Ok I have not posted since Rawlins, WY. That was Monday morning?
Wyoming - it smells! Just before Rawlins was a town called Sinclair. Have you heard of it? Sinclair Gas! There was an extremely large refinery in that town. It was about two miles down the road, but you could smell the refinery very well. Wow! It is an oil smell and strong. I presume that Wyoming produces a ton of oil from all the dead dinosaurs in the ground (think of the archaeological sites there and the dinosaur on the Sinclair sign). As I traveled up US30 in Wyoming towards Pocatello I saw thousands upon thousands of oil storage units, but never saw any pumping equipment. They must do it in a different way at each of these containers. Every mile had several hundred on both sides of the road. There were tanker trucks at some of them. I don't think it was natural gas. Again the missing oil pumps perplexed me a bit.
Made it to the trail head north of Mackay, ID but was extremely disappointed due to the amount of snow on the top that I could see through the cloud cover. It was raining and lightning on the top and I am sure snowing. I made it to camp and nobody was there. I mean nobody. Well crap! Finally after an hour a few more people showed up. I spoke to one guy and his daughter who were from Seattle and going to do Borah, Kings Peak in Utah, and Boundary Peak in Nevada (I have done Kings and Boundary). I got set up and my gear ready for the morning wake up at 4 AM. It rained on me a bit and even snowed/iced a bit in the middle of the night since I heard it bouncing off of my truck tent. I also heard some new arrivals in the camping area that were jamming out to some Johnny Cash. I was 11:30 PM and I was going to be up in 4.5 hours! Woke up several times to pee and probably should have used an empty water bottle for that so I did not have to go out in the 30 degree temps. Around 2:15 AM I was freezing. I woke up shaking cold. I zipped up the mummy bag and add some more covers to me. I was cold.
I woke up again at 3:45 AM and decided just to get up and hit the trail. It took me an hour to get ready (camera issues). I climbed and climbed. It is about 5500 feet gain from the trail head to the top of the mountain. That is a lot of elevation gain. I stopped in a few places and just felt like crap. I think I was preoccupied with the snow on top. I told myself to make it to the tree line at 10,000 feet and view things from there. Well, you cannot see the top from there so I climbed to around 11,000 feet and behold the summit, Chicken Out Ridge and the snow bridge had lots of snow on them. I didn't like the looks of this. I sat for a while and debated. I worried about the hand holds going down to the snow bridge and I worried about any sort of snow or water on Chicken Out Ridge (a mishap would mean a fall of either 2,000 feet or 3,000 feet and if you were lucky you could self-arrest from the fall). I decided I didn't have it in me to go on further. Nobody else was up there with me and I worried that I was beyond my skill level when it came to the snow. As I started down I ran into three guys from Idaho and they too worried about the snow, but were going to go up further to about 11,800 feet to see how bad things were. I told them to be safe and that I was out. I was extremely disappointed in myself for not pushing further up, but I just knew in my heart I was to wanting to risk things. I trudged back down (very hard on the knees since there are very few switchbacks to ease the elevation gain or loss). I made it to camp and decided to break it down and leave. I climbed for a total of 6 hours and didn't make it. Most climbs take 12-14 depending on conditions. I would have been 16 hours. Again, disappointing, but such is life. I felt my safety was at risk by continuing onward.
As I climbed down I did a lot of thinking. I have traveled several thousand miles already and I am beat. I decided to head to Missoula to spend the night and then take my time to get to Glacier NP. I will most likely stay in that area - either hotel, cabin, or tent - probably item one or two. I know I am going to cut Triple Divide Peak due to it being around 20 miles round trip and snow being a possible issue. YES SNOW - it is 100 degrees back home and there is snow in the upper elevations. I will do Mt. Reynolds, and some trails in Many Glacier. I do think I will cut some things on the way back. Not sure yet. Just going to take my time. This was an overly ambitious trip. The things not being cut for sure are Devils Tower, the highpoints of North and South Dakota, Mt. Rushmore.
Now for my trip into Montana. I have one word for Montana - Casinos. Yes there are tons of them and they are all the same on every corner and in the truck stops and restaurants. I guess video gambling is legal in Montana. It was like there was a casino on every corner. Kind of like Dunkin Donuts in Chicago. It was very weird. I figured this place was pretty conservative, but yet they have casinos everywhere. My trip from Borah Peak trail head to Missoula was very beautiful. It followed the Salmon River. It was very cool. I will upload pictures of all these things later. I am going to bed since I was up at 3:45 AM and it is now 8:45 PM here. 17 hours - ouch. Need to slow down.
One last observation. Speed limits: They are crazy out here in the west, but I presume they are so high since you have to travel 400 miles to get to a decent sized city. When I crossed at the Idaho/Montana border it went from 65 mph to 70 mph, but there S curves that had suggested speeds of 25 to 35 mph for the next 20+ miles. What? Who can go 70 mph down a curvy mountain road? Not this guy.
It has been a long tough day. It has been physically draining and emotionally draining. Yes emotions I say. When you try to set a goal and don't make it, it becomes emotional at times. Everybody hates to fail, but it does happen and it keeps you grounded when you do. Just couldn't overcome the physical obstacle of the snow in the areas of concern. Didn't think August would be a month for snow on the top of the summit.
Pictures will be posted tomorrow - I hope. Now for some much needed rest.
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