My Journey

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

The Beartooth High Lakes Trail was our first memorable adventure on this week long trip. I chose this particular trail because there was minimal elevation gain (719 vertical feet), it wasn't particularly long (8.0 miles roundtrip), and it passed by lots of pristine mountain lakes (approximately 20 and probably even more).....most unnamed.....



We drove south and then east along Highway 212.....into Wyoming. Once we reached the turn-off for the Island Lake Campground, we turned onto Forest Service Road 148 and left the camper at the end of that road.....now at the trailhead.....



And right then and there we encountered our first pristine mountain lake.....and I immediately knew that I'd made the right pick.....



The trail passed along the western side of the lake and passed through occasional stands of thick pines.....perfect spots to be surprised by a big ole' Griz.....





That first lake that we hiked by was named Island Lake and I could barely contain myself with excitement.....it was just so beautiful.....




We had to make one creek crossing right here.....Little Bear Creek.....fortunately it was shallow although it was really wide.....thankfully no wet feet.....not yet anyhow.....

 

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

To be perfectly clear here, the pictures that I'm posting may not actually be of the lake that I'm speaking of. I took well over two hundred pictures that day.....so many pictures.....so many lakes.....





The next lake that we encountered was Night Lake.....every bit as beautiful as Island Lake.....




After the first two named lakes, we started hiking by numerous smaller unnamed lakes. We'd constantly leave the trail behind and wander down to these smaller unnamed lakes.....




The morning.....it just seemed to fly by. At one point we stopped for a short break and the dogs immediately seized that opportunity to swim in that particular lake.....

 

[Riversdad]

To be perfectly clear here, the pictures that I'm posting may not actually be of the lake that I'm speaking of. I took well over two hundred pictures that day.....so many pictures.....so many lakes.....

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The next lake that we encountered was Night Lake.....every bit as beautiful as Island Lake.....

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After the first two named lakes, we started hiking by numerous smaller unnamed lakes. We'd constantly leave the trail behind and wander down to these smaller unnamed lakes.....

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The morning.....it just seemed to fly by. At one point we stopped for a short break and the dogs immediately seized that opportunity to swim in that particular lake.....

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Great scenery, no people, and happy dogs equals a good trip. Really jealous of your lifestyle as I sit here getting ready to lay some new flooring.

 

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

Riversdad.....the truth is that we crossed paths with four hikers that day. One guy that was on his way out. He'd spent two weeks backpacking with his cattle dog in the backcountry.....I was so envious. I also met an elderly couple that was struggling on the only somewhat difficult section of trail.....through a lengthy rockfall. They ened up turning back. And then there was a woman hiking with her Bloodhound that was headed into the backcountry for a planned week long trip. This woman had quiet the story to tell.....which I plan to share here.....



We continued hiking deeper into the backcountry.....at some point I knew that we had long passed the turn around point that would have made this an 8.0 mile / 3 hour hike.....the trail just kept on going.....and so did we.....




I suspect that we had been hiking for four or five miles when we finally decided to stop for lunch.....it was probably close to noon. It's really amazing to watch a dog eat after a morning of hiking & swimming.....they truly show their animal behavior. They gorge themselves on anything that I had brought along (including my lunch). Once done, it's immediately back into the water.....




While they swam I decided to have a look around.....and it didn't take me long to find a pile of Grizzly Bear scat.....



Walked a little more and found some more.....



The more I walked.....the more I found. We were definitely in prime Grizzly Bear territory. Once the dogs had finally finished swimming, we kept on hiking.....deeper into the backcountry. We crossed that rockfall that I spoke of.....it was a **********. Large boulders were strewn about.....climb a boulder.....downclimb a boulder.....over and over.....




Once through the boulder field, we hiked up the first ascent that was of any nature.....pretty much so far the hike had been on rolling hills type lands through a long valley.....



We hiked up to the high point in the pass where we had some incredible views looking north.....it was probably here on top of that pass that I thought that we should head home.....but as I looked further ahead.....it was just oh so beautiful that I just couldn't turn around.....and so we continued on.....

 

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

The trail seemed to go on forever (it actually did).....





It dropped down into another valley.....we crossed over small creeks that ran from one tiny lake to another.....





One thing that I clearly remember was that it seemed to get more remote the deeper that we went into the backcountry which made absolutely no sense to me.....but that feeling was real.....maybe it was more than just a feeling.....




This valley was not near so long as the first valley was.....it was still filled with lakes but we found ourselves hiking up and down.....maybe constant elevation changes of several hundred feet.....