Days 1 & 2 of Lupe’s 5th Summer of 2020 Dingo Vacation to Wyoming!
9-13-20, 3:20 PM, 85ºF, Lander city park – Only 6 days ago, Lupe had left Lander intent upon climbing Atlantic Peak (12,490 ft.). Instead, she’d wound up fleeing S into Utah in a futile attempt to avoid a freak Labor Day blizzard. Well, guess what? 85ºF! Summer of 2020 was back, and the American Dingo was, too!
“Police Line Do Not Cross” said a plastic yellow streamer cordoning off most of the deep green lawn beneath the big old cottonwood trees. Piles of broken branches, damage from the recent storm, were heaped up throughout the park awaiting removal.
Didn’t matter. Loopster loves Lander City park! Free camping and squirrels! Going to be home for tonight. Tomorrow morning she would head up into the SE end of Wyoming’s mighty Wind River Range.
9-14-20, 9:49 AM, Christina Lake trailhead just off County Road No. 300 – The W was still on fire. The blizzard may have cleared the air for a while, but smoke was already drifting back into the Wind River Range. Didn’t seem to be too bad. Nothing to be done about it in any case.
Smoky or not, Looper was doing this! Just getting to the trailhead this morning was as close to Atlantic Peak as she’d made it this summer. Her first “attempt” had been back in July, when it turned out that the access road, County Road No. 300, had been closed for repairs. Then, of course, there was the Labor Day blizzard, which had once again forced a retreat before the Carolina Dog ever even left the highway.
3rd time’s a charm, Loopster! C’mon, let’s hit it!
Near a small corral, Christina Lake trail No. 721 left the trailhead as a stony path heading N up into the forest. The trail turned W after a brief climb, leveling out before getting quite to the top of a minor ridge. The topo map showed Fiddlers Lake nearby, likely just on the other side.
Here now! Might as well take a look! Lupe left the trail, angling NW up onto the ridge. Sure enough! There was Fiddlers Lake. A rocky dam was visible not too far away along the SW shore, which ought to be a good viewpoint. Loop sniffed her way over to it.
Near the dam, Fiddlers Lake was calm and weedy. Looked like there were lots of lily pads farther out before reaching truly open water. Nice, but not super impressive. Fiddlers lake resembled an overgrown pond. Most of it probably wasn’t very deep, but maybe the fishing was good?
Carolina Dogs don’t fish much. Lupe returned to the Christina Lake trail.
Morning sunlight streamed through the trees. The air was humid and fresh. Scattered patches of snow melting in the forest made it feel more like spring than mid-September. Easy to follow, the Christina Lake trail bounced along neither gaining nor losing much elevation. Less than 0.5 mile from the trailhead, Lupe reached Fiddlers Creek. No bridge, but Fiddlers Creek was too small to present any difficulties.
After crossing Fiddlers Creek, Lupe gained 200 feet of elevation before the trail leveled out again. Proceeding SW, a gradual downhill section led to several more streams, all mere trickles. After another modest climb, the trail straightened and flattened well up on the side of a steep slope. At the end of this straightaway came a curve to the R. Beyond it, Loop arrived at a junction.
Silas Lake trail No. 722 headed off to the W (R) here on its way to Upper Silas Lake, a popular destination judging from the registry 1.5 miles back at the trailhead. Lupe, however, didn’t need to go to Upper Silas Lake. Sticking with the Christina Lake trail, she continued on.
Occasionally, small clearings had been visible off to one side or another, most of which looked like boggy regions. 20 minutes past the Silas Creek trail junction, the largest clearing yet appeared on the L. A little beyond it, Lupe reached Silas Creek, the biggest stream she had come to so far.
Silas Creek wasn’t all that big, either, but was fairly wide where the trail crossed it. Many rocks were in the stream, both upstream and down, but a quick check didn’t reveal any spots where they were arranged quite fortuitously enough to permit a rock hop. Oh, well! Shedding boots and socks, SPHP waded across. Lupe followed after.
