I was quite apprehensive going into my NOLS Outdoor Educator
course. Apprehensive about what gear they would make me bring, which I thought
would be unnecessary, like a wind jacket and a rain jacket. A rain jacket by
nature is pretty dang windproof, and why carry more when less will do? I was
have daymares (that's nightmares during the day!) about getting into a verbal
battle over crap I didn't need. I was also a bit nervous about my fellow
classmates being Debbie Downers or, equally as worse, way too damn psyched
about every little thing to try to impress the instructors. Luckily, none of
these came true and the course went well, very well!
I left
a few days early from home because of super hot temps that were forecasted for
when I wanted to leave, and I had a really good tailwind. I was planning on
heading straight to Lander and just cragging at Wild Iris and Sinks for a few
days before the course. Well, while driving, I decided to go hit up Ten Sleep
Canyon just west of Buffalo, WY. World classic limestone and not a whole lot of
people. I made the 40 mil detour to Buffalo and sussed out some free camping
near the top of the canyon and some climbing info from the local forest ranger.
The road to the dispersed camping was absolute hell! It was some of the worst
washboard I have ever encountered, let alone pulling my trailer behind me. When
I found the first available site after two miles, I found that a bomb went off
in my trailer. Not a literal bomb, but shit was exploded everywhere. Dishes on
the floor, clothing strewn about, and worse of all my coffee spilled!
Blasphemy!
I
chilled for the night and decided to go pretty early to find a partner... Turns
out that no one starts climbing 'til about 11am in this country. I found a dude
and a chick from Casper. I followed a couple easy routes that they put up and
then threw up an .11 for them to top rope. The girl got WAYYY to animated when
talking to her while belaying, being that she talked with both hands and didn't
have a brake hand on the rope... I proceeded to "be busy" and not
talk to her anymore so she didn't kill her boyfriend should he fall. During all
of this, I met Bridgeta and her party. She was leading a couple newbies next to
us and she asked if I could give her a belay up this .10c roof since she didn't
trust the other guys much. I also led a couple other routes for them to hang
top ropes. Bridgeta said she needed a partner for the next day and we decided
to meet at my campsite.
We went
to the Back 40 wall since there were some super classic endurofest .11s. We
came to the wall and it was nothing but gorgeous, pocketed, sustained
limestone. Way better routes then what we were climbing the previous day. I led
a .10 for a warm up and we got straight to business on the .11s. Some of the
best routes I'd ever been on! Only one other couple was there and they were fun
to talk to since they were living out of their van and traveling the country.
Always interesting to hear vandwellers' stories.
I
packed up and headed down to Lander late the next morning. I picked up Sabrina
(a course mate) in the Riverton airport on the way and we got to know each
other a little. We ended up playing some disc golf at the Lander course which
was in some open terrain surrounding a hospital. I figured she had better get
acclimated since she lives in Florida and smokes. The next day I took her
climbing at The Shady Side of Sinks since it was pretty damn hot. She did
really well for never climbing outdoors before getting a tough .7 slab and a
couple .8's.
Before
I knew it, we were at NOLS getting a brief from our instructors, Allie, Rob and
Kurt. We all got to meet each other and find some commonalities to talk about.
The next day was bright and early at NOLS gearing up and getting ready to hit
the trail for 17 days and 6 days of front country climbing in Sinks. Gearing up
went really well since I didn't have to rent anything and got to go a hell of a
lot lighter than I thought I was going to. I came in at 35 lbs and the closest
second was 44 lbs I believe. All this meant was I got to carry more group gear
down the road since little girls had 50 lb packs and I felt bad for them, and
wanted to try to help out since I was in plenty good shape.
We did
about a half mile the first night into Roaring Fork Lake in the southern Winds,
very close to where I did a 7 day trip back in '07 with my then girlfriend
Rachel. We learned how to properly poop in the woods in an hour long class by
Rob. Part of the instruction was about how to find good natural toilet paper.
