2000, 8-7 Wind River Range with Jean

In 2000 Jean and I took one of our most ambitious trips together. We took advantage of summer flexibility for both of us with a Wyoming trip that would take us to the Wind Rivers, Yellowstone, and the Tetons, and then to a visit with her family in Iowa on the return. Our focus was the Winds, where we planned a 6 day loop through the Cirque of the Towers in the southern part of the range. Though I had been in the range three times before, Jean had never been there, and I knew she would love the majestic mountain scenery. This would be a driving trip, providing us the luxury of flexibility, but at the price of long hours on the road.

8-4-2000
We left Knoxville and drove 360 miles to Evansville, Indiana.

8-5-2000
We knew we couldn’t spend all day in the car, so we planned a stop on the Katy Trail in Missouri along the way. We pulled off I-70 at Rocheport which looked to be the easiest access to this rail trail, but also proved to be one of the most scenic sections of the Katy. Rocheport has all the essentials for biking on the Katy, so we rented a pair of bikes and rode a total of 14 miles in both directions from the trailhead between mileposts 172 and 179, whizzing down the finely packed gravel trail alongside the Missouri River. It was just our luck that we went through the only tunnel on the entire trail, and alongside some beautiful riverside cliffs. After the ride we pushed on to a motel in Wakeeney, KS.

8-6-2000
We had hoped to make it to the Wyoming mountains that day, but arrived in Rock Springs too late, and too tired to head back out after doing our final shopping at the Albertsons. Instead, we rented a room at the Super 8 to enjoy one more night of indoor living after 1800 miles of driving.

The route from Big Sandy. 2000 trip is in yellow.

8-7-2000
We were on the road the next day at 7AM headed for the famously tough to find Big Sandy Trailhead. We saw only one county road sign and several unmarked road junctions along the way, and we saw only one other car in the 2.5 hour drive to the trailhead. But many others had found their way also, there must have been 100 cars in the lot when we finally arrived.
Despite all the preparation that went into planning the hike, we got lost almost immediately. We’d planned to do a counterclockwise loop, but missed an early turn and realized we were headed directly to Cirque of the Towers when we encountered a sign for the side trail to V Lake.
By Big Sandy Lake we had only been hiking for two hours, so despite our lingering fatigue from the driving trip we pushed on to North Lake. After some tough climbing we found a campsite amid the boulders and pines on the west side of the lake. Jean was feeling good all day long, but I bonked almost as soon as we arrived in camp with a headache, poor stomach, and lethargy. But some snacks and hot tea brought me back to life.
After a windy afternoon, the evening was pure quiet. We saw a deep red alpenglow on Mitchell Peak and the other peaks to our south. The burning heat of the day vanished as the sun disappeared behind Warbonnet, but dusk remained cool, not cold. Except for some curious pikas we had the basin to ourselves. Jean had already counted 75 other hikers during the day.

USGS Temple Peak Quad showing approach route.

North Lake, 7 miles

Jean at Jackass Pass.

8-8-2000
We had a short, but not easy, hike to Cirque of the Towers. I’d forgotten there was another climb before Arrowhead Lake. Lucky for us the climb was a little easier beyond the lake. We went straight past the lake, ignoring a bypass that other hikers had told us was chocked with boulders. Since my last visit, Lonesome Lake in the Cirque had been closed to camping, but we managed to get a site in a grove of trees above the lake. There were at least 5 other parties around, mostly climbers. When the wind was calm, we could even hear the various climbers in the cirque calling to each other.

Jackass Pass into Cirque of the Towers.

We took an early lunch, then lounged in the hot sun enjoying the views. I then took a 45 minute walk up to Cirque Lake and was able to use informal trails most of the way. Cirque Lake is a stark, high tarn. No one was camping nearby, but there were plenty of flowers in the adjacent meadow. Back in camp Jean and I both were feeling the altitude, so I pumped some extra water. Still, we ate our full dinner and split a 16 oz. beer.

Pingora in Cirque of the Towers.

Cirque of the Towers, 4 miles

8-9-2000
Today’s route all retraced part of my 1984 trip. In 1984 we were pelted by hard rains across the entire exposed expanse of Lizard Head Plateau, but on this trip at least we had better weather. The morning was overcast, we had a 20 minute hike to the outlet of Lonesome Lake where we saw 3 parties, then a two mile hike to Lizard Head Meadow, which reminded me of some of the long “parks” in the Bighorns. Three more parties were camped in the valley.

