Camping

Continued from Trip report Week 2: here

Say hello to my little friend.

On the last day we were camped in Ennis we had a really cold night in the trailer. It was 26º F. The trailer doesn’t have insulation and we didn’t have a heater. But we had comfy below 0º sleep bags. Thank God!

The next morning we decided to stop and get a heater. We wanted to get a Mr. Heater – Buddy but all the local stores had was the small version: Little Buddy. The small one is fine and works well, but we don’t love how “tippy” it is in a small trailer with nylon sleeping bags. Per the heater instructions we kept 9 square inches of ventilation. (Actually we kept a lot more ventilation than that.)

Even with that ventilation we were just too paranoid to run it all night. We cranked the heat up, got into our bags and went to bed, turning it on again in the cold mornings. It worked out pretty well, but were not sure its the permanent solution for us.

I realized on that one chilly night, once you get too cold it becomes really hard to get warmed up again. My teeth were chattering and I was actually shaking uncontrollably. We were having a late dinner and hung out by the campfire a little too long. Within a few minutes, the temperature dropped about 15º and we left our trailer door open so it was cold inside. I let myself just get way too cold. I used Derek’s body heat to warm me up. You know like in the movies when someone almost gets hypothermia, they use another person’s body heat to warm up. It worked! That next day we bought the heater.

When we arrived at Alpine, Wyoming it was rainy and cold so we decided to stay at a campground just outside of Alpine. We ordered out dinner and breakfast at a local Mexican restaurant La Cabaña Del Tequila (choose the green sauce) and heat up the trailer with the heater. It was cozy.

Boondocking in the Caribou Targhee National Forest on the Greys River.

The next day we made our way to Caribou Targhee National Forest and camped along the Greys River about 35 miles in from Alpine. We found a great spot with a deep pool within the river that we could swim in. After we set up camp we fished up and down the river and the water was VERY cold. As soon as my legs were in the stream, they went numb. Needless to say, I didn’t end up swimming in our “swimming” hole.

A Careless Hunter.

After setting up our site and we were preparing to go fishing right there. A white truck stopped on the road, which was up a small cliff about 30 feet above us. He probably didn’t see us camping down here and we couldn’t see him, we just heard him. It sounded like a man got out and then all of sudden a rifle goes off – twice! The shots echoed in the canyon and we heard the first bullet whiz by over our heads. Then you could hear a dog retrieving what was killed and the shooter said, “Good boy.” To his dog. I think he shot some sort of small game. I know I yelled, “What the hell!” really loudly. The man looked down at us and he didn’t know we were even there. He waved to us in an ashamed manner looking down and got in his truck and drove away. We were mad for about two hours after that saying “What if…?” this happened “What if this happened?” then…

The Precious Bucket.

Our anger quickly changed to hilarious fear.

So you know those orange buckets you can get from home depot? We tied a rope to one in order to scoop water out of the river (the bank was about 5 feet above the swimming hole) to clean our dishes.

Derek accidentally let go of one end of the rope and we saw one of our most valued camping tools swirling around in our river pool back eddy. It seemed with one slight move of the current it would carry itself down the river at a fast pace and be gone forever.

If any of you know me very well, you know I love Wonder Woman. I had to channel my inner Wonder Woman and while running to the river downstream I quickly stripped down to my undies, slid down this muddy riverbank, and jumped into the river to catch our precious bucket. Instantly my legs went numb. I was yelling out, “Ooooh it’s cold. Maybe an assortment of swear words was added to that too. It’s all a blur. Derek was laughing so hard and couldn’t believe I had just done that. The bucket came hurtling down the fast current towards me, spinning and submerged in water. It was really heavy. I grabbed the handle quickly and it kind of tugged me towards the river at first. Using all my strength I held on to it as long as I could and yelled, “I GOT IT!” It was such a large victory for something so silly. That day, I dodged bullets and rescued a bucket. I am a real superhero. lol.

The Cut Slam.

We were on a mission. One of the main reasons we were there was to access the rivers that hold the fish you need to catch in order to complete our Wyoming CUTT SLAM. It’s a pretty neat program funded by the Wyoming Department of Fish & Game intended to educate anglers on the species of Cutthroat trout that exist within Wyoming. If you catch all 4 species and document it, they will send you a certificate and a medal! In the area we were camped, we could fish for 3 of the 4 species: Bonneville (Bear River), Snake river, and Colorado River Cutthroat Trout.

On a VERY rough dirt, gravel, and rock road and up and over the Tri-Basin Divide (a mountain pass) to access the first river. We drove around 98 miles. Derek caught a Bonneville and boy, I was trying my hardest too. I think Derek caught the ONLY Bonneville that lived there.

I was trying to be as sneaky and technical as possible and not spook the fishing pools before I approached them. This crystal clear alpine headwater was barely 4″ across most places and we had to hike through tough thick willows that wanted to trip us at every step.

It was a tough day for me, but Derek had a great catch. We expected a tiny 4-8″ fish, but Derek’s was 12-14″. That’s a trophy fish up at that elevation.

After some frustrating fishing and hiking for an entire afternoon, it started getting dark. It was time to get back to camp. We never saw another fish that day – not even from spooking one. Unfortunately, I missed my chance this year. Needless to say, we didn’t have time for the Colorado River Cutthroat that day, but it was a great day of adventure! We’ll be back next year to finish up both of our Cutt Slams!

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The Two Unforgettable Animal Encounters.

Do you remember the line in the movie Jurassic Park, from Nedry (Newman from Seinfeld), when he’s being stalked by a Dilophosururis and it makes a chortling sound and pops out from behind a tree? Then Nedry says, “Well, yeah, yeah, that’s nice, gotta go.”? We had a couple of those moments while there.