That was easy enough! However, the American Dingo didn’t get much farther before coming to an even larger stream. Atlantic Creek had twice, maybe triple, the flow that Silas Creek did. The bottom of Silas Creek had been sand and gravel, but Atlantic Creek was rocky. As much as 2 or 3 feet deep, the prospect of wading across Atlantic Creek’s stony bottom wasn’t too attractive. Fortunately, the water was just low enough to permit a rock hop on stones barely protruding above the surface.
Shortly after leaving Atlantic Creek, the Christina Lake trail went over a minor rise, passing through a clearing strewn with rocks and several large boulders. Beyond this clearing, the trail re-entered the forest going gradually downhill. At a low spot, the Carolina Dog came to the edge of an enormous field. This field looked grassy and dry, but was actually quite soggy.
While looking upstream back at Atlantic Creek, Loopster had caught a glimpse of a high mountain. SPHP had wondered at the time if it might have been Atlantic Peak? A much better view of that same mountain, plus a number of peaks along a ridge S of it, was now available. A quick check of the topo map convinced SPHP that the high mountain probably really was part of Atlantic Peak (12,490 ft.).
Staying near the edge of the damp field, the American Dingo followed the Christina Lake trail through a boggy depression before returning to drier ground in the forest. For a little way, the trail paralleled the field closely enough to still see it between the trees. After that, Lupe roamed SW at will for another mile. Meanwhile SPHP had an easy time, making good progress on a gradual incline.
Christina Lake trail No. 721 ended as a single track at a “T” junction with the Christina Lake 4WD trail, a dirt road liberally endowed with plenty of protruding boulders and an ample assortment of mud puddles.
This junction was very close to where the 4WD trail crossed the Little Popo Agie River. SPHP had originally intended for Lupe to get here by taking Louis Lake trail No. 724 to the Christina Lake 4WD trail, but had ultimately decided against it, leery of what Loop might have to face in order to get across the Little Popo Agie. The Christina Lake trail avoided this necessity entirely, and also had the additional advantage of saving an extra 800 feet of elevation gain required coming from Louis Lake.
Ditching the backpack for the moment, SPHP led Loop down to the Little Popo Agie River, 150 feet away. One look, and SPHP was thrilled! The decision to come by way of Christina Lake trail No. 721 had been a great call. No bridge, and the Little Popo Agie River was 5 to 10 times the size Atlantic Creek had been.
Hah! Don’t get too used to it, Looper, but every now and then I do manage to do something right!
You know what they say, SPHP! Even a broken clock is … well, never mind. Good call, SPHP!
Since Gustav Lake was only a little farther upstream, Lupe might as well have a look at it, too. However, Gustav Lake proved to be surrounded by bushes and marshy ground. Getting all the way to the shoreline wasn’t going to be possible.
Returning to the junction, SPHP grabbed the pack. Lupe now headed W on the Christina Lake 4WD Trail. The road would have been a G6 killer, but was fine as a hiking trail. Only 0.5 mile to Christina Lake!
9-14-20, 1:31 PM, Christina Lake – A spur off the 4WD trail led to a long rock dam at the NE end of Christina Lake. It was immediately apparent that the big lake was far below capacity. The shoreline wasn’t even close to the dam. Christina Lake was surrounded by a broad swath of sand and boulders exposed below the normal high water mark.
A little off to the W along the N shore was an open flat region with a great view. SPHP stashed the backpack against a sun-bleached log here. About time for a rest break, but Lupe was going to do a little exploring first. As soon as SPHP was ready, she wandered down to the beach.
At capacity, Christina Lake is more than a mile long, and still must have been close to that big even now. Flanked by mountains to the S and W, Christina Lake was much larger and far more impressive than Fiddlers Lake had been.
Atlantic Peak (12,490 ft.) was in sight. However, it was clear that Loop would be able to get a better look at it if she went farther SE. Continuing in that direction, she soon came to a narrow channel that the Middle Popo Agie River was surging through. Following the channel E toward the dam, the whole river disappeared into a hole.
Christina Lake was being drained like a bathtub! Up on top of the dam, a valve could be seen, no doubt used to control the flow.
Once S of the Little Popo Agie River channel, Lupe ventured down to the lake again. From here she could see the true summit of Atlantic Peak, still 4 miles away.
