Wind RIvers!!!

On July 16th I went with Matt Barney and his scout group to the Wind Rivers in Wyoming. We went with Mark and his brother-in-law Chris. The boys that went were Andrew, and the brothers, Josh and Jared. We packed in about 8 miles to one of the most beautiful lakes I've ever seen. I was excited to go backpacking finally! I had used our anniversary, christmas, and my birthday gifts to get set up. I'm glad I liked it! I thought I was going to die going in! Being out of shape sure didn't help anything, but I found out the next day that I hadn't adjusted my straps correctly. I had straps tightened that were actually pulling the pack away from my hips. Talk about a killer! The pack out was much more enjoyable!
This is the stream that we camped by the last night. It was about as perfect as you could imagine! It was decent sized and clear as can be. And chuck full of brookies! None of them had much size to them, but they were hungry buggers! We were even catching them on big 'ol cherynobl ants!
It really was an amazing place to fish. The kind of stream that you dream about...
It's a little blurry, but check out the colors! These things were so bright! We only fished that night for about 2 hours, and we caught over 100 fish each easily...
This is a picture during the pack out. Mark is on the left, Matt in the middle, and yours truly on the right. This was just after making the climb up the switchbacks. We only had a little bit more to go, and it felt great. It was kind of cool when we got to where we could see the trucks. It was such a feeling of accomplishment. It was something that I had been wanting to do, but had never given it the effort required. It was an amazing feeling to know that you had accomplished somthing so rewarding. It's something that only you can do for yourself. Pretty amazing trip!
This is where we set up camp the first couple of nights. Talk about a kitchen with a view! 
This is a picture of Josh. I think that this was his first fish! He didn't even take his pole because he said that fishing was boring. It was cool to see how excited he got after he actually caught something! I think he used my pole as much as I did, but it was awesome to see someone new to the sport loving it!
This is Jared... What a fun guy! I think that this is his first fish too. Not 100% sure on that one though. I do have a good picture of him, but that's not as fun as this one! Andrew caught some fish too, but I don't have any pictures of him. Pretty good group of fisherman! Glad I could go and share that experience with them!
If you look just to the right of the dead tree, in the middle of the photo, you can kind of see a face with ears sticking up. Matt and I got seperated from the group, and to our suprise, we snuck up on a bear! This guy was getting a drink and we got about 30 yards away before we saw each other. He ran off into the trees and I took this photo. It was AWESOME! I thought I would be a lot more scared, but it made me realize that it's just another critter in the mountains that is scared of me.. Plus having bear spray probably helped me feel more comfortable!

This is Matt fishing on one of the lakes.. We didn't catch anything big, but lots of pretty brooks. Plus the scenery was amazing! God is quite the artist! He didn't just make this earth to live on, He made it to live IN and enjoy! It is such a testimony builder to me to just be in the outdoors.

This is a view from the lake by our camp. The sheer granite cliffs were unlike anything I have ever seen. They just erupted from the ground so steep and towering. Awe taking to look at. It was a great trip with great guys. I have never seen a group of scouts get along so well. Never a fight or a harsh word spoken. And the leaders were great! Matt is a great friend and I had a blast with him. Mark is one of those leaders every boy wants. That guy is super man when it comes to hiking! I'm grateful that I was invited to go on this trip and be a part of it!