First Jedediah Smith Trail 1822 — 1824

Day 24: September 8th, 2009 Lander — Rock Springs

Map Lander to Rock Springs

Eventually I am able to sleep without my ear plugs quietly. The only thing to do was to disconnect the refrigerator. Nevertheless I am already awake around seven in the morning and get up a quarter of an hour later. Then I quickly jump under the shower and after this I pack all my stuff together. I check out and learn that my room with the number 110 is the one, they recently renovated! That’s why everything was looking so nice!

Now I leave for breakfast. This will be again at The Oxbow and would be in walking distance. But to save time I drive over there. I order a Rise & Shine, which looks almost too low priced for me. When it arrives I understand why: There are only two strips of bacon and one toast. Also the amount of hashbrowns is not really much. Almost hungry I get up and pay. Into the bargain I additionally get slight headaches.

First I look for a gas station. I miss the Maverick. But at the other end of town is a Sinclair. They even have a lot of detergent in the water. This is almost something of a rarity. Then I hit the road and leave Lander.

Highway 131/Sinks Canyon Rd, WY

FR300/Louis Lake Rd, WY

First I drive in direction of Sink Canyon and Popo Agie Falls. But this time I pass it and drive up the steep hill.

FR300/Louis Lake Rd, WY

Because it is still a bit chilly with around 60 degrees, the truck temperature stays somewhere in a reasonable range. But then I arrive at a road construction zone, where I am forced to stop. But also here the temperature stays in range. The worker who holds the stop sign tells me that the pilot car is coming soon. It is already on its way. I ask him how long this construction zone is. Well, it is around 7.4 miles. I explain to him that I will not drive it to the end but plan to turn onto forest road FR352 before. He describes this exit as a small rest area. And when I return I should please wait until the pilot car shows up before turning onto the highway. Why does he assume that I want to return…

FR352/Wolf Trail, WY

Then the pilot car arrives and I drive through the construction zone up to the described exit. Hopefully the pilot car driver was informed about my exit here, so they won’t miss me at the end of this construction zone!

FR352/Wolf Trail, WY

FR352/Wolf Trail, Sawmill Creek, WY

FR352/Wolf Trail, WY

Then I start my drive on FR352, also called Wolf Trail. The beginning is really steep and a bit sandy down the hill. Then the road takes me through an aspen forest. Finally I arrive at Sawmill Creek.

FR352/Indian Trail, Sawmill Creek, WY

FR352/Indian Trail, WY

88 S10 Blazer Setup Inside, FR352/Indian Trail, WY

There, the branch to Indian Trail starts, which is still FR352. You can see a bunch of rocks in the water. But all in all it does not look too deep. However, the exit on the other side looks pretty steep. But also this should be doable. Quickly I take some pictures before I enter the creek. Indeed, everything is not too deep. The water probably only reaches the undercarriage. But I am not able to see it. All in all, driving in 4LO takes me easily over the rocks. Without any issues I arrive together with my truck on the other side and I climb the extremely steep mountain up. Sometimes it is almost 20 degrees of incline!

No wonder that my coolant and everything else runs hot again. Therefore I must turn on the heating. This is really annoying. Lucky me, it is only around 70 degrees outside. Otherwise things would be way worse. After a steep downhill ride I reach Canyon Creek. Just before the river crossing is a nice spot for my lunch break.

FR352/Indian Trail, WY

FR352/Indian Trail, Canyon Creek, WY

88 S10 Blazer, FR352/Indian Trail, WY

FR352/Indian Trail, Canyon Creek, WY

FR352/Indian Trail, WY

Then I cross the little creek. After this the road takes me through a narrow forest. The trees carry the traces left from several mirrors hitting the tree trunk. But I am able to get through without hitting anything.

FR352/Indian Trail, WY

After the forest, the trail takes me along an open slope with nice views of the landscape. Then the trail runs down pretty steep and rocky. Even in 4LO and first gear, I sometimes have a hard time! One time I briefly hit the ground. But nothing happened, And one time I am stopped by a rock pretty abruptly. Seems like this one was too high to drive over. Now it is good to know, that I have enough skid plates in front to be protected.

