezer.
On one occasion I took my pack off,
and when we headed on down the creek I forgot it.
Grrr. Fortunately we weren't too far gone when I realized it.
Dona and Max waited patiently while I rode back and got it.
When Dona and I are both riding,
Max generally stays a little in front of us,
coming back periodically to make sure we're both alive and well.
But when she's hiking and I'm riding,
he puts in a lot of miles going back and forth between us.
So now he was pretty pooped,
and happy to just lie down and rest.
Eventually we got down low enough that we found a good bunch of grass in amongst the trees.
We called a halt,
unloaded the horses,
belled and hobbled them, and turned them loose while we heated up dinner.
I heard great horned owls hooting as we drifted off to sleep.
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Burnt Creek Camp
Photo by Dona |
Burnt Creek
Photo by Dona |
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Tired Max
Photo by Dona |
Tired Max
Photo by Dona |
