It was the first Thursday in September and we had a visitor!! Emily Denham was here to explore the mountains for a few days! Jordan and I had just traveled back to Ontario for a funeral and ended up being on the same flight out of Toronto as her, so we got some extra time together! We had a jam-packed schedule planned for the few days that she was out here (backpacking, the Beartooth Pass, Yellowstone National Park, the Rims...), so we hit the ground running early Friday morning. We were headed to Red Lodge for a backpacking trip to Black Canyon Lake for the night, starting our trek at Lake Fork Trailhead. We had read online that there wasn’t a clearly marked trail to the lake, but that over time one had been made that should be quite noticeable.
Starting from the trailhead, it rained on and off as we hiked (hence the pack covers) and about 6 miles in it was time to veer off the marked trail and make our way up towards the lake. A few minutes into hiking off-trail we ran into a momma moose with her baby relaxing in a marshy area. Not wanting to disturb them, we turned around and started heading in another direction.
That’s when the bushwhacking began. And continued for a very.long.time. Jordan led the way as we headed in the general upwards direction, using his hatchet to help clear the way (which he doesn't normally bring, so luckily he thought to throw it in his pack last minute). Emily and I were growing a little anxious with each minute that went by as it was starting to get dark, and if anything were to come upon us – like another moose or a bear – we wouldn’t have much warning or leeway since we were in a pretty thick area of forest.
After what felt like forever, we made it out of the thickness and came upon the boulder pile that we had read about in online reviews. Thankfully once we reached the boulders the trail was fairly straightforward the rest of the way because previous hikers had left inukshuks to help guide the way. Finally, after about 8 miles, we saw Black Canyon Lake. And it was stunning. Even with the fog and weather system that was rolling in. Not a soul around, turquoise colored water, and jagged mountain peaks.
We looked around for a place to set up camp for the night and settled on one (out of the two options). The rain had subsided for a bit so we took advantage and set up our tent (spot the yellow dot in the picture below), collected some firewood, and Jordan started a fire to get dinner ready while Emily and I went to refill our water bottles from the lake (and take some pictures of course – I learned after this trip that Jordan was very annoyed with us girls because he felt as though he was left to do most of the work…which is probably true but what can I say, I was trying to be a good hostess 😊).
Jordan made us a delicious dinner of venison steak stew with all the works – potatoes, onions, celery, and carrots – which we ended up having to enjoy inside the tent since it started raining again. For dessert we shared some Caramilk bars, and then Jordan and I went to find a place to hang the food. Usually Jordan does this task either alone when it's still light out, or with someone else we're backpacking with, but unfortunately it had gotten dark and we weren't going to make our guest wander off into the dark in search of the perfect tree. Sooo, dragging my feet (okay...and whining) I followed Jordan into the forest while he located our hanging spot for the night. Once our dry sack was safely in place, I practically ran back to the tent (...upon further reflection I guess I can kind of see why Jordan was complaining about having to do everything...). We went to bed shortly after, waking up several times during the night because us girls were cold, and after a night of tossing and turning, we woke up to even more rain. We ate breakfast in the tent (classic oatmeal since the rain prevented us from having a fire to make our planned meal of scrambled eggs and bacon), packed up when the rain let up, explored the lake a little, and took (a lot) more pictures before heading out.
We saw a lot of bear sign on our hike down (never a reassuring sight), and Emily was definitely a trooper for sticking it out with us. Especially since our original plan was a 3.5-mile total backpacking trip… it's safe to say that she got a real glimpse into a true Vandjellyfish adventure!! Hoping we didn't scare her off and that she'll be back for more adventuring...
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