Lizard Head Peak Quad showing the 2000 route in yellow.

Next was the long steep climb up the slopes of Windy Mountain, the toughest section being some switchbacks just above tree line above Bear Lakes. Despite our slow progress it was wonderful to be able to look back into the Cirque to Lizard Head and the peaks to the north. Finally, the grade lessened, and we were able to enjoy the gentle terrain that had been so rain soaked in 1984. Late in the walk we got a few gentle drops, perhaps a reminder of what could be. As hot as the first few days in the Winds had been, we were glad to have some clouds to keep the temperature down. We suspected the mild altitude problems we were having were driven a bit by heat and sun as well.

Lizard Head.

Valentine Lake was surprisingly crowded with at least 7 other parties. I had told Jean that we might have a good chance of having the lake to ourselves. We washed in the lake immediately upon arrival. It made the world of difference to me, no more altitude symptoms the rest of the trip.
Valentine Lake, 10.5 miles

8-10-2000
After our first cloudy night of the trip, we hiked two miles to a tough creek crossing just before the junction with the trail to Graves Lake, where we split from my 1984 route. We hiked two hours to Macon Lake where we stopped to pump water. Washakie Lake was exceptionally beautiful, I wished we’d had the chance to camp there. It took another 50 minutes to reach Washakie Pass, the climb was never too steep, but it was a little loose and crossed one snowfield. Even though a group we met at the pass would try to climb Washakie Peak, I opted for the easier summit to the south and climbed Bernard instead. It was only 20 minutes up moderate talus. The peak did not warrant a register. There was a nice little alcove shelter, and the summit was just off a sheer north face offering great views. Walkup summits in the Winds were not to be taken for granted. Over four trips to the Winds this was only my fifth peak, one was the technical Gannett Peak and only two of the others weren’t just easy side trips off a mountain pass.

Approaching Washikie Pass.

Descending the west side of the pass was gentler and easier. Near the head of the valley, we saw a herd of several hundred sheep, but were lucky to lose them before the junction with the Pyramid Lake Trail. At that junction we turned north and found a nice campsite on the east side of Skull Lake. Another noisy party came in a bit later, but they quieted down after Jean went over to talk with them. We had a light 30 minute rain in late afternoon.

Mount Bonneville Quad and the route from Washakie Pass to Bernard Peak.

Skull Lake 7.5 miles, Bernard Peak 12,193’

8-11-2000
I do not recall any other layover days on long trips taken with Jean, so this was a very special treat. I had planned on trying to walkup Pyramid Peak, but lacked the ambition for it when daylight arrived. Instead, Jean and I spent an easy morning reading in camp and dodging a few brief showers. Later we walked to the end of the trail above Pyramid Lake to enjoy the views. The East Fork peaks looked especially sheer, and we found good campsites at Mae Lake. Pyramid Lake had little shelter for camping. We saw only our second deer of the trip on the return. Three new parties had arrived at the lake in our absence, but all was quiet. It seemed odd that Valentine and Skull had the most crowded camping of the trip, while our site in the Cirque had seemed the most private.
Skull Lake, 5 miles

Jean at Pyramid Lake.

8-12-2000
On our final day in the Winds, we walked back to Big Sandy Opening in about 4 hours via Marms, Dads, and Meeks Lakes. We both liked Marms, but wouldn’t have wanted to camp at Dads or Meeks. We saw one deer and Jean got her hiker count up to 219. At the trailhead we washed up in the creek and hopped in the car. The weather was still hot and dry. We would return with a lot of lunch food left over and about a half quart of fuel (out of 2 qts.) left over. In later trips we would burn fuel faster by boiling all our water, but on this trip, we filtered our water.
It took 90 minutes to drive to Pinedale where we got the last room at the Sundance Hotel for $65. Two badly needed showers later we were feeling human again. We walked around town a bit checking out the outdoor stores and grabbing a milkshake.
Pinedale, WY, 9.5 miles

8-13-2000
The next morning, we drove into Jackson. We found out that the Gros Ventre Campground in Grand Teton NP hadn’t filled on Saturday, so we immediately went there and claimed a campsite. The CG is by the river, but away from the big lakes and mountain views of the other campgrounds. Jean didn’t take to Jackson, so we went to Moose instead and shopped a bit. We then drove to Jenny Lake, found the parking full, and then parked at String Lake. We started walking the popular Jenny Lake Loop Trail through a recent burn. The loop was really crowded, but the peaks loom straight above you, and the crowds can be forgiven. We took the trip to Hidden Falls, but it was too crowded with hikers being discharged off the boat shuttle to go to Observation Point. We were still getting used to the heat, which was a good excuse to get ice cream at Jenny Lake.

