Date: 2010-01-17
To: Pryor Mountain Wild Horse Range
Miles today: 0.0

Day 1:A friend, Kelly, and I headed out of Powell today around 8:30 am, stopped by the grocery store, filled up with gas, and headed to Lovell, WY. I know it sounds silly but we weren¢t quite sure of where we were going since this trip was kind of planned last minute and with snow in the mountains (though a smaller pack than usual) we weren¢t sure what was accessible. We stopped by the visitors center for the Bighorn Canyon Recreational Area and they told us dogs weren¢t allowed there so they suggested we head to the Pryor Mountain BLM land and drive along Burnt Timber Road until it became impassable or we decided to just hike. We decided this was a good plan and headed out. The road is very popular with atv¢s and four wheel drive vehicles in the Summer and impossible to get lost on but we didn¢t see a single soul on our trip. Since the road was dry we had to stop and get a little bit more water.We drove up to Burnt Timber Road where we entered the Pryor Mountain Wild Horse Range. We followed the rough 4 wheel drive road for about two miles until I found a good place to pull over and start hiking. We started around 11am, the day was beautiful at around 50+ degrees, still, and fairly cloudy. More sun would have been wonderful, but I can¢t imagine the weather could get any better in Wyoming in January! We definitely picked the right weekend to head out. The terrain started out with sagebrush and juniper- your typical high desert vegetation and the layers of red soil reminded me of the Summer I spent riding endurance horses in Moab two years ago. The trail was fairly flat for the first half mile or so and then we started to climb; the rest of the day consisted almost entirely of climbing but the views looking back were absolutely stunning. It seemed as if you could see for a hundred miles! After a few miles of climbing the scenery began to change from juniper to pine trees and we started to hit a few snow patches. The temperature had dropped a few degrees with the higher altitude and when we stopped for lunch a slight breeze made me a little chilly so I put some extra layers on. Lunch was quick and consisted of a peanut butter and banana sandwich and some gorp, and I brought out some teriyaki beef nuggets for Kelly. My back was starting to get sore so I reorganized my pack and soon after we headed back up the trail. Perhaps a half a mile later we came across the best surprise of the whole trip, wild horses! We hit a beautiful flat open field and the small band of six curious horses started galloping towards us. The stallion was a very pretty golden dun and in his band was a black mare with a blaze, two bay horses (one with a blaze and one with a star), and two adorable grullas. The stallion, one of the bays, and the grullas were very curious and came within about ten feet of us! The two grullas looked young, one probably only a yearling but the other one looked bred and was probably a few years older. They looked so similar I am sure the young one was her filly. I was so surprised at how calm they were, I even hit our water container (accidently) with my foot and they spooked a little but came right back. Seeing the horses was definitely the highlight of the trip, but unfortunately right after my battery in my camera died.Once we passed through the field we headed back into the pines which started to thicken. The snow went from patchy to a fairly solid couple of inches and the higher we climbed the deeper the snow become. We were already fairly tired from all the climbing but climbing in four to six inches of snow made my calves sore and the snow was creeping in my shoes and would only get deeper. After about a mile we came across a great camping site with a fire pit. I took a couple of ibuprofen and we set up camp. Kelly wasn¢t ready to be done yet though and took to romping in the snow for a while. Every once in a while she would find a stick to chew or toss in the air and after helping us gather firewood she settled to sleep under a tree. We had a wonderful campfire and a dinner tasted awesome- even if the rice in my knorr packet was still a little crunchy. It had been a wonderful day and at bedtime I layered up with everything I brought, activated two hot hands to toss in my bag, and headed to bed.Day 2:Didn¢t sleep too great last night. I was fairly comfortable despite sliding downhill a bit but my feet were cold all night despite two pairs of socks. The rest of me stayed warm in my Big Agnes 15 degree bag- the night time temperatures were probably around there. I hardly ever sleep great in a tent the first night out but good news is my BA insulated air core pad was thick enough to prevent the usual glute pain I get when sleeping on my side. Kelly slept good sharing the sleeping pad and a blanket I laid down for her. I¢ll be cutting her a piece of a Wal-Mart foam pad so she will be comfortable on the trail. In the morning we started up the fire and I thawed out my toes while I toasted a bagel and peanut butter for breakfast and finished up my gorp. After packing up camp and putting out the fire we headed back down the mountain. I said yesterday I didn¢t think the weather could get any better, well today took the cake! We woke up to clear blue skies and temperatures warmer than the day before. By the time we got back to my pickup the thermometer said it was 60! The hike back down went very quickly since it was all down-hill. Unfortunately we didn¢t say any horses today, but were able to enjoy the views and wonderful weather as we headed down the mountain. On the way back home we stopped by the visitors center where the same rangers as the day before were on duty. We thanked them for telling us where we could go and told them how the trip went and about the horses we had seen. They mentioned a website called pryormustangs.org where we could find information on the band we came across and find out their names. This stop was so wonderful for winter backpacking that I think in a few weeks I¢ll try to head back there again. I would like to take three days to hike up to Penn¢s Cabin at the end of the road and back down on my next trip. Overall it was a wonderful trip and only wish it could have lasted much longer! I did find though that I should put some insoles in my shoes so I¢ll try to pick up some super feet. I think I¢m getting the hand of packing my pack but it took a while to adjust the straps so the waist strap wouldn¢t creep up. The only thing I¢m really worried about is that I think I have pump bumps that I have had for a while on both my heels that really hurt after resting. Hopefully I can get all those things worked out before my trip.Total trip mileage was around 14 miles