Yes that's right.... We didn't have any toilet paper for 17 days. You learn to
find smooth rocks, sticks and pinecones (wiped the correct way of course!).
That was a bit on an eye opener!
The
next day was up to an unnamed lake by I want to say Arm Lake. There was a
really nice looking north facing wall up there that looked like it would be
real fun. I digress. We broke into three groups and did off trail navigation
the whole way to our "X". Allie brought out the GPS to do a little
nugget (teaching moment) about it. Unfortunately, it told us the we were over a
mile away from where we thought we were. We checked and double checked and came
to the conclusion that the GPS had to be wrong. It turned out that Rob's group
had the same exact problem. The mind is smarter than technology sometimes!
The
following day we split up into three groups (as almost always) and went over an
unnamed pass into the Stough Creek Basin. Nothing special except the views! So
many big peaks that are beckoned to be climbed! Camp was just off an unnamed
lake in a sub alpine setting. Since some students had fishing licenses for the
next day, I asked if I could teach my fly fishing course. We all had to teach a
"skills" class and a "passion" class. Fly fishing was my
skills class since it turned out that I had more experience than all the
instructors combined. I didn't have and training in how NOLS wanted their
courses taught but did very well according to student and instructor feedback. They
said they were "throwing me to the wolves" because I hadn't had any
training but I like being put on edge like that.
We
stayed at that camp for a layover day and I did some one-on-one teaching to a
few students and got them to catch a few trout. Sarah got her first fish ever
and Nate caught 7! I was quite proud of that. We had a bunch of classes and
learned how to make pizza in a single pan in the backcountry! We made our own
dough and let it rise and made pan size pizzas that were absolutely awesome.
They tasted amazing, but the amount of work involved was a bit much for the reward
in my mind. Good skill to know though.
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| Lauri making no bake cookies |
The
next day was the start of my 3-day leadership section along with Keri and Lori.
I lead my group including instructor Rob for about 9 miles up to a camp below
Tayo Lake. It was a really good day with Rob telling an enthralling story about
a young student of his last year that collapsed at the very spot we were at.
Long story short, the kid got evacuated out by chopper since he needed rescue
breaths since his face was turning blue, he was convulsing and was unconscious
for 4 hours. Turned out the kid had his first attack of epilepsy and had never
had any previous problems, CRAZY! We got to the Tayo Lake sign and turned up
the last mile of the trail. We started getting dumped on almost immediately and
we got socked into a cloud. Once we got up to where we were supposed to camp,
Kurt's group wasn't anywhere to be found. It also didn't look quite right, but
we decided to go up valley a bit and see if they moved higher. When we didn't
find them we knew something was definitely wrong. We busted out the maps in the
rain while everyone was dancing around trying to stay warm. We were socked in
the cloud so we couldn't really figure out where we were. The clouds gave way a
bit and I saw two close hills and then figured we might be close to Coon Lake
about 3/4 mile off track. I did a solo 5 minute hike and sure enough found out
the we were at Coon Lake. Son of a bitch, it was getting late, soaked and we
had to make a decision to go off trail for that 3/4 of a mile or on trail for 2
miles. We chose to go down off trail and we hit the other trail and were in
camp in no time. It turned out Kurt's group did the same exact thing right
before us. Allie's group could thank her for figuring out that the sign was
pointing down the wrong trail and got to camp early. I got praised on my
handling of the situation up at Coon Lake even though inside my head I was
freaking out a little bit since I got lost on my first day as leader! Turned
out to be a blessing in disguise luckily as it showed my fortitude in difficult
situations.
