It was an intensely hot July afternoon, the temperature topping 105 degrees, when we arrived at the Aldinger homestead situated just outside the town of Worland, Wyoming. Our hosts, Bobby and Sue, had relocated here from the York County area about seven years earlier and graciously welcomed their former Pennsylvania neighbors into their home.
After a brief barnyard introduction following breakfast the next morning, we saddled up our chosen horses and took them out for a short ride in the surrounding high desert. This helped to get us acquainted with our mounts and provided an opportunity to make any necessary adjustments to our borrowed saddles and tack. We rode out across the barren rolling hillsides, dry and dusty from the heat and lack of recent rainfall.
We passed a herd of free-grazing sheep, careful to avoid provoking an attack by the large llama intent on guarding her flock. Climbing to the top of a bald, sandstone knoll, we stopped to view the surrounding countryside before turning back for the corral, anxious to make our final preparations for the high country.
I packed my gear into my saddlebags, filled with anticipation for the long-awaited trip into the Cloud Peak Wilderness. I knew nothing of the grandeur awaiting us, only the area's topography plainly displayed as black-and-white lines on my GPS' tiny screen.
At dawn, our departure time had finally arrived. We loaded up two horses and two mules into the trailer and headed east out of Worland. Our destination within the Big Horn National Forest was about 50 miles away, close to the small town of Tensleep. We found this location convenient since the trailer had very small sleeping quarters.
George Zeigler, Marvin Spahr, and I had reserved a room at a bunkhouse in town, and our host, Bobby agreed to stay up on the mountain with the horses. I know it doesn't sound much like "the cowboy way," but on this occasion, we decided not to transport from home all the gear needed for a pack trip.
Lost Twin Lakes
Arriving at the trailhead, we unloaded the horses and checked the map to pick our intended route for the first day's ride. I completed the backcountry permit tag, a requirement for anyone entering the wilderness area, and we saddled up the horses and hit the trail.
We chose a destination we believed was achievable for our first trek into the mountains, given the high elevation and conditioning level of our horses and ourselves. The Lost Twin Lakes are located just above 10,000 feet in elevation; the trail up to them following Middle Creek is about six miles long.
