July 20: Dad's Lake to Pinedale
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| A look back at Dads Lake. |
With nothing to really look forward to today, we were both up at 6:30 and on the trail by 7:45 despite a night of intermittent sprinkles which had soaked the tent. We practically sprinted downhill to Big Sandy Opening and only took one short rest at the southern end of Fish Creek Meadows. Once we got near the Big Sandy Lodge we began to see many people and knew we were getting closer to a good meal and shower.
At 10:45 we arrived at the trailhead, dumped our packs and talked with a Sublette County deputy and ambulance driver for 15-20 minutes who had been called up to the TH but could not find anyone needing medical attention. Quite a long way to go for a false alarm but at least we got good information on where to eat in Pinedale! The drive back to Pinedale passed rapidly as Yumi and I discussed how tough it must be to live in a secluded area like that year round. Soon enough, though, there were more buildings and we were in Pinedale.
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| Yumi anticipating a hot shower and fresh salad. |
Our first order of business was to stop at the visitor center to get a good Salad recommendation for Yumi. The young lady there heartily recommended the Cafe on Pine. This would turn out to be a very good recommendation as we would eat dinner there on our last night in Pinedale a few days later.
Even though we were dirty (and I, smelly) we needed to attend to a few errands before checking into our room at the Teton Court Hotel. Eventually we got everything done, including laundry, (where we talked with a firefighter from Dillon MT there keeping an eye on the jim Creek fire and a woman biking and hiking her way down the Continental Divide trail and purchasing some items we needed for the next hike at Falers General Store. Falers was truly a general store in every sense: sporting goods, groceries, hunting/fishing supplies, gift shop, etc. all under one roof.
Once we got checked in Yumi went to the showers and I to the BLM office in hopes of finding Pauline, the daughter of a coworker, to say “hi” and invite her to the Pitchfork Fondue for dinner. Pauline accepted our invite and even offered to pick us up. That detail out of the way it was my turn to take a shower which I was in desperate need.
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Though it would have been nice to be able to linger and relax for a while we still had some serious work ahead of us to get ready for the next hike. This would be a 6-night affair, the highlight being a trip into Titcomb Basin and summitting Fremont Peak, so paring extra weight would be of utmost importance. I’d have to carry my heavier Forester to accommodate another days worth of food and was not looking forward to lugging an extra 4 lbs. worth of pack.
For a while our cramped room looked like a total disaster. The tent was spread out over the bed, sleeping bags hanging from doors, food and other gear everywhere else. During the first hike I let Yumi carry my sleeping bag to lighten her load a bit and would have to do this again. I managed to get everything into the Forester but was amazed at how little space I had left after adding only another day’s worth of food.
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| We spent the night at the Teton Court Hotel in Pinedale. |
At 6 PM Pauline arrived and we were off to the
Fairgrounds for our Pitchfork Fondue. The weather was still great, though
a bit windy, and the ambiance different than anything I’d ever experienced.
Pauline showed us the ropes and the “cook” asked us how we’d
like our steaks done and wrote our choices on a board. The meal consisted
of Salad, chips, fruit salad and a big slab of beef cooked in a caldron
of hot oil. There were also dipping sauces available for the meat: Curry,
horseradish and mustard. Humongous Lemon bars or brownies were served
for desert.
In all honesty, the price was a bit high for what you got. Yumi’s steak was small but very good. Mine was huge and tough to cut. The horseradish sauce was great, as were the rest of the meal’s complements and the people working there were as friendly as could be. I’d go again.
After dinner pauline took us back to the hotel so we could finish our packing. I spent a while outside chatting with a lady who had moved from Pinedale 23 years earlier before Yumi dragged me back inside the very warm room. While we were hiking in mid 80’s up n the mountains, the temps were in the 100’s down in Pinedale, and didn’t really cool off until sometime after midnight.