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| Kurt showing Sean the way of the wilderness |
Wind
River Peak sits at 13,192 feet above sea level and it was our goal as one big
group to summit it the day after the Coon Lake fiasco. It was my job to lead
the group up the first section of the hike to get us to about 11,500 feet or
so. Oh yeah, it was at 4am. Completely in the dark, going off a bearing I had
shot the night before to the peak and going by dead reckoning, I got us to
exactly where I wanted us to be at daybreak. I was super stoked on that since I
hadn't done any night navigation in completely virgin terrain to me before. We
ended summiting sometime around 10, took pictures, signed the summit register
and came on down the boulders and rocks back to camp. I had never summitted a
high mountain like that before. It was cool, but I would have rather have done
something technical to get to it, not just a hike. I think the word "badass" was
dropped about my night navigation and that felt pretty damn good that other
people thought it was an accomplishment too.
 |
| Me on top of Wind River Peak |
Back to
that blasted Coon Lake for the next night. Nothing special except that Rob (who
was my mentor) and I had an hour and a half long chat about my wanting to see
if being a NOLS instructor was right for me. He gave me a lot of great insight
into the life and how NOLS worked inside and out. At that point I was on the
fence about if it was right for me, since I hadn't seen enough of how
everything ran. I also wanted to wait 'til near the end of the course to figure
out if I got sick of it after 23 days and the nostalgia wore off. With the
setting of the sun, so set my designated leadership part of the course. I challenged
myself to be a leader in other ways and to help the new leaders out with
anything I could.
Coon
Lake Sneak and Temple Pass were on the agenda for the next day. Coon Lake sneak
looks damn near impossible on the map, but there is a small ramp you walk on to
get down to the Little Sandy Creek basin. We got off route and came upon sheer
cliffs multiple times. We eventually found the narrow passage. We then went
over Temple Pass and set our eyes upon Temple Peak and the Temple Peak basin.
One of the most pretty sights I have ever seen! We camped at Deep Lake and
sometime during that period I lost my headlamp. What a bummer for the rest of the
trip! I'm a lightweight, but I just might bring a small back-up headlamp from
now on.
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| Looking down Little Sandy Basin |
Early
the next morning we saw guys leading up a wandering route on Haystack Mountain.
It looked super fun and I later found out that it was a .10 I do believe. I'd look
it up in my Wind River climbing book but I don't have one. So if you're feeling
generous, it only costs 27 bucks and my birthday is right around the corner...
just saying :) . We ended up at Clear Lake, only a short distance from Deep
Lake as a staging area to get our re-ration from a horse packer at Big Sandy
Lake the next day. That went pretty smooth and we headed up the dreaded Jackass
Pass. I had heard how much it sucked in magazines and online postings, but it
wasn't bad at all in reality. Then there it was once again, the Cirque of the
Towers! One of my favorite places in the world. A semi-circle of steep
climbable peaks surrounding Lonesome Lake in its basin. The last time I was
here I wasn't a climber. Now, I have lots of single pitch and some multi-pitch
under my belt and this is the next world I want to step into. Long, hard to get
to, routes on pristine mountain granite surrounded by nothing but the
wilderness and a good climbing partner. I came over the pass and said
"This is what I live for", seeing and experiencing places like the
Cirques.
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| Cirque of the Towers! (Pingora on right) |
We
camped not too far from the South Face of Pingora that night and it was decided
that a group would go by Jackass Pass and take some morning photos of the
Cirques. Turns out that clouds and Mount Mitchell got in the way of spectacular
photos, but it was an adventure none the less. I then went with a group to go
fish Lonesome Lake and its runoff, the North Popo Agie River. I went over
another quick lesson on casting and catching with some of my peers and watched
them have a ball. A few fish were caught, but not as many as I had hoped. The
rest of the group joined us and we headed the roughly 3 miles up to Bear Lake.
Nothing too spectacular happened up there except the start of the monsoon
season in the Winds. This was the start of something like 8 days of rain on us,
the same system that hit Boulder, CO and caused all the devastation.
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| Above Bear Lake |
We then
headed downhill to the north end of Sanford Park. I had been through the south
end of Sanford back in '07 and remember good views of the Cirques.
