East Fork back to Big Sandy TH then out to Dad’s Lake
Rain continued through the night and was joined by hail and snow, as well as plenty of lightning and thunder. It was still raining and thundering in the morning as I packed up to head to the car and retrieve my AquaMira.
I’d sent a text update on my Garmin to Cathy. She replied that the AM bottles were not evident anywhere around the house. If I hadn’t dropped or forgotten them there, they had to be in the car, so I started hustling down the trail.
I got to the car under clearing skies a little before noon, cracked open the rear hatch — and found nothing. Backseat — nothing. Ditto for the front. Under the car — nothing. If it wasn’t in the car and wasn’t at home and wasn’t in my pack, where was it? It’s a mystery.
There was nothing for it but to drive to the nearest hardware store or outfitters. This part of Wyoming, like the rest of the state, is fairly desolate. Pinedale would be closest, some 50 miles away, most of it on dirt roads. I stopped at the convenience store in Boulder, hoping it might have iodine tabs. It did have a shelf of fishing and camping supplies, but nothing for water treatment. The outfitters in Pinedale, another dozen miles down the highway, were sold out of AquaMira but did have iodine tabs. Good enough.
I got back to the Big Sandy trailhead around 4, laid out my soggy tent to dry in the sun for 10 minutes, and resumed hiking. It soon clouded up and commenced raining again. I got to Dad’s Lake, found a bench site overlooking the lake and called it a day. Not a good day, for sure, but a day. At least the skies were clearing. The lake was calm and beautiful. It was also devoid of fish activity. I saw maybe 2 rises in half an hour before sunset. There are plenty of fish in that lake, but they have retreated to cool water down deep.
Onward from Dad’s Lake to the Middle Fork
A clear (but fishless) morning above Dad’s Lake
The night remained clear and the day dawned bright and sunny. I mapped out a shorter loop — over Kagenah Pass, back around through Haily Pass — and was ready to get going.
But not as ready as I wanted to be. I felt nauseous and weak and only managed to eat a couple spoonfuls of yogurt and fruit for breakfast. I probably hadn’t boiled that cow water on the East Fork quite long enough. Or maybe there were some cyanobacterial toxins in the water.
But I felt well enough to start hiking. I would just have to see how I felt, and hope this was some passing discomfort. In a couple of hours I passed the East Fork (again) and was up on an open plateau with wide open views all around.
Water is not usually a problem in the Winds, but the drought had left many streams dried up. Algal growth was rampant.
Not drinking from this
The best-looking water I could find tasted horrible — like rancid cooking oil. I can only guess that it was coming from an algae-overgrown source higher up (algae are a source of biodiesel) and my iodine tabs had oxidized their oils. It was nasty, but other water sources looked even less promising.
I passed some more big lakes
The sandy point at Sandpoint Lake
Past Sandpoint Lake I turned up the Middle Fork trail, hoping to get close to Kagevah Pass for an early passage in the morning.
Up the Middle Fork valley
But I was still feeling pretty janky. I’d managed to choke down a handful of trail mix and half of a bar during the day, but that was all my stomach could tolerate. I wanted to make it to the main Middle Fork Lake but ran out of steam near the smaller lakes below.
I settled for a suboptimal meadow campsite, skipped dinner and went straight to sleep, hoping I’ll feel better in the morning.