Camping in Wyoming
By: Mala
After an uneventful week last week, Dad packed up the car while Mom was teaching SUP yoga on Sunday morning. Shortly after she got home, we hit the road. The drive was long, and we stopped a couple of times to get out and stretch our legs. We finally reached the Fremont Lake Campground in Pinedale, WY, around 7:30 p.m.
Mom and Dad set up our new extra-large tent and filled it with our sleeping gear. Soon after, Dad’s friend Chris, his wife, and stepson arrived. It turned out they had a dog too. He was bigger than Tessie and me, and a boy, which made us slightly nervous. I played with him a little, but Tessie didn’t want anything to do with him and growled when he got too close. We’re not used to being around unneutered male dogs, so his energy was a little unsettling. We all managed to get along, but we never became great friends.
I was super excited the next morning to explore the area. We went for a walk along the water, then loaded up the paddleboards and took them down to the lake. Mom, Dad, Tessie, and I went out for a three-mile SUP, then hung out on the beach while the others tried out the paddleboards.
We met up with more people and another dog for lunch at a nearby lake. We all settled in to wait, but Tessie got a bit annoyed about how long it took for food to arrive at the table.
Our parents took us to another beach that afternoon to play in the water and relax in the shade. Tessie was worried about Mom when she went deeper into the water to cool off, but I wasn’t concerned. She knows how to swim.
When we returned to the campsite, there were even more people there, two of whom we hadn’t met yet. They seemed friendly enough, but after Tessie and I ate dinner, we decided to rest in the tent for the evening while the humans cooked over the fire, talking and laughing a lot. We were too tired to join in, so we enjoyed our spacious tent.
The next morning, Dad’s friend slept in, so we took the paddleboards out again. Fremont Lake is much larger than the lakes we usually paddle on. We went a different direction and traveled almost two miles, still without seeing the entire lake. Everyone was awake and ready to go when we returned to the campsite, so we loaded up in the car to drive to a nearby trailhead. We hiked up to a beautiful viewpoint overlooking Sacred Rim. It was pretty hot once we finished, so after a quick lunch at the campsite, we went back to the beach. Mom went swimming, Dad paddleboarded with Chris for a while, and Tessie and I explored the beach.
We ended up going out to dinner that night at a brewery in town. We got to sit on a second-floor patio and watch the world go by below. We were pretty tired again, so we went straight to bed when we got back to the tent, while Mom and Dad chatted with their friends around the fire.
The next morning, we packed everything up and drove home. This time, we took a slightly longer but more scenic route. We stopped for lunch in Granby and arrived home just in time for dinner. The weather was perfect during our camping trip, and Tessie and I enjoyed having plenty of space in the new tent. Tessie preferred sleeping on Mom’s cot so she could cuddle, but after feeling crowded on the first night, Mom made Tessie sleep on her own bed for the other two nights.
Yesterday, we took it easy, but this morning we woke up early to go for a hike. Mom and Dad said it’s supposed to be cooler and rainy starting later today through next week, so we decided to get out. We’re scheduled to camp again next week, closer to home this time, but we’ll see what the weather has in store. I enjoy adventuring, but it’s nice to be home where everything is more predictable. Fremont Lake is a fantastic place to visit if you enjoy being on the water.