Pinedale 2004 June

6/25/04 Left quite early and drove 277 miles to Sam and Beverly Sharps house in Pinedale, WY arriving around 3:00 p.m. Set up the 5th wheel at Fremont Lake NFS campground a really beautiful pristine lake at approximately 7700’ elevation. We visited with the Sharps, Willinghams, and Margaret McAlpine at their beautiful rustic log cabin house. I would guess that it was 2,400 sq ft very nice outdoor porches with exposure to two snow topped mountain ranges. They had extensive local art done very tastefully. The Sharps, Willinghams, Margaret, Linda, and I went out for a gourmet dinner at a rustic restaurant on the Half Moon Lake. I had elk steak and mushrooms for my main course which was very good.

6/26/04 We all left at 8:30 a.m. for a ranch estate auction. The ranch was located in a beautiful green setting and it was a beautiful day. I enjoyed listening to the auctioneer perform his trade. They had cheap ranch barbecued food so I had an early lunch. The Sharps, Margaret, Linda, and I then drove to the Upper Green River headwaters and lakes area. The rough dirt road along the Green River in NF was 35 miles one way. It was however worth the trip when we finally arrived. The river, lakes, snow capped mountains appeared to be a Swiss Alps picture book scene. Beverly who is very proud of her area, called it the Yosemite of Wyoming. Beverly, Margaret, and I disembarked with the two inflatable canoes into the lake and paddled a half mile into the pristine fast moving headwaters of the Green River. We floated about 3 miles down stream to where Sam and Linda where waiting for us with the trucks. The girls helped me with the clean up and putting away of the canoes. Drove back home on that same bone chattering road. That night Scarlet Willingham provided Carne Asada with fresh salsa and tomatillo avocado sauce by Beverly all cooked at the Sharps log cabin home patio. We had a great time having dinner while observing that wonderful view of the foreground green ranches and the background snow capped mountains.

6/27/04 Sam was feeling bad this day with the flu and a bad tooth ache. The rest of us went to the Wyoming Rendezvous Museum featuring the mountain men where we had a very educational afternoon. It rained virtually all day. Beverly drove us out 15 miles in the rain on a dirt muddy road along a fast flowing creek to the Fort William Bed and Breakfast restaurant. The ride was quite scary and adventurous as it was slippery and we had to go through deep 8” water puddles. I was sure glad that Beverly had a four wheel drive pickup. The food and ambiance was excellent. We all started by splitting a delicious artichoke with shrimp sauce appetizer. Linda had barbecued brisket, I had barbecued rib eye steak, Beverly and Margaret had catfish. The food was outstanding in Wyoming, but I need to scale back a bit on the quantity.

6/28/04 Felt horrible this morning after a very cold night at Fremont Lake, WY. It rained most of the night and everything was wet. I had to remove 3-1/2” of water out of the kayak on the trailer roof. Drove to Jackson WY and discovered that I had a flat trailer tire. Got it fixed at BIG-O Tire for $14. There was a screw in the tire. Continued on and ran into road work just before Yellowstone which held us up a ½ hour. We had to drive on single lane mud road for about 10 miles. Arrived at Fishing Bridge (175 long mile day) in Yellowstone NP about 4:00 p.m. and got the 5th wheel parked