Scary Bighorn Mountains

July 15th, we headed off to pack into the Cloud Peak Wilderness, part of the Bighorn Range in northern Wyoming.

Our Ford TurboDiesel 6.4L with 4.81 rear end gears was still no match for the unbelievably steep road ascending the Bighorn Plateau from Lovell, Wyoming. Even not towing anything, the EGT (that's the Exhaust Gas Temp for the diesel-uninitiated) tripped about 3/4 of the way up, the intercooler was roaring like a banshee, and we had to stop in a turnout to let the thing cool down. The road into these mountains from the west is the steepest U.S. Highway I have ever seen, and that includes the creepy climb west from Furnace Creek in Death Valley up into the Sierra Nevada. This had durned well be worth it!

Spent the first night in a campground at the National Forest (and had the pleasure of setting up in the pitch dark), then in the morning negotiated the labyrinthine network of logging roads, finally ending up at the trailhead.

NOW, you should be aware, Dear Readers, that we had done essentially NO research on the place we were going, called Bucking Mule Falls. Turns out it's about four hard-sloggin', steep, rocky miles from the trailhead. We had gotten the idea from one of the doctors at the hospital where Allison is working. Our first clue about what we were getting ourselves into should've been the fact that the surgeon whose advice we so blithely followed RIDES A HORSE on this trail, never walks it, and especially not with 40 or 50 pounds of gear on his back... maybe that's why he's a doctor and I'm not. HE'S
SMARTER THAN I AM!!!

Anyway, after lotsa sweating and swearing (it was hot that day, even at 9,000 feet) we arived at the overlook for the falls. Beautiful. Breathtaking. NO WATER ANYWHERE NEAR US. DAMMIT. Well, not that we could get to, anyway. See caption below.

This Is The Closest Water:


Allison At The Trailhead:


From Summit Across Desert Toward Lovell:


BEFORE We Were Mad At Turning Back:


Top Of Bighorn Plateau:


Summary: We got to where we were going, found out I would hafta rappell if I wanted any water, and headed back to where we had crossed Tepee Creek about two miles back. Got back there, spent about two hours clearing a campsite, cooked our lunch, got eaten alive by swarms of mosquitoes and biting flies, surrendered and packed ALL THE WAY BACK OUT. This is becoming an unpleasantly common occurrence...

And that's all I have to say about the Bighorns (that can be reasonably entered in a site that children read, anyway). By the way, I have again become Capital-Punishment remiss in updates. My apologies to all, or any, who follow this thing. The good news is that I have committed to bring y'all up to date within the next three days, and that will entail at least four more new posts, and some of them are worth reading. SO: stay tuned!