Hidden Falls in the Tetons.

After the hike we spent a long time at the Visitor Center then went back to Moose for beer and pizza at a table with full view of Grand Teton. Then it was back to our campsite in the sagebrush.
Gros Ventre Campground GTNP, 7 miles

Bison in the Tetons.

8-14-2000
Priority 2 for this trip was Yellowstone National Park where we hoped to get in a two night backpack trip. We got an early start to get to the backcountry office at the south entrance, but with fires in the Bechler and Pitchstone Plateau areas and Heart Lake full, we were lucky to get a permit at campsite 8SI on Shoshone Lake.
After getting the permit we had plenty of spare time, so we drove to West Thumb to walk the geyser basin trail, and then drove to Old Faithful where we waited 3.5 minutes for an eruption. Next back to the trailhead for major snacking. We hiked into Shoshone Lake via Lewis Channel. It was a great walk through some of the 1988 burn, plus lots of lakeshore and river side walking. Lush green understory under lodgepole pine. At one point we noticed a flash of brown in the underbrush of the furry ears of a baby moose. Knowing that momma was likely close by, we scurried up the trail without a photo. Our other family moment was witnessing a young family singing “row, row, row your boat” as they paddled up the channel.
8SI is one of the rare, shared sites in Yellowstone. Our neighbors were a family of 8 who had paddled in, Grandpa with a group of teenagers. We also meet the ranger stationed at the nearby patrol cabin. He was very careful to make sure we observed all the cooking/cleaning protocols for grizzly country, and found we were up to snuff. After dinner Jean and I walked along the lake shore to enjoy a beer, and we spotted a moose strolling along the shore. The ranger said the moose was a regular and seemed to be curious about the ways of people. So, despite our first night together in grizzly country and wildfires on the horizon, we slept safely and comfortably, though Jean and the other campers were woken up by the sound of a bugling elk.
Shoshone Lake 8SI, 7 miles

Moose at Shoshone Lake.

8-15-2000
We woke up to our coldest morning of the trip. There was smoke coming in from the fires to the west that mixed with the clouds to produce some lightening and a little rain. We headed out via Dogshead Trail, which was shorter, but wasn’t as scenic as our inbound route along the channel, mostly just forest blackened by the 1988 fires. The last 1.2 miles follows and abandoned old road that still has some asphalt fragments in place. But there are remarkably few options for short loop backpacking trips in Yellowstone and Shoshone Lake was a great destination for newcomers like us.
After getting back to the trailhead we drove to Grant Village. We thought about staying there but the campground was dominated by RVs, so we went to the visitors center and watched a film on the 1988 fires.
We then decided to try the short day hike to Lone Star Geyser, a five mile out and back walk on another converted old road. We were lucky to arrive just in time for a “minor” eruption, a 20’ column of water that lasted about a minute. About 30 minutes later was the major eruption a 25-30’ water column followed by a loud gas phase. The major eruption lasted another 30 minutes. Over several later visits to the park, Lone Star has become one of our favorite places. For one, we always seem to hit its 4 hour eruptive cycle on cue. It is an unusual geyser in that there are no others nearby, but it occupies a huge area of sinter, indicative of major activity over time. The geyser has a huge cone ~8’ high and 6-8’ wide at its base.
We spent the night at the Lewis Lake Campground in Yellowstone, which we found to be nice and quiet. There was still smoke from the fires southwest of Shoshone Lake and we heard several helicopters flying by.
Lewis Lake CG, 9.7 miles

8-16-2000
We heard later that day that the south entrance of Yellowstone had been closed because of the fires, but we had no trouble as we started the drive home. We spent that night in North Platte, NB and reached Ames, IA, Jean’s hometown the next day. On the 18th we took a short hike at nearby Ledges State Park. We headed home on the 19th staying in Urbana, IL, and got home to Knoxville on the 20th. Total hiking mileage for the trip was 158.4 miles.