The second night we were parking the Jeep at our campsite. It was dark and as the headlights hit the mountainside across the river we heard some shrieking in the woods. It sounded like a woman screaming. Super loud.

We were walking to the trailer at that moment and just froze. It was a very weird sound. The kind of scary that makes your hair on the back of your neck stand on end. “Well, yeah, yeah, that’s nice gotta go.” Turns out it was a female fox. To hear an example of what we heard. I found it here.

The next encounter happened on the third night. In the total darkness, we were brushing our teeth and we decided to spit into the river, by our pool area. All of a sudden we heard a big splash like a huge rock was thrown into the river next to us. Derek looked at me and said, “Did you do that?” I said, “No, where did that rock come from?” My first thought was sometimes Bigfoot throws rocks at people to get them to leave the area. “Well, yeah, yeah, that’s nice gotta go.”

Derek saw something swimming away by seeing the wake it made in the water. It was a beaver! It smacked his tail really hard on the water as a warning and swam away. I found a video of what it sounded and looked like if it was light outside – here.

This place was beautiful. Can’t wait to get back.

Next stop: Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

Ennis, Montana and the surrounding area.

Continued from Trip report Week 1: here

We love this place and decided to spend six days here.

Coming off the really stressful driving day from the Bighorns through Bozeman, we drove into Ennis seeing active smoke and fires on mountainsides on the Northside of town with 40-60 mph wind gusts.

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Camping along the Madison River near Ennis was fantastic. Great fishing, great views, and overall super relaxing. On the downside, we’ve never seen it as crowded here as this year. Camping areas where you’d rarely see more than one other person this time of year were completely full on the weekends and very close to it on the weekdays.

I have mixed feelings when I see this overcrowding. It’s hard to know whether increased use of our outdoor resources is good or bad. On the one hand, it increases responsible stewardship and public lands are owned by all. On the other hand, the overcrowding damages said resource and somewhat reduces the experience of it all. I’m often left wondering if we are part of the problem or part of the solution.

We needed to make a few repairs to Derek’s bed as the wire cot frame was sagging a bit from us both lying on it trying to watch movies. In hindsight, using a wire cot for a long term trip wasn’t the best call. We should have taken the time to build a wooden bedframe. We definitely will make that change for next season. With a trip to the local lumberyard, Derek shored up the frame with some plywood and shims. Overall, Ennis was the perfect place to make updates and get some work down with cell/internet access.

We added a new paper towel holder and screwed in some new hooks throughout the trailer. It seems simple but its pretty crazy how disorganized stuff gets crammed into a small space. I also bought an “Ahhh Montana” fly-fishing art poster for decoration at the foot of my bunk. We got this great little softshell cooler to take while fishing and grocery shopping. We also hit up the local laundromat and handled all of the more administrative stuff in town.

My solar outside lights turned on as we were eating dinner one night. I thought they wouldn’t work at all. It felt like a little miracle to me. Derek and I decided to sit outside under our lights that night and I looked over at the grass field and off in the distance in the moonlight a huge bull moose was walking through the grass to get to the other field. At first, I thought it was a deer but as we kept looking at it we realized it was a huge bull. It was so beautiful and chill. No one was chasing it with a camera like they do in Yellowstone. It was a special moment for me.

Establishing our base camp here and day tripping around the area was the plan. We fished on the Gallatin River and shot a new bigfoot video there. It was exciting. I’ll make a post solely on my Bigfoot videos to date. Look for those here. Before heading down to the Gallatin we drove to West Yellowstone.

Visited some of our favorite small businesses.

My favorite store on the planet is there and it’s called Free Heel and Wheel. They sell and rent bikes and gear, fix bikes, and certain sports gear you would need in Yellowstone Park and the surrounding area. They have a great coffee bar and assorted cookie kind of snacks for the active. When I’m there I always tell them they are my favorite store on our planet!

The fly-fishing legend Kelly Galloup has his own store named Galloup’s Slide Inn that has the fly-fishing gear, guided trips, lodging, and a fly-tying material section of his store that is unmatched, says Derek. Kelly was there that day and I’ve seen so many of his DVD’s about fly-fishing that when I see him in person I get a little star-struck. A few years ago, I had him sign my sweatshirt with a sharpie pen like he was a rockstar! It was funny.

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Planning is everything when you have an adventure-packed day.
Ernie’s Bakery is the perfect place to order lunch to go. They have great sandwiches to choose from. They even have gluten-free bread! We picked some sandwiches and drove to the Gallatin River to fish in places Derek had never fished before but always wanted to try it out. When we were heading back to Ennis it started snowing and it accumulated on the side of the road. That was the first snow we saw in 2020. It ended up becoming a foreshadow for what we were going to experience later on in our trip. Stay tuned for that on Week 3.5 Trip report. Let me just say “Shit got real!”

We put the word “Adventure” in “Happy Adventure Club”!

Going into our fifth day in Ennis, Derek and I decided to investigate some new possible fishing areas for us. A nice jeep trail took us to a new fishing spot by some huge boulders that must have had mountain lions living around them. I always got that feeling I was being watched there. The sky was gorgeous that day.

While driving, we found a couple of abandoned properties on BLM (Bureau of Land Management) land that at one point was a working ranch. We even saw the shell of an old-fashioned car that had bullet holes all through it, a root cellar separate from the house and underground into the side of a hill, and several old wagons, tillers, and other misc. farm machinery (photos below). They were all falling apart and weathered. It was a fun day to see so much. It felt like a ghost town and we were the only ones left on earth. Social distancing was not an issue here.