I can't seem to get Fairyland out of my mind. I dream about it every night. Jeff, if you fly up to Bozeman to drive back with me, pack your backpack and come a week early to adjust to the altitude. If not this summer, then next summer. Africa can wait... I must reach Fairyland.
If you're wondering where I get my adventurous nature read the following email I just received from my father (apparently he was so distraught at my not making it to Fairyland that he has put together an alternate route that calls for fording a major river -the Yellowstone River- and bushwacking a total of 20 miles) If I didn't know how much he loves me, I would think he was trying to kill me! Our original Fairyland route (the one we didn't follow) called for 26 miles round trip, only 10 of which were off-trail. Keep in mind every off-trail mile around here is equal to 3 or 4 trail miles:
Hi Honey,
Attached please find an image of the Tower Falls to Fairyland area. I don't know how you can print it but there it is, fresh from GoogleEarth. I suggest a new route to Fairyland via the Deep Creek/Burnt Creek drainages area (see waypoints on image). To achieve this you will need to ford the Yellowstone River, most likely in an area where the river broadens and shallows. I suggest an area about a mile or so upstream of Tower Creek area, probably near that big Island where the geese hung out and I used to fish. Maybe you remember it. I notice that there is an easy walk to this area of less than a mile if you park near the closest point overlooking the river about a mile or two south of the Tower Falls store parking lot; It is a huge open terrace looking area that ramps down to the river broad. The objective is to reach the mouth of Deep Creek and proceed upstream to the mouth of Burnt Creek, again proceeding up the stream bed (dry?) to a saddle overlooking Fairyland. It looks much shorter and easier and fording the river will probably seem pleasant given the temperatures I keep hearing about from the Yellowstone area. Take some rope and you can ferry your gear (in a garbage bag) and yourself across without swimming if you throw the middle of it across the river with a snag to hook in a sweeper deadfall tree on the far bank. Maybe you can find a place to wade across if the water is real low. Check it out yourself on GoogleEarth.
I looked at the Yellowstone Volcanics monograph and it was interesting. The river does cut some younger volcanics so you can at least date the age of the Canyon cutting by that and then find the oldest alluvium in it to place it in a time span.
Attached please find an image of the Tower Falls to Fairyland area. I don't know how you can print it but there it is, fresh from GoogleEarth. I suggest a new route to Fairyland via the Deep Creek/Burnt Creek drainages area (see waypoints on image). To achieve this you will need to ford the Yellowstone River, most likely in an area where the river broadens and shallows. I suggest an area about a mile or so upstream of Tower Creek area, probably near that big Island where the geese hung out and I used to fish. Maybe you remember it. I notice that there is an easy walk to this area of less than a mile if you park near the closest point overlooking the river about a mile or two south of the Tower Falls store parking lot; It is a huge open terrace looking area that ramps down to the river broad. The objective is to reach the mouth of Deep Creek and proceed upstream to the mouth of Burnt Creek, again proceeding up the stream bed (dry?) to a saddle overlooking Fairyland. It looks much shorter and easier and fording the river will probably seem pleasant given the temperatures I keep hearing about from the Yellowstone area. Take some rope and you can ferry your gear (in a garbage bag) and yourself across without swimming if you throw the middle of it across the river with a snag to hook in a sweeper deadfall tree on the far bank. Maybe you can find a place to wade across if the water is real low. Check it out yourself on GoogleEarth.
I looked at the Yellowstone Volcanics monograph and it was interesting. The river does cut some younger volcanics so you can at least date the age of the Canyon cutting by that and then find the oldest alluvium in it to place it in a time span.
1 comment:
Awww, such hyperbole! I checked the distance on GoogleEarth and it's only 16 miles. I think there are also some slick refinements of the route that can be made that will reduce the scrambling/bushwacking factor quite a bit. You would still have to ford the Yellowstone but there are a number of possibilities for that as well as possible route refinements on the west side of the Yellowstone. Maybe Junior Gumotex could lend a hand on the river??? See you soon.
Post a Comment