Unfortunately, we were still in a cloud most of the time. We camped in a very
nice flat area that bordered a large meadow and the river. Since there was an
established fire ring pretty close to the river, we decided that it would be
okay to have a fire. It was just getting dark and a few of us heard small
rustling of brush and grass at what I guessed to be about 50 yards away. I
didn't think much of it, probably just a deer coming down to the river to get a
gulp. About 15 minutes later, there was a breaking of a couple sticks really
close, damn close! By the sounds of the snaps, I could tell that this was no
deer. It's the size of stick that an elk breaks when you bust one in the timber
and it rings loud and clear. I had images of a nice bull coming to the edge of
the firelight and everyone getting to see an elk finally. That only lasted a
moment though as I heard a deep guttural moan. OH SHIT! Leadership mode kicked
in faster than girls turn to run once they hear I live in a trailer! I told
everyone to not make that noise that they just heard and to turn off the
headlamps. Instructors started to question why and I said something to the
effect of "Just fucking do it!" I'm sure this use of profanity helped
my grade enormously,
but the defecation
could be hitting the oscillation real quick if Mr. Moose decided to come join
the party. As you may not know, bull moose tend to rut right at that time of
year and they are known to charge headlights of trains and cars. 15 headlamps
on bright mode was definitely not going to be helping our situation out one
bit. He was probably just curious, but at the time I had to figure he was
looking for a fight or some action. I assumed none of us wanted either of these
options. We quickly decided to back the heck out of there ASAP. We did have a
few bear sprays with which was a minor consolation to the situation. About 5 of
us guys formed the front line as we backed away from the fire and the river in
pitch black conditions across a meadow. Rachel handed me another bear spray and
unbeknownst to me, she had taken the trigger guard off (so had everyone else,
which looking back I would like to have a conversation about weapon safety...).
I grabbed it from her and while readjusting it in my hand it shot a little
spray out. The wind was pretty calm but a little drifted back towards us and a
few hacks started behind us while my eyes started stinging a bit. Luckily it
wasn't much and didn't really cause any problems. We reconvened about 100 yards
away and I asked about the green light headlamp I had seen earlier in the trip.
Once again everyone was bewildered and queried me. I explained how ungulates
couldn't see green light and we would have the advantage going back to the fire
to grab gear and put it out. Bear sprays in hand and in a line formation
several guys went in! Some jokes were cracked about our "mission" and
a reference was made to Jurassic Park about the potential of us getting flanked
by the moose, hence laughing ensued and the situation was taken pretty lightly.
It probably should have been a little more serious, but I'm guessing it was
peoples' way of dealing with the gravity of the situation. We returned with no
MIA/KIA and all headed directly for bed, except for me. I needed a little time
to process the ordeal. It had actually been one of the most scary situations I
had ever been in. I can chase black bears in California, get run out on trad
routes and deep water solo in the middle of nowhere, but this shit was way more
scary. The thought of a thousand pound beast with antlers charging in the dark
at us stirred something deep, some primeval. I came to the conclusion that it
was a damn good thing someone knew something about moose. Like I said, I'm
guessing he was just curious and was checking out the situation and would have
bolted if we all started shouting, but who knows...
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| Decent in Temple Basin |
The
next few days were the start of student led days with the instructors meeting
us in camp. It was raining pretty good in the cloud still and the temperature
had dropped pretty good. We only had a few mile hike to Baer Lakes and finding
a good campsite by NOLS and LNT standards wasn't easy. Everything that was flat
had puddles and was too close to the water. We ended up scattering tents a bit
on slight slopes. I don't think anyone had a "good" tent site, but at
least they wouldn't pool water. I was shaking due to my rain jacket not being
totally rainproof after 6 years of use. I wasn't soaked but wet in a couple
places. Standing around deciding what to do and where to place tents wasn't
helpful. If it was my trip, I would have set the tent up, boiled some water,
got in and got dry clothes on. Since I was at the mercy of the group and
instructors, I waited for supper to be cooked and a game to be played. Now I
understand that the idea was to get us moving and get us warm, but no one
retained the information made since we were all pretty cold. Supper consisted
of less than luke warm mashed potatoes with Nature Burger. If you have never
had the pleasure of having Nature Burger, go to your pantry, pour some salt and
some meat seasoning in your hand and enjoy thoroughly. It is some of the worst
stuff I have ever had! I finally got into the tent by forcing down the horrible
mixture and got into all my warm clothes and sleeping bag and I felt warm in
about 10 minutes. It turned out to be a valuable lesson for when I lead groups,
let people get warm and then we can learn! We got into the tents about 4pm and
due to constant rain, we didn't get out until noon the next day. Being in an
effectively 6x6 tent with four people is REAL cozy, but the leaders (not the
instructors) decided that for the remaining 15 miles, we should take about 6
miles that day and 9 the last day. I was up for rocking out the 15 miles in one
day by getting up at 4am, but It was better for the group that we decided to
split it up. Putting the wet, cold clothes was miserable but the hike itself
wasn't bad at all.
