Day 5 of Lupe’s Summer of 2015 Dingo Vacation started out just great. The G6 wouldn’t start. It wouldn’t even try. It just clicked when turning the key. Other than that, it was another glorious morning in the Medicine Bow Mountains of Wyoming. It wasn’t long before kind people came along willing to give the G6 a jump start. The jump fried the tire pressure detection system, but the G6 was running!
Although the plan had been for Lupe to climb Kennaday Peak (10,810 ft.) near Saratoga, suddenly there was a new plan. Lupe was going to get a tour of Laramie, Wyoming! Lupe enjoyed the trip to Laramie on Hwy 130. Once out of the Medicine Bow Range, there were fields with cows to bark at. Lupe hadn’t seen cows for several days. She leaped up and down, back and forth, barking furiously the whole time. By the time Lupe reached Laramie, she needed a big drink of water. She panted happily and seemed quite satisfied with herself.
SPHP found a Wal-Mart in Laramie on Grand Boulevard. Although they were busy and booked up, the Wal-Mart guys tested the G6’s battery almost right away. SPHP was fully prepared to buy a new one, but surprisingly, it tested just fine. The G6 seemed to start again fine, too. Hmm. Mechanical things just don’t fix themselves very often, but whatever.
Somehow SPHP had forgotten to bring a can opener on the trip. Wal-Mart was a great place to buy one. It had been a long drive to Laramie just to buy a can opener, but it was all SPHP really accomplished in Laramie. After a picnic at a Kiwanis Park on the way out of town, Lupe headed back up into the Medicine Bow Range. The cows along Hwy 130 were noisily assaulted by the crazed dingo once again.
Back in the Medicine Bows, at the junction of USFS Roads No. 100 & 215, SPHP parked the G6 at a dispersed camping spot. It was already 3:34 PM and 75°F out by the time Lupe and SPHP were ready to start up USFS Road No. 215, which goes all the way to the summit of Kennaday Peak. A sign warned that the 6 mile long road was narrow and steep. Before leaving the dispersed camping site, Lupe checked out Fish Creek and wetted down her barker again.
Most of the way to Kennaday Peak, USFS Road No. 215 wasn’t nearly so steep and narrow as the sign had warned. The G6 could have gone most of the way up with no problem, except that there were virtually no places to park anywhere along the road. The road did deteriorate substantially near the summit, but it still would have been a piece of cake for any high clearance vehicle.
No. 215 went through a forest until it got very close to the barren summit area of Kennaday Peak. So there really wasn’t much to see along the way other than trees. There was a horse near Fish Creek at a sharp bend in the road where it crossed the creek fairly early on. Three ATV’s came along, the last one coming down the road with a black lab running in front of it for exercise. Other than that, Lupe and SPHP had the road completely to themselves the whole way up. Lupe ran in and out of the forest looking for squirrels, but there weren’t many.
Once the road finally left the forest, things got more interesting. Now the terrific views could be seen. It was still a bit of a trek to the top, but soon Lupe was there. The lookout tower proved to be abandoned. It was all boarded up and had some junk stacked next to it.
There were fabulous mountain views in all directions from Kennaday Peak. To the N was Elk Mountain (11,156 ft.). To the E was Medicine Bow Peak (12,013 ft.). Far to the NE was Laramie Peak (10,272 ft.). On the S horizon were distant mountains that may have included Mt. Zirkel (12,180 ft.). And very far away on the NW horizon was a jagged line of mountains that may have been the Wind River range. The North Platte River valley to the S and SW was huge and impressive too.
Lupe had arrived at the summit of Kennaday Peak about an hour before sunset. There had been quite a few clouds around at first, but they started to dissipate as Lupe and SPHP enjoyed the views and waited together for the sun to go down.
During the wait, SPHP noticed that many of the rocks on Kennaday Peak were quite rounded and there was a lot of sand. It looked like Kennaday Peak may have been a beach or underwater in ancient times. The incredible age of the world before Lupe and SPHP seemed impossible to truly comprehend.
Most of the 6 mile trek back down USFS Road No. 215 to the G6 was in darkness. Except for one ATV and one pickup truck that made brief appearances, Lupe and SPHP were alone. The horse was still near the sharp bend in the road where it crossed Fish Creek. In the darkness, SPHP couldn’t see it, though Lupe probably could. She seems to have excellent night vision. SPHP could hear that the horse was wearing a bell. At 10:37 PM (57°F), Lupe was back at the G6. Time for dinner and a snooze!
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