Wind River Range Day1, Day2 no.1

2 hours of drive from Grand Teton National Park, we arrived at Trails End Campground. The name of the campground is Trails End, which is located at the trail's end. We stayed overnight here so that we could start backpacking early in the morning next day.

On the way from Teton, the weather was not very good, actually there was a sign of big storm. Luckily we were in the car. The rain again came when we arrived at the campground, so we stayed in the car for a while, then blue sky came. So we went outside and ate dinner. Dinner was sushi pack from Smith's (this is similar to Safeway in the Bay Area, Star Market in Boston). Sushi from American grocery store in Wyoming was mediocre, but better than nothing. 

Campsite

Another fun with this campsite was campfire! I LOVE campfire by foraging, but not by purchasing woods at store. During backpacking in Teton, campfires are strictly prohibited, so it was so much fun!

This campsite has a parking lot for horse trailers. Multiple horse trailers were there and more than 10 horses were resting. They are very cute! 

After dinner while we were enjoying fire, we saw two backpackers going up the hill on the trail with headlamps. Mr.N said that they were probably CDT hikers. They probably resupplied food in nearby town Pinedale, did a hitch hike to the trailhead from likely a camper at the campground, then started hiking at 9 p.m. How hardcore the CDT hikers are. 

For those of you who have never heard of: CDT stands for Continental Divide Trail. 3100 miles total, meaning 4989 km. It connects Mexico-US border and Canada-US border through New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho, and Montana. One of the long distance trails in the United States in addition to Pacific Crest Trail and Appalachian Trail.

Next morning we drove 1 minute to the trailhead. I was surprised by seeing so.many.cars in the parking lot. That was as popular as...or maybe more popular than Grand Teton National Park. 

At the trailhead there was a guy also starting. He asked us where we were heading, we said Titcomb basin. He also, but because he had an ice axe, Mr.N asked if the guy was attempt to climb a peak. He said this time was just scouting. Then he started hiking and we did too. However, literally 3 second later, he disappeared and we never saw him. He was super duper fast. 

Within 1 hour we met a couple of backpackers group heading out. They told us we missed a storm a day before. The trail was really muddy and it seemed that the storm was big. 

Then we saw a couple who were walking with llamas. Each person had a l;ama. In the middle of the trail one llama sat down. She was protesting. She was like, "I am tired! I don't wanna walk. I WILL rest!" The lady's llama was protesting.

So the guy gave his llama water and took out food for his llama. The lady said her llama usually got excited if the llama saw food. However this time, her llama put even her neck on the ground! (the lama was sitting but the neck was still standing). Now body and neck were both on the ground. It was sooooo cute and soooo funny. Because we had our long distance to go that day, we left there. Hope they found a way to encourage the lama to walk again. 

All people on the trail were backpackers, but one group was hiking towards Titcomb basin. They were old guys (70's I guess). I was impressed how hardcore they were. 

To be continued...