Mike went hiking into the Bridger-Teton National Forest the weekend that I went home for Iron Horse to fish for Golden Trout and was unsuccessful. So that following weekend I really wanted and needed to go hiking leading us to go see if we could find some Golden Trout. Since I have not been hiking like last year, I needed to take an easier hike. So that lead us to hike to the middle and upper Sweeney Lakes in the Wind Rivers.
We left Friday afternoon to drive up past Pinedale, WY to hike in six miles to middle Sweeney Lake. The gradient was not too steep but it was a workout and BEAUTIFUL!! I really wish that we lived in Pinedale or Lander because of all the trees and hiking trails and high mountain lakes. Where compared to Rock Springs, we are flat with cliffs and desert landscape with sage brush. There was a ton of people parked in the parking lot and none had Wyoming license plates.
It took us about 2.5 hours to hike up and we were passing people going up and ones that were going down from all different directions. There was also horse guides and a large boy scout group that we talked to for a little bit. The amount of people just blow my mind compared to last year hiking up to scout for deer, we did not come across anyone. That was in a different area but still, we were using a trail.
We set up camp just above middle Sweeney Lake around 7:30 pm and could hear a large group of people laughing and hanging out just across the way. The mosquitoes were all over the place after we made it about a mile in. The landscape is so wet from the amount of snow that we received last winter. We started hiking about 7,400 feet and ended just below 10,000 feet. After heating up a mountain house meal to share, we went to bed. It was the first time in a while that I have slept with a dog in the tent. Brodin was with us and was still hyper as can be after all that but he is a lab so I don't know what more I would have expected.
It was a cold nights sleep and I did not pack enough warm layers so my feet froze the hold time. Mike and Brodin were up at 6 am walking down to the lake to see if he could catch anything. He came back a short while later saying that he did not want to sleep in the same spot again because he ended up sleeping on a rock so we packed up the tent after breakfast.
Mike and I worked our way around middle Sweeney Lake trying to see if we could find any fish swimming along the shore. The trees were right up next to the water so it was really hard for me to find a spot to cast my fly rod without it getting tangled. I did manage to get the fish hook stuck in a pine tree but with careful movements, I somehow managed to get it free. We were having no luck there so we walked the fifteen minutes up to upper Sweeney Lake. This one had more open shoreline so we decided to set up camp there at a nice campfire spot just a little off the trail.
We worked our way around the lake which was smaller then the middle one and had no luck. I could see a ton of leeches moving around and a couple dead fish. I did have one fish rise a little ways away from me but could not figure out where it went to get its' interest to my fly. While I was there, I figured out that if I just watch my back cast I was able to have my line move straight out instead of getting all bunched up.
After eating lunch, we took a little hike up the trail to the top where it turns into a meadow and you can see multiple trails crossing. For the short period that we were up there, like four people went by. Also everywhere you went there was a new body of water. So we went back to the lake and fished some more, filtered water, and hung out. We were too exhausted to even consider hiking all the way back out that afternoon and I felt bad for Brodin because the mosquitoes were just attacking his stomach. We went to bed early that night, about 8 pm, and woke to Brodin barking. You could here what we figured to be a moose moving through from the sound of the running foot steps. I felt like we were going to get run over and of course the sound in a tent is so much different then when outside it. I managed to say a little bit warmer that night and I think it's because I was not chilled from sweating. We hiked about 10 miles that day.
At 7 am the next morning, we started our way back down the trail and it took us about the same amount of time. Brodin started to not wonder off the trail and you could tell he was really tired. The last mile he just stayed behind Mike, poor guy but he just would not take a break. The mosquitoes really sucked on the way out where they kept biting through the mesh of my ball cap. All I wanted to do was enjoy my hike out but they made it no fun. Once we made it back to the truck, I could feel my calves tightening up. We finished off our weekend at a friends house for a bbq. Even though we did not catch any fish, it was great to get out and now my body feels alive again because I was starting to loss my mind from not moving.
Final count was a total of about 20+ miles.
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