Wolf Creek Trail, Where Sh*t Happens

Memorial Day weekend is another one of those holidays you wish could be in the summer. Though at least it's better than President's Day, as there a few more backpacking possibilities available that don't include snow. I was madly scanning the May and early June trip reports on WTA (I finally became an official member, pat on back) but everything I found had rain in the forecast. No bueno. 

Finally a trail I had never heard of caught my attention. "Wildflowers out in FORCE" was the latest report, and the Sun/Mon forecast predicted no rain. Woo hoo, Sawtooth Wilderness, here we come!

This would be my first time backpacking with Lisa, who for reasons I'll explain later decided to drive herself. When Julie and I texted to let her know we were in Winthrop and she replied, "me too," I suggested we convoy up together to the trailhead. Knowing that shit happens - especially when cell phone service is spotty, I thought it might be a good idea. But she had the same link to the directions I had from the WTA site and it was less than a half hour away, so what could go wrong? Well...

The Fireweed will be out of this world in a couple weeks

Turns out her phone gave her the option of opening the map with Google Maps or Apple. Google (what we were using) gets you to Wolf Creek TH easy peasy. Apple brings you somewhere else entirely. Thankfully we had just enough cell coverage here and there (NOT at the trailhead, or anywhere on this trail, BTW) that things eventually got sorted. But my advice is to stick with Google for this one. 

Julie and I are not fast. And when the trail is going up and up, we're even slower. Therefore Lisa had been warned we may only make it to the camp that was described at being at 7.5 miles in. We all really wanted to see the grand finale "Gardner Meadows" at the 10 mile mark; thus we agreed if we stopped early, we would have to make an extra long second day with an up and back at the break of dawn before packing up and heading out on Monday. Lisa being the fast one agreed to wait for us at said camp so we could assess before pushing on.

Guess what. The so-called 7.5 mile camp is non existant. At least we could not find it...or Lisa. When she couldn't find it either and it was starting to rain (of course the 6% chance found us because I stubbornly refused to bring any rain gear) she sent a Garmin to Garmin message saying she was moving on...which for whatever reason we never got. Shit happens. 

Thanks for the poncho, Julie :)

Nevertheless, we kept struggling up the now disappearing trail (the 2021 Cedar Creek fire really took a toll and from this point on it is quite difficult to follow) while increasingly wondering if this whole trip might have been a bad idea. Eventually a message actually came through from Lisa saying she was already at the meadow! Whew...now to just get there too. 

I knew from watching my AllTrails preview that this is where we'd get the most serious elevation gain. (No more elevation denial for me!) I also knew Julie had not watched it, and was thick in denial mode. You can just see the meadow ahead...it looks so close...but it's not. Welcome to the "I am so over this!" last mile blues!

It will be a bit before the meadows are in bloom

Back on the first night of Julie and I's 2022 Boundary Trail adventure she told me a couple miles from our planned campsite that she was ready to call it a day. (Funny that it's actually called "Goodenough Peak") My reply to her was "but you are not crying yet." I don't think she thought it was funny, but the truth is I wasn't exactly kidding. 

In the chapter "Bona Fide Empty" of my book (I do apologize for the shameless plug) I speak about how discovering our elusive reserve of strength is the most inspiring part of hiking. It's shocking how deep it goes, but the price to find it is often tears. So even though I hated seeing Julie wiping her eyes on this miserable last mile to Gardner Meadow, I knew she'd find that strength; and she'd be glad to know it was there.

Speaking of strength, Lisa saw a bear while she was all alone, and found she wasn't all that scared. We talked about it while we were sitting around camp happily eating our meals together. A beautiful, peaceful experience after the shit storm - isn't that how it always goes? 

Sammy and Basil had a cozy night too ;)

After we past the bear area in the morning on our way out, it was time for Lisa to kick it into gear. This was the good reason to have her own car, she is SO much faster (two hours to be exact) and she needed to get home earlier than we did. A stop in Winthrop for a late lunch, plus a flat tire added to our adventure - so Lisa was extra lucky to have left us in the dust!

Left in the dust - literally!

But we made it over the pass, crappy spare tire and all. When shit happens, on or off trail, remember to just push through and it'll be okay. Happy "find your elusive strength" trails!

Three strong women...and a couple of sloths ;)