High Adventure Pack Trip

In the summer of 1983, our Varsity Scout team planned a high adventure pack trip. The trip was 3 or 4 days (I do not remember for sure). We would start in Dry Creek Canyon (Osmond, Wyoming) and ride east over the mountain into the Greys River valley. Then ride north for a few days and back west over the mountain to the Strawberry Creek Canyon. Our plan was to stop by Dry Creek Lake and Swift Creek Lake. 

Cade and I both went on the trip. Eric Lainhart, Barry Larson, and Cordell Burton from our Teacher's Quorum came with us. Our leaders were Deland Lainhart (1st Counselor in the Bishopric) and Gordon White (Teacher's Quorum advisor). Everyone brought their own horse to ride. I rode Al's Tiger. Cade rode Bill. We took Jenny with us as a pack horse. Gordon White also brought two pack horses. 

mounting up
(l to r) me, Cade, Deland

ready to ride
(l to r) Cordell, me, Cade, Deland, Barry

leaving the horse trailer
(l to r) Barry and ?

After unloading the truck, we loaded the packs on the horses. As we loaded the pack horses, we did not tie the Dutch Oven into a pack. We threaded a bungee cord through the lid handle and hooked it to the holes on both sides of the oven where the bail handle was attached. Our pancake-turner spatula was inside the dutch oven. We sat the dutch oven between the forks of the pack saddle. We felt like the combination of the saddle forks and the panniers would keep the dutch oven in place.  

We left the trailers and rode over the mountain. On the other side, the trail went across the slope at an angle because it was a bit steep. As we rode around the point, the pack horse carrying the dutch oven stumbled over a rock. The horse did not fall, but the stumbling movement knocked the dutch oven off the horse. The oven when bounding down the hill bounced off rocks and disappeared into the tree line. After it disappeared, we could hear it continue descending the hillside. 

Because the slope was too steep, we could not chase after the bouncing dutch oven. We felt for sure that the Dutch Oven was lost. We were less than an hour into our trip and had just lost one of our major sources for preparing food for the next three days. 

riding up the mountain on the first day
(front to back) Deland, Eric, Cordell

the scenery in Dry Creek Canyon during the trip

The trail made a few switchbacks down the mountain and into the trees. About 30 minutes later, the trail came around a bend and the Dutch Oven was laying right in the middle of the trail. The bungee cord was still in place so we had both the oven and the lid. Unfortunately, the rim on the lid was chipped from hitting a rock and the pancake-turner spatula was no longer inside the oven. 

To reduce the load for our pack horses we decided to bring one large tarp to hang between trees for shelter from rain or the heavy dew instead of packing multiple tents. 

our tarp tent one morning before we broke camp
several of us had spread our sleeping bags and blankets out
on top to air out while we ate breakfast

As we made camp the first night, we discussed what we could do without a pancake-turner spatula. We planned to eat pancakes each morning on the trip. We also had hamburgers to cook and hoped to catch a few rainbow trout from the lakes to eat for dinner. We had a one-gallon can of Tang powder mix to add to our drinking water at breakfast as "orange juice." The can had a metal top that we removed with a can opener. 

not our actual Tang can
but one just like it

After removing the metal top from the Tang can, we realized we had the solution to our spatula problem. We used a pocket knife to cut two lines in the metal top. Then we could insert a butter knife through the two slots to use as a handle. We used the makeshift spatula for the rest of the trip. 

our homemade spatula sitting in the dishwasher

We were supposed to come out in Strawberry canyon on the last day of the trip. However, Deland and Gordon led us up the wrong canyon on the east side. Thus, we ended up coming out at the top of Willow Creek. 

Coming out in Willing Creek presented two issues. The first issue is that the west side of the mountain at the top of Willow Creek is very steep for about 200 yards on a rocky face. Cade and I were the only ones willing to ride our horses down the steep trail. So, he and I rode our horses down while leading two pack horses. Everyone else (including the leaders) walked down the hillside leaving their horses at the top. Then, Cade and I walked back to the top and rode two more horses down. We repeated this until we had all the horses down. The first issue was resolved. 

The second issue is that Dad and the horse trailers to pick us up were in Strawberry canyon and we were in Willow Creek canyon. We had to ride to someone's house in Turnerville (about 1 hour) so that we could call another leader to drive to Strawberry Creek canyon to tell Dad to move the trailers to come to pick us up (two hours later). (Remember we did not have cell phones back then.) 

the remuda as we unpack for the night

getting ready to ride out

one of the lakes (I do not remember which)

waterfall we saw