Green River Lakes

Hello Everyone,
     We are back in civilization in a lovely little town called Pinedale in WY. After breaking down camp early this morning we left our spot in the Green River Lakes National Forest campground.  I have to say that it was in the top 3 places I've visited while on this adventure.  Ron kept telling me how beautiful it was and now I understand....  But I'm getting ahead of myself...
     On Thursday we drove towards the Green lakes region determined to get there to begin that part of the trip. We ended up spending about 7 1/2 hours driving in the truck to get there.  Do you remember me telling you about my worst driving experience being on the road into Glacier National Park?  Well, I take that back... The last hour and a half of the Green River Trip was the most rocky, bone jarring amusement ride in a vehicle EVER!!! That dirt road had so many ruts and cracks and crevices and I think we found them all!  It turns out that bringing a camper in there is a lot different experience than Ron's previous trips to that area in a car.  On the positive side I had free chiropractic adjustments :)
Once we arrived at the start of the dirt road, we met a ranger posting a notice on the bulletin board.  It was stating the latest news on fires in the area.  One fire was huge and there was also a couple of smaller ones as well.  The ranger said that at that time there was no restrictions on using the campground but they were limiting certain trails.  We made the decision to go ahead with the plan.
     The rocky drive was however, worth the work to get there.  We were camped out with the Wind River Range surrounding us.  Quite the sight outside your windows and door every day!  We settled in and relaxed after a very stressful drive; I don't know how Ron got through that drive....
     The next morning we got up and prepared for our day.  It was 34 degrees outside!!!  I started the day bundled up and started shedding the layers quickly as we began to move.  We hiked along the trail that led from the Outlet to the Green Lake.  How beautiful and the color is amazing!! The hike each way was about 3 miles which was along the edge of the lake so the scenery was gorgeous.  We stopped to take breaks because I was having a really bad day and was struggling with my pack.  We took advantage of the breaks and did some birding along the way.  We saw a sigh on a trail that Ron wanted to explore but we were disappointed to see that the trail was closed due to the fires..Once we neared the end of the Lake trail we connected to Clear Creek Trail which is where Ron wanted to fish.  The Clear Creek certainly lived up to it's name; it was crystal and reflected it's clarity right to the bottom.   I told Ron to go ahead and begin fishing because I needed to recover and rest. The full day's travel along with the final jarring end took it's toll on me.   Ron fished for a bit and found that the fishing was different than usual since he normally was there earlier in the year.   After a bit I walked along the creek with him and fished some myself. My energy was low however and I couldn't fish too long.  Ron found a great, deep pool that was loaded with fish. They however, were not too interested in what we were offering.  He had a large one on his line but he did get away; perhaps I jinxed it when I said the story about the big one that got away in my last post :)
     I got excited to see fish feeding and began to fish myself.  It's amazing how fatigue leaves you when you get that going on in front of you.   I had a few hits but nothing more but it was still beautiful to spend time along the creek.  We came across a very young sandpiper running along the creek's shore. he still had his downy feathers and was so cute!  I headed back to our packs to rest for a bit while Ron fished on ahead and on my way back I came across a large area of tamped down grass that was evidently a bed for a large moose.  Boy do they take up a lot f real estate!
     I finished up exploring the creek with Ron because he said he had to show me where the Green River goes into the green River lake.   It was so cool to see where the water mixed and ultimately blended together to become the glorious green that we see in the water. It was time to hike back to camp.
     The hike home was very difficult for me and once we made it back I was done for the night.  I can just ignore the body's signals for so long before it just shuts down.  I remember well, telling my patients that they should always listen to their bodies and respect what they are telling them.  unfortunately, I've never been good at taking my own advice :)
     Due to my situation, I was unable to leave camp the next day so Ron went back to the Creek for the day to fish while I spent the day doing pretty much nothing but resting and reading.  He did do some fishing but not like he had hoped for.  When he returned to camp he relaxed for a bit, ate dinner and then went to the Outlet to check out the birds.  Not many birds were there but the deer were enjoying that spot :)
     After a good night's sleep we packed up and started the dreaded dirt road trip out of the area.  I learned that to help my back, I ended up lying in the backseat of the truck for that difficult journey.  I even tried to distract myself from that stress by reading when I could manage to keep the page still enough :)  I'm reading the Mitford series and it is wonderful; thanks Sandra!!
    Even looking back, at the work it took to get there and the difficulty I had, I don't regret it for a minute since The Green River Lake area was easily in my top three of places that were staggeringly beautiful!
     We are off to the Green River area along the Fontenelle Reservior  and also go to see the Seeskadee National Wildlife Refuge which is also along that route.  We will probably out of contact for another few days...
(pictures to follow)