Its about twenty miles from Matt and Patty's house to the town of Pinedale and then another fifteen to the trail head at Elkpoint. Matt drove and pointed out local features to Jenny, who had just arrived the night before. We just listened to the kids talk, smug in our knowledge,(we had been there for two days).
After leaving PInedale the road became bumpy and started to climb. We were driving along a ridge to the south of Fremont Lake. The climb never seemed to stop as we passed several turnoffs and the Alpine Ski area. Half Moon lake was to the south of the road but we kept driving as we really wanted to reach the trail head and the end of the road.
Topping out at 9300 feet we left the safety of the truck and we swarmed with mosquitoes. Matt had remembered to bring bug spray and so after dosing ourselves we ate a quick lunch. Another vehicle arrived and three people got out, hefted their day packs and fly rods and started down the Long Lake trail. They stopped to tell us that the trail was steep but that the hike was worth it for the cutthroat trout waiting in the lake below.
Talking it over we decided to try and hike a portion of the trail. Aware of the recent grizzly bear attack just north we kept together and hiked with ease down the trail. Matt stopped and asked me if I realized how steep the return trip was going to be and I felt ok so we continued . It leveled off for a bit before crossing a stream and then plunging again.
Luckily it wasn't too bad, it never is going downhill and it did level off for a bit. We were about one and a half miles in when we got a great view of the upper end of Fremont Lake. Getting the glasses out we saw streams cascading from the high country. The water was really in an almost vertical free fall ad we thought it was snow at first but the binoculars allowed us to see the movement.
We still couldn't see Long Lake and we reached an agreement that we wouldn't go any further. It turned out that it was a good decision as the I later learned the trail plunged down a steep high another 900 feet before reaching the lakes shores. That would have been a total elevation change of over 1600 feet down and then back up, a bit much for a first days hike at 9300 feet above sea level.
Starting back up it stopped often and checked out our heart rates. The kids obligingly herded us along the trail with Matt following and Jenny getting out her skittles and forcing us to eat candy to keep our sugar levels up,(Well eating candy doesn't really take much force).
Surprisingly the hike back up went well and it reassured us that we were acclimatized to the elevation enough that another hike would be possible and maybe even a longer one. It was a good day to be walking in the wilderness and the first time in years that we had been together. Clear skies.
I have more imagess but our internet is really slow so I will add them later.
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