West Tensleep Lake Trailhead (Wyoming, United States) | - 22 Oct, 2023

This view of Mistymoon Lake with Bomber Mountain in the background is one of my favorites for the trip. I especially love how the granite mountains have a pink hue as the sun sets.

 Today's hike returns us to West Tensleep Lake Trailhead. The hike begins at 10,334 (3,150 m) and ends at 9,100 ft (2,774 m). The gradual decline is only 6.5 mi (10.5 km).

I unzip the tent, step out, and am surprised to see the heavy clouds today. When I called it a night, there wasn't a single cloud in the sky. This is perfect weather for walking! I can feel this morning that my face is warm from the likely sunburn I got yesterday from being in the sun for so long. As I wait for Aidan and Daniel to climb out, I admire the dramatic sky and beautiful view.

I start packing up my things and breaking down camp with my nephews. "Next year, I'll be ready to go to Bomber Mountain," says Daniel. I shake my head. Our time was now if you wanted to see it. We could have rationed our food and stayed another night. That's not what you guys wanted to do on this trip. Honestly, I don't know where I will be next year, I say as I shrug. 

We break camp, have breakfast, fill water, and by 7 am we are ready to hit the trail. "We can probably be back at the car by 10 am and home by 7 pm," says Aidan. We'll see. If that is what you want to do today, we will need to cut down on the stops, I say. 

Leaving camp, the pace is much faster than the last two days. I can tell my nephews are out to prove something. I chuckle to myself. Hiking is easy when it's downhill and you are barn-sour. I'll catch up with you guys on the trail when you stop, I say, and let them hike on. There are no forks on the trail, and I have no concerns about allowing them to hike ahead of me. I'll only be a few minutes behind them if they have an issue.

I am enjoying the solitude this morning. It gives me a chance to process my disappointment with my nephews. Even though I felt it rise up a few times during the trip, I have been mindful not to project it outwardly onto my nephews. My disappointment is in myself for not taking the time to better assess my nephew's skills before leaving for this trip. Bomber Mountain was a trip I've wanted to do for myself, and my frustration lies in not reaching my goal. As I acknowledge what I am processing, I feel the tension dissipate. Ultimately, I wanted to spend time with my nephews, which is what I have done, even if we did not reach my goal.

Conditions are perfect this morning, and I am enjoying the hike out. The birds are singing, and the red tree squirrels are chirping. I stop near a talus slope when I hear a "beep." I locate the pika and watch it scamper to and fro. Despite my best efforts, I am unable to photograph it. 

I resume hiking until something else catches my attention. This time, I shed my pack. I look under the mushroom caps and am surprised by what I see. Could this be? I've never seen hedgehog mushrooms that are this big. I open Seek on my phone and take a photo. It returns "scaled hedgehog mushroom." I pull out my Opinel pocket knife. I harvest the two largest mushrooms, gently stuff them into my pack, and resume hiking.

These scaly hedgehogs are much prettier and bigger than the coastal variety of hedgehogs I am familiar with. One thing I do know about this mushroom family is that they cannot easily be confused with non-edible varieties. Even though I harvested these, I do not know how they taste. In the photo below, notice the small teeth under the cap of the scaly hedgehog mushroom.

Hedgehogs are everywhere along the trail today. I find it interesting that I didn't see a single one on the way into Mistymoon Lake. I find Aidan and Daniel waiting for me on the other side of the second West Tensleep Creek crossing, not far from where we had turned around a couple of days ago. I set my pack down. "We thought we'd wait for you here," says Aidan. I check in with them, and we spend a few minutes catching up. It's been a good morning. I say, Check out what I found on the trail as I pull out one of the hedgehog mushrooms. "Ah, man. That's a cool mushroom," says Aidan. "Is it edible? What do they taste like?" asks Daniel. I'm not sure. I'm 99% sure they are safe to eat, but I have never tried these. We'll need to look them up after we get off the mountain. Just because a mushroom is safe to eat doesn't always mean it tastes good, I tell him. "Yeah, I didn't like the puffballs. I hope these are better," he says. 

After topping off our water at the creek, I follow my nephews down the trail. This time, we are only a few meters apart. A short while later, Daniel stops ahead of me. "Are those scaly hedgehogs?" he says while pointing at mushrooms adjacent to the trail. Yep, good find. He stares at the mushrooms, unsure what to do. "Do we harvest more of them?" When we started this trip, didn't you say you wanted to forage for wild mushrooms? Daniel nods. What are you waiting for? Go ahead. Grab your knife and cut them free near the ground, I say. When he's done taking the two larger ones, he looks up, smiling. He folds his knife and places it and the mushrooms in his backpack carefully.  

We reach the car around 930 am. I am impressed that we are back so soon and sad that our trip is over. I don't believe in forcing people to be miserable. I believe that people do better when they are allowed to face their struggles. Forcing my nephews to do something they didn't want to do on this trip would have made our relationship difficult. I decided on Day 1, that it didn't matter if we made my goal. It was the experience of being with my nephews during their struggles that mattered. Aidan and Daniel wanted to hike out today, so that is what we did, and I am good with the decision. 

This meadow is just north of the parking lot, West Tensleep Lake lies at the edge of the trees in the background of the picture.

Once we are off the mountain and near Tensleep, I look back towards Daniel and say, do me a favor. Look up scaly hedgehogs on your phone and see what you can find out about eating them. "Oh yeah," he says. From his response, I can tell he's excited to help.

Now, I turn my attention to Aidan. What's on your Spotify playlist, I'm ready to listen to music, I ask him. "Probably stuff you wouldn't like," he says. Try me. We listened to my playlist on the way up. It's pretty diverse, right? Aidan nods. Not soon after, we are listening to some of his favorite bands, Dragonforce, on the car radio. "Dragonforce holds the record for the fastest rock band. They play lightning fast," he says. Wow! That is fast. I really like how they sign at a regular pace. Most speed metal bands I've listened to usually try to match the tempo and just end up screaming their lyrics. Dragonforce is pleasant to listen to, I say. He nods as he immerses himself in the music.

I knew if I continued to work at it, Aidan would break his silence on this trip. We had many great conversations during our hike, which opened the door for a great drive home. I decided to keep most of those conversations to myself instead of posting them. Even though we had a good time, it still didn't change his physical performance during the hike. Maybe next time it will.

"Says here that scaly hedgehogs are edible. Some people say that the larger ones can taste a little bitter," Daniel says. I laugh, we left all the little ones. "Yeah. Not everyone says they are bitter, though. I hope they taste really good," he says. I bet your mom will be happy to have all these mushrooms that you collected for her. She's a pretty good cook and will probably whip up something good, I say. As Daniel finds new information, we continue to discuss potential ways to prepare the beautiful mushrooms once we get back to Idaho Falls.