Hi y’all. Dan here! Welcome to Monk Musings. Last week I shared about my recent hike across Isle Royale in the middle of Lake Superior off the coast of Michigan. This was an amazing wild place. It’s remote, rugged, challenging, and wonderful. I did an entire series of videos during this backpacking trip. Be sure to check them out on my YouTube channel – Wandering Monk. Please hit the subscribe button and click the notification bell to receive all of my latest videos. It’s free to you and really helps me. I appreciate your support growing the audience and forming community.
Well, this week I am sharing my plans for a couple of upcoming adventures. In a few days, my brother (Rick) and I will drive to Wyoming to hike the Wind River Range. We did this hike a couple of years ago. I’m excited to go back again. Wind River Range is my 8th episode in this year’s theme of “Trails less Traveled.”
This place is so different from anything I had experienced before. The mountains are so tall. The elevations are more than 10,000 feet. We are above the tree line as we go through Jackass Pass and Texas Pass. We descend into the plains where beautiful glacial lakes are nestled with their crystal-clear waters and rocky banks. Never escaping the views of gigantic mountain peaks that form the Cirque of the Towers. We tented in a flat, grassy meadow where the Cirque of Towers sat as a backdrop to our view. The air was cool and crisp. It smelled clean. The sky was blue with a few wispy clouds that offered some variety of splendor. Bald Eagles flew, circling above the lakes before diving and plucking a fish from the water. No, I had never experienced anything like this before.
This trail is a large loop and eventually intersects with the Continental Divide Trail for about 15 to 20 miles. Last time, we encountered our most challenging obstacles on this section of the trail. True to its name, “Wind River Range” there had been a wind storm a couple of weeks before we began this adventure. This part of the CDT was strewn with blown down trees that cluttered the path for several miles. I had never seen such a mess even in war zones. As a combat engineer, I learned how to build obstacles to block corridors from advancing enemy armored vehicles. One obstacle is known as an “abatis.” It is created by felling trees on either side of a trail or road, so that the trees interlace across the pathway. When they are dropped this way, it is nearly impossible to push through the area because the trees push against one another, sort of like the old-style children’s finger traps that we played with years ago.
Rick and I had a hard time getting through this area. We even had to crawl for some distance on our hands and knees, pushing our backpacks along the ground in front of us. It was hard, but a small price to pay for witnessing the overall beauty of this place
I must say that I am a little anxious, there is some trepidation. Things change, we change. There is an old Native American proverb that says, “No man steps into the same river twice.” It’s true. The waters flow, the river is new. We also change with every view seen, scent smelled, experience undertaken. We are not the same. Perhaps better. Maybe worse. Always different. So, what will Wind River Range be like for us. I hope that it is wonderful. I hope that we have changed only in ways to appreciate it more.
Another difference in this trip is what we are planning to do apart from hiking. Last time we stopped at the Dinosaur National Park in Dinosaur, Colorado. It was a fascinating place. It is a place where dinosaurs once roamed. Visitors today can see their remains imbedded in the rocks. It is well preserved and displayed. There are also petroglyphs left by the early Fremont culture who called this place home. And there are homesteads of early pioneers who carved out their lives here. Josie Bassett Morris lived most of her life here. She grew up in these mountains, entertaining other legends like the notorious Butch Cassady. In 1913, Josie built her homestead and tended it for the next 50 years. She broke her hip and died in May of 1963 at the age of 90. Her homestead still stands as a link into an era of our history that helps to shape who we are becoming.
This time we are going to a place, I think in Wyoming, where there is a fossil dig. Rick has wanted to go there and see it. So, we hope to visit there before going on to Pinedale, Wyoming and getting back on the Wind River Range.
I have learned a lot about sharing these hikes on YouTube. This year I’ve taken several courses about storytelling through video. There are three important questions that I try to answer in each episode. What is the story about? What is my attitude toward the story? What is my purpose for telling it? If I fall short of answering these questions, I fear that you are left asking, “so what?” and I don’t want to let you down.
After Wyoming, I’m not sure what September holds in way of hiking. I had intended to go to Sedona, Arizona with my wife. We were planning to hike several of the shorter trails there and see the wonders of the area. However, there are a couple of family things that have come up and that trip is on hold. We may go to Virginia to visit our daughter and her family. If so, I would like to jump onto the Appalachian Trail for a short section there. We may not be able to go anywhere due to some other personal priorities. If that is the case, I would like to do a couple of videos on a 15-mile trail near our home. There is a trail at Elk City State Park that is surprising and reveals another part of Kansas that breaks down all stereotypical thoughts about this place. I want to show you that it isn’t the flat place where Dorothy was swept away by a tornado to the Land of Oz. If fact, I plan next year’s theme to be “The Trails of Ahs – Views from Kansas that you have never dreamed.”
My longest hike of the year is planned for October when I thru-hike the Ozark Highlands Trail in Arkansas. It is a 164-mile hike through the Ozark Mountains from Lake Fort Smith to the Buffalo River. It’s another rugged and remote path that promises beautiful vistas and waterfalls. Right now this is planned as a solo hike, but if you are interested the send me a note. My email is Dan@wanderingmonkhikes.com. You can also contact me through this webpage; www.wanderingmonkhikes.com.
I’m excited to share these adventures with you. So, come on. Let’s go walking – together!