It was late September and we'd been on the road for almost a month. We hiked over 150 miles and drove many more exploring Canada and into Idaho. I can count the number of showers between the two of us on one hand. We'd only splurged on a hotel once in that time despite all the wet weather and that was for our anniversary. It was time for some much needed travelers rest. A timeshare was available in Bear Lake, UT, thanks to Mom, and we headed south. It's not the most exciting spot but all we really wanted to do was nothing. It was perfect for that.
It was also the perfect staging point for the next adventure. It's hard to believe but my feet have walked this earth for 40 years now. A major milestone like that deserves some sort of celebration or event or festival. Getting drunk with a bunch of hunters, the only other people in the woods right now, was not my idea of a grand celebration. I needed something with more meaning. I felt the need to prove I wasn't old yet.
Route to Kings
The idea of hiking 40k on my birthday had been growing in my mind for awhile. Utah had the ideal objective. 13+ miles to the top, enough to cover the 40k and the highest point in the state at 13,512ft - Kings Peak. The perfect spot for my little mission.
Kings Peak - Half Way Home
I would do this one solo. Laurel could have done it but the pseudo-masochistic nature of this climb isn't something she was very excited about. I started early and completed the climb in under 12 hours. The 6k of vert. along with a couple miles of lose rock slowed things down significantly but overall I felt pretty good at the end. And as if 40k wasn't enough I finished up with another 40, a 40 of Bud, the only 40 available in Mountain View Wyoming. Sore legs and a belly full of beer were a happy way to enter my 40th year.
Another 40
From Kings Peak we slowly made our way East. The (damned) Flaming Gorge is a place we'd never been before but the descriptions from Powell's expeditions peaked our interest. We were treated to brilliant sunrises and plentiful wildlife. Deer & sheep roam the plateau above the gorge, Kokanee spawn in the side creeks and we even saw a badger waddling through the pine forest.
Sheep Above Flaming Gorge
Following the Green below the (damn) dam the water quickly turned muddy with streams swollen from rain. This made for poor fishing but our camp was amazing. The only inhabitants of the campground were cute rabbits and some amazing Juniper trees.
Bumping from the Green to the Little Snake we followed it downstream to the Yampa. The Yampa enters Dinosaur National Monument through a gateway similar to the Gates of Lodore but without the cool name. Access to the canyon was cut off by steep cliff and so we settled for a short hike and moved on toward Steamboat.
Yampa on it's way into Dinosaur
To keep with our philosophy of exploring new places, instead of the direct route through Steamboat, we struck north into Wyoming. There are a few tiny splotches of green on the map just north of the Colorado boarder but we discovered they held a little known wilderness area (Huston Wilderness) and a small but amazing set of peaks and lakes - the Snowy Range.
Snowy Range
Cutthroat at 12,000ft
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