Dead Man Bowl
Our toboggan run put us in a confined play area known as Dead Man Bowl (yes, named for an unfortunate avalanche victim). We couldn't leave this area without thrashing it out to the best of our abilities.
From here we boondocked our way out past Battle Lake back up to the Hwy. 70 trail. Smith showed us the Thomas Edison monument. History tells that Thomas Edison came to the Sierra Madres to get away from the hustle and bustle for some "therapy" fishing. It was here at Battle Lake in 1878 when "the light clicked on" in Edison's head and his attention was directed to the fiber line on his bamboo fishing pole which he ultimately tested as a suitable filament for his incandescent electric lamps.
Other significant history in them there hills is that in the 1900s the richest copper mines in the world were in the Grand Encampment copper district, a 40-mile strip of land from 8 to 20 miles wide, extending along the crest of the Sierra Madres to the Encampment River. During a 10-year boom, 31 mines were opened and 14 town sites platted as approximately 5,000 miners and prospectors moved into this Copperton Region and mined out more than 2 million dollars of copper.
The Ferris-Haggarty aerial tramway was 16 miles long (reputedly the longest in the world) and ran from the Rudefeha Mine, which was the greatest copper mine in Wyoming, to the Grand Encampment ore smelter, capable of milling 500 tons of ore per day. The tram picked up the ore on the Pacific side of the Continental Divide and carried it across to the Atlantic side to the town of Grand Encampment.
There are still tell-tale signs of the activities along with monuments that make these mountains very alluring for recreation enthusiasts and history buffs alike.
Enough of the history lessons, though. Let's get back to the fun stuff. After leaving the Edison Monument, Smith took us down into the Battle Lake drainage and we bushwhacked our way through the trees and off of some benches down into a nice little pocket where we found some protection from the elements to take a lunch break.
After mowing through our choke-n-slides (our terminology for cold sandwiches) that were actually pretty darn good, and getting everyone unstuck, the leader of our pack took us to a play area known as the Super Bowl. We burnt some time and gas there, tracking up as much of the virgin powder as possible.
From here our tour guide led us up across to the north of the Hwy. 70 trail for the first time that day. This put us in the Haskins Creek area with moderate hills and rolling parks to once again shred to pieces, as we were still waiting and wishing for the sun so Duce could catch some action shots.
It was fairly obvious that we weren't going to get any sun, so we headed back toward the Bottle Creek parking area, dobbing along the Hwy. 70 trail, slabbing the big sidehill cuts and bouncing back and forth across the trail. Day one was concluded after 45 miles of boondocking and primo powder busting while never seeing another soul outside of our group of four.