Smokies, Spruce Flats Falls, 4-9-2000

We’ve generally been very careful in planning our off-trail hiking. We researched our routes, talked with other hikers, and studied our routes carefully. Our first trip down Spruce Flats Falls is the exception that proves that rule. Our inspiration for heading off trail came after we had hiked the Lumber Ridge Trail, and came from a casual conversation with another hiker. He pointed out the manway and assured us that we’d be able to follow it.

We’d chosen Lumber Ridge for that day because we thought it would have good wildflowers, and we still needed it for our map. We later learned Lumber Ridge has a good reputation for flowers, but we saw only 13 species, and not many of those. The trail has awesome footing because there is no horse access. It would become one of my favorite running trails. We did get good views of the Smokies crest, crowned with frost and snow from the night before. At the high end of the trail was a continuous snow cover of about a half inch.

Spruce Flats Falls 2007.

At the end of Lumber Ridge Trail at Buckhorn Gap we met four backpackers and two hikers who had just come up the Spruce Flats Falls manway. They described the manway as easy, and so off we went. At the junction the path is obvious. It descends only about 100 yards before hitting an old railroad grade. The grade remained clear and easy to follow for 45 minutes, until it crossed equally sized Honey Cove Branch.

At the confluence, there was a worn trail down a 15’ bluff (presumably the site of an old railroad bridge), then a corresponding climb back up to the bluff. There was also another old grade heading up Honey Cove Branch. About 200 yards past the crossing, we left the railroad grade to switchback right down a steep slope on a well-constructed trail down to Spruce Flats Falls. In later years it would be possible to miss this turn and continue down the RR grade, and the steep trail down to the falls would deteriorate enough to question to make me question if it was really the right trail. The falls is a long drop/cascade with a small swimmable pool at the base. It is barely visible from the Tremont Road after leaf out. Summer visitors access it from that road by scrambling upstream.

Crossing a blowdown on the manway 2008.

At the falls is an unbridged creek crossing, and usually a horde of hikers who take the short way in from Tremont. The trail (not shown on the park map) is rough and rocky, is clear but also easy to follow back to Tremont. At this time, it had a few signs. It passed a water tank, then entered the Tremont complex at the end of paved road near employee housing. The trail has since been rerouted to join the Lumber Ridge Trail within sight of its start. On this trip we also saw the lower end of the mysterious Trail M which has an upper end further along the Lumber Ridge Trail.

Walking the old railroad grade above the falls 2014.

Needless to say, we were pleased with ourselves for being able to add this impromptu new off trail trip to our day. It was really fun (if not totally responsible) to take advantage of the insights we’d gotten from the hikers we’d talked to and turn this into more exploration of the Smokies.

The Spruce Flats Falls Manway.

Some housekeeping on this route. My notes show that we have hiked this manway 8 times between 2000 and 2021. Six of those trips went out Lumber Ridge Trail and back via the waterfall route to the Tremont Institute. But twice we headed out Spruce Flats Falls, headed on the Meigs Mountain Trail to Upper Buckhorn Gap, and came back off trail via the “Meigs Mountain Road,” as named by Clyde. To simply things, I consider the Meigs Mountain Road a different route, and will write those two trips up separately.

5-4-14

After our first trip. we tended to hike this route later in the spring and were seeing good flowers on the Lumber Ridge Trail. I noted we had several small rock hops on the manway, but we also saw an old rail, a 3’ diameter wheel, and some cable that hadn’t made it into my prior notes.

Spruce Flats Falls 2014.

We followed the RR grade to its end past the cutoff to the falls (as Jean had by mistake on an earlier trip with Claudia). They had seen numerous artifacts here at an old logging camp, and wanted to show them to me. We saw lots of old household things and piles of coal, along with a boiler stack. The old camp area was within sight of, but across the river from the Tremont Road.

7-2-16, We noticed that Tremont had the Spruce Flats Falls route shown on the map at their visitor center.

The Tremont map to the falls.

2000, 2-19 Oak Mountain 50K Run

I ended up running the Oak Mountain 50K partly as the result of a miscalculation. I’d run the Black Mountain Marathon the previous year, really liked that race, and planned to run it again in 2000. What I didn’t realize was that Black Mountain and the accompanying Mt Mitchell Challenge would become so popular that I would miss the registration period for those races. With Black Mountain full, I began to look around for an alternative race.

