"I Knew Where I Was All the Time"
--Cascade Bill at Bridger Lake #2

After retracing our steps back along the Bridger Lakes trail to the end of the lake we turn east on our cross country scramble. Our first obstacle turns out to be a 8-10 foot high granite shelf at the end of the lake. Through the use of cracks and natural hand and foot holds, we are all over in fine shape - including all the F.O.M.'s as well.

Because we are going cross country, I put myself in the front to pick the route and to insure that we are all travelling together. It wouldn't do to be strung out all over the countryside with everyone taking different routes. I had also been this way before in 1988, although coming in the opposite direction.

Just beyond the first lake is a medium size pond and we make our way around its north side, climbing as we go. At this point, the terrain is open forest with no wide views and I lead the group up a natural bench that seems to be going in the direction we want to go.

Making our Way Around Bridger Lake #2

Unfortunately, the bench is heading more to the north than east and we soon climb over a ridge and into a basin with a couple of small lakes. After consulting the map, I realize that we have gone way off course and we reclimb to the ridge where we get good views but can not see either Bridger #1 or #2.

Its confusing and the boys start giving me a little ribbing about being lost. I tell them that I'm not lost, I just don't know exactly where we are. There is a high ridge to the east and I know that we have to make our way around it, so we descend bearing toward the nose of the ridge around which we hope to find Bridger #2.

When we get near the nose, we see a small narrow pond which agrees with the map so I know we are on course. The boys remain doubtful, however. As we work our way around the nose of the ridge, Guiterrez Peak and a lake come into view just ahead of us - Bridger #2. I tell the boys, I knew it all the time. They say it was just blind luck.

We take a break in good spirits as we know we are back on track. When we start out again, we have to descend a steep rock shoulder and then make our way over another one. As we go by the lake we can see many fish jumping, and the boys want to stop and fish for a while.

Cross Country Scramble to
Bridger Lake #3

After going around the second shoulder we cross over rocks parallel to the shoreline and go across a flat marshy area at the north end of the lake where there is a stream draining into the lake. We cross the stream and head up a draw between two rock outcropings.

I yell ahead to get the boys to drop their packs - we will have lunch and then try our luck in the lake. We wolf down our crackers and beef sausage and take off in all directions with our fishing gear.

I can hear yells up and down as the boys are getting strikes and catching fish. The lake has an ample population of small brook trout.

As we have a long way to go, we call everyone in after a half hour or so and we hoist our packs again heading up the draw to the next lake. There is no trouble direction finding here as the country is open and the route unmistakeable. The terrain is open and we just follow the stream as it drains from Bridger Lake #3 above.

The closer the outlet of Bridger #3 is approached the more the route narrows. Once over the lip at the outlet, the terrain flattens out and the lake becomes visible. On the south side of the lake are the sides of Guiterrez Mountain and a jumble of rocks at the edge of the lake.

We head to the left and come to a rock that steeply slopes down into the lake. We make our way across a narrow ledge with a little fancy footwork and clambor over another rock wall to find a wide boulder strewn meadow just west of the lake.

Bill & Andrew
Trout for the Fish Fry

There are a lot of fish jumping in the lake and the boys beg me to be allowed a break so they can fish some more. It's 2:30 in the afternoon and a long way from our planned destination. The fact that we went astray earlier and had a long lunch/fishing break have put us behind schedule.

I make a decision that we will stay here for the night and revise our future itinerary. Besides, we have been on the move for the better part of four days and have only taken two fishing breaks that have been productive, having struck out at Trail Lake and Bridger #1.

I think everyone was happy - it was early and the sun was shining. We set up the tents and got out our fishing gear. Everyone was to keep some fish for our dinner that night. We had planned to have one "fish fry" with rice and this was to be the night.

Typical Brook Trout

Not everyone went fishing; Jason, Jon, and Brian decided to climb to the top of peak 11486' just to the north of the lake. At the top they found a 5' high cairn and good views all around. We saw them coming back down looking like ants way above us.

We found out in a hurry that the fishing was great for 8 to 10 inch brook trout. It seemed as if there was a strike on every cast. Even Charlie caught fish - a lot of fish, and he had been skunked for about 10 years in a row. It was a real surprise to me because I had camped at this lake in 1988 and although we had fished it hard, we had not gotten a single strike let alone catch a fish.

You would just cast from a spot till you didn't catch any more and then move up the shore a ways and start casting in a new spot. For all the lures I had bought in the "fishing lure cold war", the best producer for me was a simple gold spinner.

Bridger Lake #3
"A strike on Every Cast"

There were too many fish in the lake and although we kept about 30 or so for our fish fry, we didn't take enough to reduce the population so that the average fish size would increase. It was interesting to see that the heads of some of the fish (as in the photo above) were very big with a lot of teeth.

The fish fry was a success. We carried a grill made of heavy gauge aluminum about 9 inches by 20 inches. Using two of our stoves we would line the fish up on the grill and fry 8 or 9 fish at a time. In addition to the trout we cooked a large pot of minute rice flavored with curry - too much curry in the estimation of most but not enough for me. Kyle had found some wild chives growing and we had a bunch of them to flavor the dish with. Every one ate fish until we couldn't give them away.

It was getting dark when we finally had the dishes washed and rinsed. At least we didn't have to do them using our flashlights. We couldn't have a campfire because we were above timberline so se just gathered around on the rocks and exchanged tales about this trip and others.

Taking Shelter From an Afternoon Thunderstorm

The weather had been good most of the day with only one short thunderstorm late in the afternoon that had given us a few short showers and a few gusts of wind puncutated by a couple of rumbles of thunder.

As we sat around our psuedo campfire, we could see flashes of lightning to the east - first rather distant then getting increasingly closer. The boys started rating the strikes on a scale of 1 to 10. It was very entertaining and we sat there watching nature's spectacular.

We watched as the storm drew closer until without warning, the dead calm was replaced with tremendous gusts of wind. We all ran for our tents only to be met with a pelting downpour as the clouds unleashed. Lightning was hitting the peaks around us and the thunder echoed from wall to wall.

I was tenting with Greg and we struggled to get our rainfly zipped. I had pitched the tent with the entrance facing the oncoming storm so we had to use all or strength to get the fly closed, getting soaked in the interim. Some of the stakes for our fly came loose and we could hear it flapping away. I reached out and made a temporary connection to the tent pole. We could also hear cries from other tents as their occupants endured the storm.

For all its fury, like most of the Wind River thunder storms, this one didn't last long and we were able to make it through without getting our gear wet and fall off to sleep thinking about the day's events.