Every year around this time I try to do an epic trip of some kind to honor my good friend JP. His daughter Mariel contacted me last winter and asked me to put together a trip this summer with some of his friends.
Prior to John’s passing, we had been talking about making the trek back to Cold Meadows for a week of peak bagging and fishing. It was time to make that happen with Mariel.
Our crew had been fretting about the smoke and fires back here in the Frank for several weeks. When we landed in Cold Meadows, it couldn’t be more beautiful. Someone up there was looking out for us.
Cold Meadows in the early fall…… there is no better place on the entire planet.
Joining Mariel and I on this trip were Brian and Jenny. After debarking the plane, we hung airport bags and prepped for our 9 mile trek deep into the wilderness. The Cold Meadows USFS Guard Station makes for a great staging area.
The trail up to Coyote Springs is fairly mellow but with 6 days of supplies, it was a good long grind.
I had been tracking the Farrow Fire for the last month. According to available on line resources, the fire had been smoldering in an old burn since August 5th. Despite feeing confident that it was not threat, it was still good to get eyes on it. Camping within about 3 miles of a forest fires is not for everyone. However, fire and smoke is part of the eco system in the Frank. If you can’t handle that, you shouldn’t be here!
Our crew was an experienced and strong lot. We slowly worked our way up the mountain.
Brian was asking the girls if his butt made this butt look big?
At Coyote Springs we found the phone booth wrapped. I guess we won’t be making any calls to home. The forest service wraps historical structures within the Frank Church Wilderness and it was a stark reminder that there was a fire just two ridges over. Check out my past trip report coyote-springs-expedition-episode-1-frank-church-wilderness-idaho for a photo of the un-wrapped booth and also a link to the history. That report was from our last trip here when the seeds of this expedition were planted.
At Coyote Springs, we set up our first base camp and made preparations for a week of fun!
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