Hike #40 2021

July 11th, 2021

For this hike we drove into Wyoming in an attempt to escape wildfire smoke. We left home at 3:15am and arrived at the trailhead around 5:30am. The drive to this area, especially in the dark, is definitely not my favorite. You’re having to dodge deer and antelope crossing the highway constantly and it can be nerve wracking. Fortunately there were not many others on the road at this time so we were able to drive a little slower and avoid any animal collisions. Maxi and Zeus, on the other hand, both thoroughly enjoy seeing these animals and take great satisfaction in barking at them while their little tail nubs wiggle.

Once we arrived at the trailhead, we gathered our things and were out on the trail before the sun started to hit the mountain tops. This trail takes you past several lakes with views of huge cliffy mountains.

There were lots of columbine flowers on the trail

More columbines with some bluebells on the left

Field of Ross’ avens flowers

Zeus with Parry’s primrose

In a field of Indian paintbrush

The amount of wildflowers here was amazing!

This little lake was our turn around point.

Zeus with the columbines

We hiked 5 miles with 666 feet elevation gain. We reached a maximum elevation of 11,000 feet.

We were so lucky that we only saw a few people on the trail. This area can get pretty crowded so it was hard to believe that we had most of the trail to ourselves!