Cache Creek

7/13/24

Oliver- 

Like many backpacking trips, we got a late start on this one, we had a couple of errands to run and groceries to get and the trailhead was as far from Old Faithful as you can get in the park. So, we found ourselves hiking through the Lamar Valley, without a spec of shade, in the heat of the midafternoon, on an unusually hot day for the park. Not long after we started hiking, we were swarmed by biting flies which persuaded us to keep moving no matter what. Thankfully though this trip ended better than it began and after we got to the campsite, we found plenty of shade and the flies let up.

The campsite was a large flat area next to Cache Creek sprinkled with enough trees to provide full shade with little undergrowth. On the opposite side of the creek, the bank rose 50 or so feet straight up so the campsite felt tucked away. Despite our late start we got there with time in the afternoon to putz around and decided to explore down the creek where, according to our maps, it met the Lamar River. I had heard good things about fish in Cache Creek, especially during the summer, and brought my rod. Despite being unsuccessful at catching fish it was a nice walk and soon enough we found the Lamar which was not nearly as big as it was when we drove over it earlier in the day. We quickly found a nice area where the river was split in two and on the opposite side it pooled along a bluff, it was a perfect swimming spot. The water was cool, but it still felt nice to get in and wash off the sweat and grime of the trail. We swam for a while and then laid out on the rocks which were still hot from the heat of mid-day until Opal noticed some clouds that looked like rain. I was offering some optimism when they shut me up with a loud clap of thunder. This set us off packing up and trekking back to where we had left our packs because while we were already wet, we did not want our dinner and beds and everything else to be wet too. Now this is going to sound ridiculous at the moment but right as we were setting off I saw a fishing hole that looked optimistic, I told Opal “One cast” and on that cast, I caught the largest trout of the summer so far. Despite being thrilled about this it left us in a hard place because if we were going to eat it I had to clean it quickly, the thunder was getting louder, the wind was picking up and we had seen a flash of lightning. With little time to think about it, I chose to fillet it which I got done in a few minutes and we were set off once again at an even quicker pace. Now normally bear tracks don’t make me too concerned but the ones we ran in too did for two reasons. First, I was carrying two fresh trout fillets which probably smelled mighty good to any nearby bears. Secondly, the tracks we on top of the tracks we had made when we came out and going in the same direction we were. If we had had more time I would have stopped and given it more time to move on but pressed by the rain we took to hootin’ and keeping the bear spray, that we thankfully had, in hand. If you were hoping that we had to fight for our fish, I am sorry to say that you are going to be disappointed. It may have been the noise we were making, or it may have been long gone by the time we were getting back but either way, our attention was quickly turning back to the storm which hadn’t gotten any less intimidating in the meantime. Sure enough, it began to rain and Opal threw up the tent as I gathered everything I could and shoved it under the rainfly. While we waited for the rain to pass we read and soon enough it did and it was time for dinner. Dinner was another whole thing and because it is already looking like this post is going to be long, I will let Opal tell you about it in another post. There is a post about it up on Instagram now though.

We wanted to stay in the valley until dusk the next day, so we had a lot of time to kill. I came up with the idea that instead of taking the trail back we could hike along the Lamar River which, after a couple of miles, would take us to another trail we could take back to the car. The river flows through a significant canyon which is still fresh from the floods that happened in 2022, many boulders feel out of place and the bluff faces are very fresh-looking. Luckily the river is not at its peak at this time of the year and at any time one side has a significant gravel bar. The tricky part of navigating it though is that whatever side does not have a gravel bar is a sheer vertical canyon face that is impossible to navigate. Also, these sides change at every bend. When the gravel bar runs out you can either cross the river or find a way up the canyon rim and traverse it until the terrain allows you to descend back in again. And that is what did most of the day besides two stops. The first was at the fishing hole of my dreams where I caught 20ish trout ranging from small to the new largest trout of the summer. Opal fished a little too and pulled out a really nice rainbow in only a few casts, her new largest trout too. The second stop was for lunch, I caught a nice rainbow which I filleted and cooked with butter and some dried morels we found earlier in the summer while opal swam. Besides those two stops the hike was not particularly eventful but extraordinarily enjoyable. I have often wondered how the first explorers would have felt coming through the park and I got a taste of that navigating through the canyon, looking for shallow waters to cross or animal trails to give us clues on where we might be able to get up to the rim.

That evening we drove out of the park to get dinner in Cooke City and while we were unsuccessful at spotting wolves we did see some mountain goats, and a grizzly and caught a beautiful sunset from the pass over Mt. Washburn. For me, the trip was the clear highlight of the summer so far.