 |
| Dinner at Grandpa Dick's, the campground
hosts, campsite. Great people with ties to Wisconsin. |
It
was at 12:58 that I made it to Buffalo. The fine citizens
there were out and about in full force even though the temps
were again over 100. I stopped at the Wolf's Den for gas,
Gatorade and another pair of cheap sunglasses and chatted
with the friendly clerk. I got directions to the Sports
Lure, the all-purpose sporting goods shot in town to pick
up another Platypus bladder. If it was going to be that
hot, I wasn't going to be without ample water on the trail.
A quick stop at the local McDonald's proved to be disappointing
as the service was very slow and the fries about as cold
as the temperature was hot. I have to be honest and say
that the Buffalo McD's has supplanted the Shelby, MT unit
as the worst store I've ever visited.
By
2:30 I was on my way up and over Powder River Pass in the
middle of a fairly mild, yet awesome thunderstorm and back
down to NFS Road 27 to find a potential campsite. It was
a good thing that I didn't dally any longer as sites were
hard to come by. I found a spot at Boulder Park CG just
off Highway 16. All of the good sites adjacent to West Tensleep
Creek were taken, however. I settled for site 10 which gave
me some privacy and easy access to the toilet and water
spigot.
Before
I found my site I was approached by a 60-something woman
with a slight foreign accent. Turns out she was born in
France but lived in southwestern Wisconsin for a while.
We chatted for a few minutes and I went off to find a campsite.
After I got set up I drove over to the registration box
to pay my fee and to say hello to the woman who was now
at the campground hosts' site.
Turns
out much of her family was there---four generations worth---to
celebrate the campground host's birthday which was coming
up in a week. We all chatted for a while and before I knew
it was invited to dinner with them. Though I only ate a
couple hours before, I gladly accepted their kind invitation.
The food was fabulous. Lena and Delray from Powell, WY had
prepared what can best be described as the perfect western
dinner. BBQ beef brisket, kabobs, some truly amazing baked
beans, pasta salad and probably some other stuff I didn't
notice. Even though I rarely drink anything alcoholic, I
couldn't refuse when Delray offered me a Bud to wash it
all down.
I
probably spent three hours with this group and was probably
the best time I had on my little excursion west. Delray,
who looked like the quintessential Wyomingian, was very
helpful answering all of my questions about the Wilderness
area. For a minute or two I thought he'd run back down to
Powell to grab his gear and come with me. By 6:30 I excused
myself as I wanted to check out the trailhead about 8 miles
up the gravel road. Incredibly nice folks who I hope to
run into again sometime.
I found the road up to the West Tensleep Trailhead in much
better condition than I could have imagined. Also surprising
to see were the dozens of campers camped between the road
and Tensleep Creek. I guess I'm too used to State and National
Park camping. The trailhead was easy to find and had a large
parking area. Good. At least there wouldn't be any surprises
tomorrow.
After arriving back at my campsite I quickly checked my
gear and filled my water bladders for tomorrow. Not having
anyone to talk to I retired to the tent and started writing
a letter to Yumi and reread the guidebook in hopes of discovering
something new. By 10:00 I turned out the lamp and went to
sleep.
By 10:01 the lamp was back on and I was trying to find
an alternate hike. I didn't think I'd be able to do the
entire Solitude Loop in 5 nights, and maybe not even in
6. After a few minutes I decided to go with what looked
like an easy 5-night trip utilizing some of the Solitude
Loop and some of trail 25. Looked much easier to me. Finally,
I was ready for sleep.
|
