We had about two miles to Section Corner Lake from our first night's camp. When we woke up it was a beautiful day - not a cloud in the sky. As we were getting our gear together, a couple from Provo, Utah passed by on the last leg of their trip. They had gone north instead of south as we would be doing. The stated that they saw a lot of cattle grazing in the wilderness. (We never saw any on our trip.)

The adults made an executive decision that the boys would divide the food and troop gear into 13 piles. The adults would get half a pile each and the boys a full pile. The boys grumbled a bit but it didn't matter much though - no matter how much they were loaded down, they could still go much faster than most of the adults.

The trail descends quickly to Bluff Creek and begins climbing up the other side through open forest. After climbing about 200 feet up over a small shoulder the trail descends again to cross the stream coming down from Section Corner Lake. The trail follows the stream on the south side for a short way before crossing again to the north side where it remains until Section Corner Lake is reached.

The trails in the Wind Rivers were built for horses and this threw the boys in front off a bit. When the trail came up to the stream, they kept going up the south side. When the old men got up to that point, they saw that it was a ford since you could see the trail on the other side.

Bill Peckinpaugh's Big "Brown" Trout
Section Corner Lake - Day 2

After a little yelling, everyone was soon on the right side of the creek and it was only a few minutes before we could see the waters of Section Corner Lake through the trees.

By this time the clouds had covered the sky and it looked as if rain was imminent. Undeterred, everyone got out their fishing gear for their first casts into a Wyoming Lake. A few fish were caught, and except for Peck's they weren't very big. As our allotted half hour expired, the boys slowly dribbled back. After much yelling, we got everyone back to our rendezvous point including that crafty fisherman "Sundown" Peck who had what in the end was the largest fish taken on the trip.

At the beginning of most long trips that will have some fishing, we have a pool in which each person puts up a buck for the biggest fish which is measured on a rope. Both the length and the girth of the fish are measured to get a truly representive measure. Knots are tied in the rope and each subsequent fish is measured against the knots. On the other end of the rope is kept the knots for the biggest fish from all trips.

Bill claimed that the fish was a brown because it was so drab, but I piped up that I was sure that it was a brook trout because of the white tips along its bottom fins that are characteristic of all brook trout. It was much bigger than any of the other fish taken in the lake.

Route: Section Corner Lake to Camp 2 at Trail Lake

While we were fishing, the a light rain had begun to come down so we all had our raincoats on when we headed out on the trail. At the north end of the lake the map shows the Section Corner Lake trail going around the end of the lake to climb the saddle beyond to Trapper Lake. When we got to that end of the lake we found that there was no evidence of a trail except the Palmer Lake trail heading north. Where the trail was supposed to be was a large wet meadow/marshy area that looked too difficult to make on foot.

We forgot that trails in the Wind Rivers are made for horses and not for foot travellers. What would be uncomfortable going for us would be a breeze on a horse. So we headed out on the Palmer Lake Trail to see if we could circumnavigate the meadow on drier ground.

Slowly they made their way into the woods and out of sight. It was pretty exciting for as as there was nothing between them and us, although we had a pretty formidible group with the 15 of us. Just before the end of the meadow, a side trail takes off to the east (right) and as we came to the crossing of Lake Creek, two moose were seen about 150 feet away in the meadow at the edge of the woods. Both had antlers but one was clearly bigger than the other.

Charlie On Trail By Trapper Lake

As we rounded the meadow a couple of wall tents and several small tents came into view. Several horses were tied down in the meadow. I went over to ask where the trail took off and a young cowboy from the Lozier Ranch came over and gave us directions.

He had packed a few tourists in for a "wilderness" experience. I'm sure that they were having steaks, when we were having freeze dried stroganoff. He did confirm that it probably was a brook trout and not a brown and that the smaller moose was a male and not a female with horns as Greg Phillips thought.

He got us straighted out and we soon were back on the right trail. The weather had changed to typical Cascade cloudy and drizzly conditions. You keep your raincoat on to avoid getting wet but, your exertions cause you to sweat and overheat. When you stop, evaporation makes you cold and uncomfortable.

The Section Corner Lake trail joins the Pine Creek Trail near the outlet of Trapper Lake. The lake and sky were gun metal gray as we made our way around Trapper Lake.

Andrew, Kyle, & Charlie
Trail Near Trapper Lake - Day 2

We met a fisherman who said that he was having fair luck. We passed a couple of llamas staked out near the trail at the end of the lake. As shown in the photo at the left the flowers along the trail here were quite spectacular even on such a gray and dismal day as this one had become.

We kidded Jason, who had had his hair bleached blonde on top so he was nicknamed "Marmot Boy", that the two llamas couldn't take their eyes off of him as he walked by.

We followed the trail as it climbed to a small saddle between Trapper and Trail Lake. Just as we started down the other side, it started raining in earnest again. Ducking under a tree we waited a few minutes for it to let up.

Marmot Boy
Trail Lake - Day 2

It didn't last long and we were soon off down the hill and turned off on a vague trail that soon petered out in meadows but it didn't make any difference as we could see the lakes ahead anyway. I had wanted to stay at the Trail lakes because they were supposed to have grayling in them.

We all wanted a chance at catching one of these beautiful fish but no one had a strike or saw a fish follow their lure. In fact no one even saw a fish jump. It was a little disappointing to say the least. We probably should have stayed at Trapper Lake or gone on to Heart Lake for the more mundane but catchable brook trout.

In the picture to the left of Jason, you can see the four garbage bags full of all the food that we were carrying. It was way too much to hang so we just piled it up hoping that a bear would not be bold enough to bother our large group.

There are two lakes side by side and we were camped on a narrow strip of land between the lakes. It was a nice campsite and we had a good fire pit against a rock. After supper we cooked Bill's trout over the fire.

Trail Lake at Sunset - Day 2

Just before dusk, the sun came out again and made us forget the gray clouds and rain that we had come through. Some of the boys were able to get a good swim in the southerly lake.

We had plenty of territory to cover yet and we were looking forward to it as we nestled down into our sleeping bags for the night.