Go West, (Not So) Young Man! Part 1.

Justin: So as you might know, I went West. Not like "opposite of East" West, really, nor "West Coast Cali" West, but WEST. Like "Wild West", West. Wyoming, Montana, no cell coverage from the state line, Grizzly Bear country, kinda West.
Ah yeah, baby...
If there is a single word to sum up my trip I'd have to narrow it down to "Absolutely freakin spectacular".
I flew into Salt Lake City on Saturday and met up with my brother and our friend from highschool, Keith. Keith lives out there at the moment and we've been planning this trip since what, Christmas last year? No.. before that.. Thanksgiving? So we bolted back to Keiths for a quick gear check, tossed everything into the Xterra and took off across Utah for North West Wyoming. 6 1/2 hours later we were through Yellowstone, out of cell coverage, and in the tiny one lane town of Cook City. I've been in some remote places growing up in Eastern Tennessee and Western North Carolina, however no matter how many days I've spent crossing the Appalachians, I've never seen the Milky Way. Amazing. So we crashed at a local hotel and got a little rest.
Sunday morning came early and after a breakfast sandwich from The Bear Claw (combination small cafe/snowmobile repair shop/video rental) we took off for Kersey Lake, our end of the week exit point, to drop off the Xterra. Our starting point was some 20 odd miles down the road and not long after we pulled up to the lake did our shuttle arrived to whisk us off.
Now, when I say "whisk us off",  I really mean hurtle us hazardly down the narrow road, crammed tightly into a Geo Prizm that was about to pop its seams from the cargo of gear, food, men and body odor. Mostly body odor. And it was there before we got in, by the way. /low whistle.
But the guy was pleasant enough and we arrived at our trailhead relatively unscathed, so all was well.