2000 would be the first year for the Oak Mountain 50K, held at the Alabama state park near Birmingham. The race looked to have an interesting loop course and wasn’t too far from home. Normally, one should probably skip the first year of any new race to let the organizers work out the bugs, but in this case, things worked out well.

As was typical of my race training for that era, there were lots of backpacking trips the previous fall and winter. Most of my long runs were either tempo runs on Knoxville’s Lakeshore Greenway, or trail runs in the Townsend Y area of the Smokies. The good news was that my training times on the Smokies runs were significantly faster than the prior winter. But I didn’t do any runs over 20 miles in training, and that would come back to haunt me.

I was running a lot with my friend Steven who also entered Oak Mtn. We decided to drive down together, split a motel the night before, and then drive home after the race. On the way down we stopped off at Mt. Cheaha State Park, so that we could bag the Alabama State high point in a light rain and grab some lunch at the park.

The course is advertised as mostly single track, with two 600’ climbs and a total of 3900’ of climbing. The course was changed slightly in 2012, but both versions may be slightly longer than 50K. The footing overall was good and the grades moderate. The course was mostly single track with some dirt road between aid stations 3 and 4. The aid stations were well stocked and well manned. We would see lots of hikers, and later in the day, lots of mountain bikers. The temperatures dropped all through race day from ~65F at the start to <50F at the finish. I wore shorts and a t-shirt, and put on gloves after finishing the Blue Trail. The trails ran through mostly pine-oak forest.

The old version of the Oak Mountain 50K course map.

I found the start of the course to be rugged with the trail dropping in and out of an endless series of small draws along the north face of the mountain for the first ~ 5 miles. The yellow trail became easier after crossing a dirt road. We then weaved through the chaos of a huge boy scout camp. I ran with Steve, only walking a few uphills to Aid #1(North Trailhead) at 8 miles in 81 minutes. Steve then moved ahead to join a group of 5 on the Blue Trail, and I dropped back but tried to follow them. Just past the orange connector, around mile 11 or 12, the IT band in my right knee began to flare up. Soon I was reduced to walking the downhills, though one quirk of IT pain is that it allows running uphills. I was still moving well enough to pass another runner, and still saw Steve at Aid #2 (Peavine) at about 2:50.

I explained my predicament to Steve and told him to push ahead without me. Next was the White Trail which started as a climb, easy on my IT band. The middle section was rougher, reminding me of running at House Mtn, near Knoxville. I had to walk two steep downhills to cross the Yellow Trail, then there was a long winding section to Aid #3 at the North Trailhead again which I reached in ~ 4 hours. I could see Steven’s group leaving just as I arrived.

At Aid 3 I was still on a good pace and feeling strong and aggressive, but with the IT pain I couldn’t run a step downhill. Luckily, the Red Trail started uphill, and I was able to pass four guys, including Steve, all walking. By then we were all hurting, and I apologized, telling them all they would soon pass me on the downhill. Three of us ended up doing the Green Trail to Aid #4 (Peavine again, at 5:20) together. At that point, I thought a PR (<6:22) was still in reach.

But the next section started steeply downhill and in addition to my woes, Steve’s quads and hamstrings were sore. It remained downhill to the finish and neither of us was in any condition to run. Luckily, we were caught by only one more pair of runners. We were on the Red Trail, which was some gravel road and some single track apparently built for mountain bikes. With the contour trail it was easy to see ahead and back, and we were happy to spot the finish which we reached in 6:45, tied for 22 out of 42 finishers.

The IT band flare up was my big takeaway from this race. I hadn’t done enough pre-race long running to prepare myself for the 50K, but why did I have problems so early on? I had done plenty of runs over 12 miles long with no hint that the IT was going to flare up. This “premature” IT band flare up would continue to haunt me while racing for the next several years, and for this race had turned a fun run into a bit of an ordeal.

Though larger than the organizers expected for a first time race, the 2000 version of Oak Mountain still had 42 finishers out of 47 starters. At the time Steven and I didn’t know any of the other runners, but looking back at the results several names jump out. The legendary DeWayne Satterfield was the overall winner. I would get to know both DeWayne and Rob Youngren, the third place finisher, through Barkley and was lucky enough to race the 2017 and 2018 versions of that race with DeWayne. The women’s winner was Susan Donnelly of Oak Ridge who would later be an important part of our Haw Ridge running group.