8/16/96
The adventure of a lifetime should have a fitting beginning. Mine began with a breakfast of 2 pecan pancakes, pure maple syrup, a side order of sausage, a large orange juice and two cups of coffee. I love pecan pancakes almost as much as I like my Dad’s fried mush and milk gravy with bacon bits.
Of course, no breakfast is complete without something interesting to read while sipping the coffee. Most people like newspapers. I like poems, and my choice this morning was “Neue Gedichte” by Ranier Marie Rilke. The original German is hard to understand but my struggle is rewarded by rich imagery and emotion.
I am leaving Houston in a few minutes and heading west. Tomorrow at 6:20am, I fly out of San Antonio for Riverton, Wyoming.
8/17/96
5:30 AM
I am sitting in the airport
shuttle waiting to be delivered to the terminal. I’ve checked my ticket
about a thousand times. It still seems like a dream.
Darren putting the finishing touches on a pack before we head off into PoPo Agie Wilderness.
Wednesday 8/21/96
12:16 PM CDT (Too stubborn to set my watch to Wyoming time)
The ride in yesterday was
magnificent. This old man is still able to sit in a saddle pretty good. I was
the only one who wore my hat all the way across Adam’s Pass without losing
it. Paul said it either fit pretty good or was glued on. Maybe I’ll bring
that up at the campfire tonight if I have to go on the offensive.
Beginning the trip up to Adam’s Pass.
My respect for these mountain men has grown, and I think they have gained some respect for me as well. Jim is finally talking to me a bit. He had to size me up first. Darren is our wrangler – a prize-winning cowboy. Paul is quietly confident, solid and dependable. Don is friendly enough, and knows run’s a tight mountain camp. All five of them, counting Jerry know survival up here in the mountains and move with the same ease that I move with in a Louisiana swamp.
This picture was taken at about 12,800 feet. The rock formation on the left is called Bear’s Ear rock and has been a landmark for passing travelers for longer than anyone can remember.
The difference between a Louisiana swamp and this place is staggering, however. The risks out here are enormous. To call this “Big Country” is an understatement. To get lost in a Louisiana swamp means little more than noisome mosquito bites and mud-covered inconvenience until you find a road or a person. Getting lost out here in these mountains, however entails a very real risk of death or serious injury by any number of threats including bears, starvation or falls. I feel safe with these men, however. They are talk realistically about the risk and somehow in a strange way I find that comforting.
This picture was taken sometime after we began our descent from Adam’s Pass. We had been riding for three hours and still had another two hours ahead of us.
Three of our party – Dalton, Seth and his younger brother spent the night lost last night at the head of the creek by Washake Lake. Darren and Jim searched until midnight. We all searched this morning. Dalton and his two grandsons found their way back to the camp and were there when returned from our searches. Jim was about to head back out to get a ranger when they made it in.
One other noteworthy thing: A pack horse fell over on his side coming over Adam’s
Pass. It was the one named Clicker. He is a dangerous horse and he wouldn’t
get up. Jim and Darren had to unload the packs before they could get him up.
Darren had to beat him over the head with a lasso he was holding in his right
hand while holding the horse’s bridle in his left hand. When Clicker finally
came to his feet his eyes were red, his mouth was covered in frothy slobber
and he was kicking and biting and showing all the signs of being ready to kill
somebody. I see why Darren is the top Wyoming Cowboy two years running. It was
touch and go, and quite dangerous but Darren was the master of the situation.
I am having a great time. God bless you, Jerry Larson for bring me along!
8/27/96
2:26 pm CDT
Campfire coffee is not as
bad as I thought it would be. In fact, it is pretty good.
Jerry fishing the headwaters of the Wind River.
8/22/96
5:44 PM CDT
I knew something in me has
been hungry for a trip like this for a long time, but I had no idea what a feast
for my soul it was going to be.
Paul with one of the Golden Trout we caught.
We caught plenty of trout. Mostly Brookie and Golden Trout. They tasted great.
We ride out tomorrow, but
a piece of my heart will always remain here.
Someone fishing the Upper Wind River with Payson’s Peak (elev.11,717) in the background
8/24/96
12:56 PM CDT Denver Airport
On the way out yesterday, Paul asked me what my favorite part had been. I said I didn’t know, and I really didn’t. The worst thing that happened was still an excellent memory.
Some possible answers for
his question are:
• Talking around the campfires
• Getting to know the real Jerry Larson
• Getting to know Jerry’s family, Paul and Carol
• Lessons learned about horses
• Trout fishing
• Having the chance to make the sketches here in my journal
• The opportunity to take 144 pictures of Popo Agie
• The ride over Adam’s Pass
• The walk up to Grave’s Lake
• Sitting on a rock in the green cathedral like meadow setting on the
way to Grave’s
• The search and rescue operation (it had a happy ending)
• Meeting some real Americans
• Catching a brookie
• The long talk with the German woman on Washake Trail and her three kids
who were fluent in three languages
• The invitation by a couple of mountain maidens to accompany them on
the rest of their back pack trip (I didn’t go but I was flattered)
• What I learned from the German woman about sketching trees
• Tying a diamond hitch
• Helping Jim
• Making Jim wait for a cigar, and then giving him my best one after we
returned
Jim got kicked in the shin and bloodied by Clicker on the return trip. Here Dalton is stitching him up while I assist. Jim is biting the $25 cigar I gave him like it is a bullet.
• Learning to throw
a bush loop from Darren
• Drinking glacier water
• Seeing the red algae on the snow atop Adam’s Pass and hearing
it tastes like watermelon
• Talking to Seth on the way out about music
• Seeing a grandfather who loved his grandsons so much he took them on
a trip into the mountains
8/25/96
11:38 PM
I am back in Houston. The trip of a lifetime is over. My two girls are asleep in my bed, and I am sitting here unpacking. I am having some toffee peanuts leftover from my day-trip to Grave’s Lake.
What have I learned?
Many things.
How to tie a diamond hitch. What it means to be in “Big Country”. At good people Jerry and his family are. What the spiritual value of a trip into the wilderness is. And much more….
When will I go back?
I am not sure when my body will return, but a piece of my souls is forever connected to that place.
-ce
My Sketch of Payson's Peak