Meadow at our wild campground by Prairie Creek

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Prairie Creek Trail

  • Distance 8 km
  • Time 2 h 11 min
  • Speed 4.0 km/h
  • Min altitude 2198 m
  • Peak 2550 m
  • Climb 509 m
  • Descent 239 m
July 18, 2018 9:37 am
JS2018
Pizza was really good, Sawtooth Special, and great place to hang out and people watch. The first game of the NBA finals was on between the Golden State and Cleveland ?? GS lagged for most of the game by a few points but in the last second scored a 3 pointer from a way out to level the score. Good American entertainment.

Creek crossing at the start

Lots of rain overnight with snow on the Galena Pass that we drove over so were not sure about the hiking opportunities. However decided to go for it and took the RV on its first outing up a dirt track to the trailhead of Prairie Creek which we chose to hike as we only had to cross the creek at the start of the hike – over several precarious logs.

This hike was delightful we wandered through woodland following the creek, coming across patches of snow until at about 8500 ft (a couple of hundred feet short of a frozen lake)the snowpack became more permanent and we decided we had had enough of ‘postholing’ so after our ham and cheese sarnie turned around. Came across several other groups on the trail hiking up to the lake on our return visit in trainers without gaiters, so not sure how far  they would get.

Start of snow cover

Delightful hike back down and after trundling into town to have a very informative discussion with the ranger on duty about hiking options and to get some reception we headed back to the trail to find a place to park up for the night. Pulled out the camp chairs for a G+T on the river banks in the evening sun. Delightful. Could get used to this RVing lark!

By the way good news on a number of fronts today

  • long running saga with fixing the ABS sensor on our U.K. car looks like we have a way forward ( fingers crossed)
  • damage to U.K. rental car we thought we might be liable for, was found  to be existing at the start of the rental ( so glad the agent took photos of the car when we rented it)
  • my new golf clubs have been despatched
  • the Hostel in Teton village has agreed to cancel our booking for a minimal admin charge – pays for aforementioned golf clubs

All in all a great day. Sitting now looking out on the mountains, peaks covered by snow, across a lovely meadow, listening to James Grace on the guitar thinking I am happy to be doing this camping for softies!