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| Approaching the Cirques |
We
camped by the Middle Popo Agie River in Three Forks Park. Nothing spectacular
except that it didn't rain on us during the evening activities. The next day
was out to Bruce's Bridge and situ-civilization. I coerced my group my group to
take a short detour to see the Popo Agie Falls since we were ahead of schedule
for the bus to transport us. I wanted to go all the way to the natural
waterslide, but others thought it best to stop short and take some photos from
afar. We got another dumping at the trailhead waiting for the bus. Huddled in
and under the entryway of the vault toilet we met our new instructor for the
climbing section, Margo. She is a Dutch transplant with a pleasant personality
and easy to talk to. She also seemed to be quite knowledgeable about rock craft.
The bus showed up and transported us down to the Popo Agie Campground, which is
also the parking spot for the Shady Side crags in the Sinks. The 3 out of the 4
days in the canyon had been partially or wholly out of here and I knew we were
headed for The School in the next coming days. A placed I had already explored
well and wasn't totally impressed with due to the broken nature of the climbs. Oh
well, at least I would be climbing!
Campsites
were chosen and new tent mates assigned. We were right on the river and with
all the rain it was roaring and rising every day. I definitely didn't need my
earplugs at night to get a good rest. The first couple days consisted of
learning about gear, belaying and safety. I knew it would be a snooze factory
for me from the get go so I just went with the flow. A few days into the
climbing section we got to do the long hike up to the Granite Buttress on the
top end of Sinks. It's a neat formation with 2 well defined ledges that allow
for ease of top rope set up. Sean, CJ and I worked on gear anchors while the
rest of the group worked on natural anchors. We had some criticism but nothing
major. It didn't help that we were all working on different things and trying
to cobble them together to make an anchor. The next day a few of us got to go
to the right of Killer Cave and get on some fun problems. We got lead belay
checked off and got to lead some routes on the last day finally. Nothing was
really hard, just some short fun routes. All in all, climbing camp was fun. It
was a nice ease back into civilization by talking to some folks in the
campground and hearing cars whiz by often. I would have normally preferred a
backcountry setting, but with all the wetness, I was glad we were in the front
country.
Debriefing,
returning and cleaning gear, and getting a hot shower was the last day of our
trip agenda. The shower felt damn good as anyone knows after coming out after a
trip, but this one was especially good after 23 days! We had a grill out at
Kurt's parents house (his dad was once the head of NOLS) a few blocks from
world headquarters. There was then an after party in my trailer with a whopping
13 people in this beast! Only 2 or 3 had to stand and I was happy to see that
everyone thought it was a nice home. As always, people showed interest in
purchasing and living in something similar, but I doubt anyone ever will. It's
a big commitment and I find that most people don't want to drive a truck that
get 13mpg on a good day by itself and 9 pulling the trailer.
It was
time to do a four shifter gear box (it's a NOLS thing) and get ready to fly
back home and do some work to fund the winter out in Cali! I shipped on down to
Denver, parked the trailer in a storage facility and flew on back home for a
few weeks.
I would
like to thank you for being patient with my postings. I've been quite busy
since the course and now it looks as if I won't be. I will try to be more
timely in getting you some stories about the outdoors and small space living.
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