Fall Breakin'

We have lived in Colorado now for four years, which includes four attempts at making a break for the Utah border over Liz's school endorsed Fall Break. The past three years have all been abject failures at making this trip happen, and this fall we were committed to making some autumn desert camping happen.

Well, it didn't happen. BUT!

We arose on the morning of our scheduled departure to weather forecasts of low 50's for high temperature marks and 50% chances of rain. Ugh. Sitting in bed with a map, we scanned all the potential locations within a 6 hour drive that would be entertaining (and warm) enough to visit. We still had four free days, and desired to get a break from the regular routine.

Luckily, we eventually landed on Lander (see what I did there?) and decided that the reputation for information and local beta at the Wild Iris Climbing Shop in town was enough to make us not need a perfect plan to leave home. We set to finalize packing clothes, food and climbing gear, and made way to Snooze downtown to christen the trip with a good breakfast. (they have Root Beer French Toast. Just sayin.)

Rolling the four.five hours northward to the base of the Wind Rivers, we ducked into Wild Iris to get the local climbing book and directions to campgrounds. After October, the national forest campground just near the base of Sinks Canyon becomes free, and we found a great spot right along the Popo Agie river as dark settled around us. The river was running so loudly that it was all you could hear while stoking the fire, and the day seemed to melt into night. It is always surprising to me how quickly my mind can settle when I turn my phone off and sleep out-of-doors.

The next morning we arose slowly (it was warmer than Utah, but it's still October camping. It's chilly.) and eventually walked over to the Scud Wall section of the main area of Sinks Canyon. We had the wall to ourselves for a large portion of the day, though eventually shared some space with some kids who were enrolled in a NOLS course that is headquartered in town. We picked out some moderates to remind us that we don't climb often enough anymore to hit the more epic routes, but were still able to get about five routes in by the end of the day. (I ended with a long lead of the 5.9 Duck Soup that didn't relent for me at the top. With only an anchor to set, overhanging jugs and no feet, I simply could not get my arms to comply with my order to hold me pat until setting the anchor. Liz got her first taste of catching a lead fall, and I eventually bailed on the thing, cursing a storm the whole way down. Blast.)

Afterwards, it wasn't quite time for dinner yet, so we went to inspect the famous sink and rise of the Popo Aggie river that were camped just up canyon from. While the wiki is more detailed, effectively what has happened to this river is that the softness of the limestone along the bed of the water years ago gave way at some point, and the river literally dives between rocks and disappears. Crazy. You can walk down to where the water escapes and see it go - though it's even more odd in person.

A quarter mile later the river returns (after going under the freeway) in the form of a two deep-pocketed river beds filled with milling trout. Dye tests showed that the water takes over 2 hours to get from sink to rise, and as of now no one really knows the extent of the underground system that the water encounters. ALSO, their is more water coming OUT of the rise than is going IN to the sink, so at some point different sources of ground water join the party. Nuts. My favorite part of it all, though, is the funny/sad/funny again plight of the trout in the river. As they head upstream to bed their eggs, they hit a roadblock at the rise and just get stuck. The state of Wyoming has placed some fish food dispensers to keep them fat and happy, but mostly it's fun to image a lot of confused conversations happening between them under the water as to what direction they turned incorrectly to end up in a dead-ending river.

Friday night was spent inspecting the fire and listening to river before retreating around 8 pm. Fall camping can be tough - sunlight is completely gone by 6:30 - so you get to enjoy the comfort of your sleeping bag more than most trips. Over Saturday morning breakfast we decided to head home that evening and sleep in our warm bed (we had also run out of food) but not before we explored the canyon a little more. Driving up the road a few more miles found the trailhead for the Popo Agie falls, which made for a really enjoyable 4 mile out-and-back that displayed fall's best colors and and increasingly granite canyon top.

After sampling some great Lander fare for lunch, we rolled home and watched the Wyoming landscape seem to move slowly even at 80 mph. Utah it was not, and at some point we'll actually give Canyonlands it's due, but hanging out in the foothills of the Wind Rivers shouldn't be considered a substandard consolation. Now the trick is to start thinking about winter sports....