Satisfied with having gotten about as good a look at Atlantic Peak from Christina Lake as possible, Lupe and SPHP returned to the backpack. A pleasant half hour was spent having lunch and resting in the shade of a couple of large pines while enjoying the view.
Nearly an hour after arriving at Christina Lake, it was about time to press on. Lupe hopped up on a boulder for a final look around before returning to the Christina Lake 4WD Trail. Heading W, the road forked almost immediately. Loop took the L branch paralleling Christina Lake’s N shore. However, the lake was seldom seen, since the road stayed back in the forest as much as several hundred feet from the shoreline.
After nearly 0.5 mile, the road curved N away from Christina Lake shortly before ending at a sign for Atlantic Lakes trail No. 723.
Somewhat unexpectedly, the sign said it was 2 miles to Lower Atlantic Lake, or 4 miles to Upper Atlantic Lake. Hmm. SPHP didn’t remember seeing more than one Atlantic Lake on the topo map. A quick re-check confirmed the existence of only one lake named “Atlantic Lake” as far as the map was concerned, which had to be the lower one referred to by the sign, since it wasn’t any more than 2 miles away.
Heading N deeper into the forest as a faint single track, the Atlantic Lakes trail was a bit worrisome at first. Before long, though, the route became clearer and stayed that way, the trail ultimately proving to be easy to follow.
Gradually gaining elevation, the trail soon curved NW. Lupe came to a sign for the Popo Agie Wilderness. She’d barely left the sign behind, when a last glimpse of Christina Lake appeared.
The Atlantic Lakes trail continued NW through a featureless forest, still slowly gaining elevation most of the time. The forest contained many dead trees. Plenty of rounded light-gray boulders were scattered about. Small plants provided a bright green ground cover.
After a while, the trail passed a rocky depression on the R, then leveled out. A dip led to a tiny stream, the only water seen along the way.
9-14-20, 3:54 PM, Atlantic Lake – Between the trees on the N (R) side of the trail Lupe could see a clearing, and beyond it, water. This must be it! Leaving the trail, Loop and SPHP went down for a look. A little under 0.5 mile long, and not nearly as wide, Atlantic Lake wasn’t anywhere close to being as large as Christina Lake had been, but tucked in among big mountains at the SE end of Atlantic Canyon, it was even more scenic.
2 miles to the NW, the summit of Silas Peak (12,248 ft.) was sight. From the shoreline, Atlantic Peak (12,490 ft.) was also visible to the WNW.
Returning to the trail, Lupe continued W. A few hundred feet farther, the Atlantic Lakes trail appeared to end at a clearing. Back from the lake a little way, this clearing would have been an ideal spot to pitch Looper’s tiny house, but SPHP was surprised to see that it was already taken.
With the exception of a forest ranger riding an ATV, Loop hadn’t seen anyone at all since leaving the Christina Lake trailhead this morning. No one was here at the moment, either. After a brief search, SPHP settled on another spot to pitch the tiny house.
After dinner, Lupe was free to enjoy the rest of the evening. She spent most of it exploring, or just relaxing along the S shore of Atlantic Lake.
What a fun day this had been! Atlantic Lake was roughly 7 miles from the trailhead where Lupe had started out this morning – 5 miles to Christina Lake, and another 2 miles to get here, yet this had been about as easy a mountain trek as the American Dingo had ever been on. Only 800 feet of net elevation gain, good trails the entire way, and no steep sections at all.
Tomorrow would be different. More than 2,200 feet of elevation gain in a little over 2 miles to get to Atlantic Peak (12,490 ft.)!
Watching the sun sink behind her ultimate destination as she rested by Atlantic Lake’s S shore, Lupe didn’t have to think about that yet. Dusk was deepening when a man appeared a few hundred feet away. The other campers must have returned! Whether he saw Looper or not, wasn’t certain, but he gave no indication of it.
Shortly after the man disappeared again, Lupe retired to her tiny house, hoping for blue skies in the morning. Not too likely with all the wildfires out W, but hope springs eternal. With a little luck, sometime tomorrow an American Dingo would stand atop Atlantic Peak!
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