FR352/Indian Trail, WY

FR352/Indian Trail, Little Popo Agie River, WY

FR352/Indian Trail, Pass Creek, WY

FR352/Indian Trail, WY

After I arrive in the valley, the trail runs two times through the creeks, first through the Little Popo Agie River and then through the smaller Pass Creek. But both of them are easily manageable. Luckily, they are not too deep and I am also able to drive easily over the rocks. On the other side it goes again extremely steep up and despite driving in 4LO and first gear everything runs hot again. But it seems to somehow stabilize around 240 degrees without being forced to turn the heating on. That’s at least something.

FR326/Limestone Mountain Rd, WY

Finally I arrive at a real trailer corral. But no one is to be seen there. There, FR326 starts, also called Limestone Mountain Road. This one is at the beginning a bit narrow but well maintained. Due to the incline and high temperatures I still continue driving in 4LO in the hope that the temperature will be lowered. But that is not really working out. Not before there is a very long downhill ride, the needle slowly starts to move down. This is where I take out 4LO and continue driving in second gear and locked transmission.

FR326/Limestone Mountain Rd, WY

Highway 28/Dickinson Ave, WY

The grades up and down are really moderate around here and finally I arrive at Highway 28.

Highway 28, WY

Highway 28, Continental Divide, South Pass, WY

On this one I continue to South Pass. At the rest area I plan to have a brief stopover. But due to renovations they are closed. Therefore I must drive on. Finally I reach the Continental Divide. However, I cannot see a historical marker for South Pass. But this one shows up a couple of miles later, which I completely miss like on my first trip in this area. Therefore I turn around and drive back.

Highway 28, South Pass, WY

Highway 28, Historical Marker South Pass, WY

88 S10 Blazer, Highway 28, South Pass, WY

Highway 28, WY

Highway 28, South Pass, WY

Highway 28, Historical Marker South Pass, WY

Then I take my pictures and do my video taping of the Wind River Range, where Jedediah passed it back then on its southern slopes.

Highway 191, WY

Then I continue on Highway 28. There are no good backroads which I could follow. Therefore I take the highway up to Farson. There I leave Jedediah’s trail to turn onto Highway 191 and to reach my Motel 6 in Rock Springs.

Just before 6pm I am able to check in — and it also looks again like they are already completely booked. Lucky me, I have made a reservation yesterday. The reception Lady is from Russia and her name is Xeniya. She doesn’t live too much north of Almaty in Russia.

I say good–bye and put my stuff into the room, which is on second floor. Parking is pretty bad here in the rear of this motel. But I am lucky and find a free spot directly at the stairs up. I pack my stuff together and drag it up to the second floor. When I open the door I am totally surprised. The floor is parquet and the quilt has pretty loud and trendy colors. Beside this, the furniture is as usual. On the Internet they wrote that they have recently renovated. But that the carpet had to made room for the parquet is really sad. Anyways, this way it is probably way easier to clean.

I get my laptop out and check first for WiFi connections. The Motel 6 charges extra for WiFi. But it seems that I am able to reach the Comfort Inn from across the street. I will not download really much. Therefore my couple of bytes will probably not count too much.

Then I write my diary. Around seven in the evening I have finished this task and immediately start to check one video tape. All in all, there is an Applebee’s around here, which is most likely open until ten in the evening. And if I show up past eight they might give me a reasonable table — and indeed they give me a booth. I order again my Teriyaki Chicken. The Pepsi refill service also works pretty well. Therefore I leave a very nice tip. Back in my motel I check again my video taping. Around midnight I eventually go to bed.

The next day is in preparation…

Sights
Popo Agie Falls

General
Breakfast: The Oxbow, Lander
Dinner: Applebee’s, Rock Springs
Motel: Motel 6, Rock Springs
Distance: 133 miles

Go back to day 23

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