The Ghost of Skinner Meadow

The next morning Mike came through the bunk, same as the day before, “The day begins now!” he shouted, as he hurried us into breakfast. After scarfing down eggs and oatmeal, and juice and toast, we all piled into a van packed with a scary amount of gear. Snow gear. And it was June! It took more than half an hour for Nina to drive us from Jackson to the edge of Beaverhead National Forest. Mike used the time to lay down the law. “Listen up,” Mike said. “We’re going up to Darkhorse Lake today. We’re giving you a little break by driving you up the first 1,000 feet of elevation gain. But we’ll be hiking the rest of the way.”

It hardly seemed like we were going up hill in the van at all, so all this talk about elevation gain didn’t seem like such a big deal. But Mike kept talking. “First we’re going to hike a piece of the road leading to Skinner Meadows so you can have a little warm up. Then we’ll cross the meadow and make our way up the mountain to Darkhorse Lake. The dirt road that leads to the lake is high enough that there may still be snow on it. So, for that part of the hike you might need to be wearing these snow shoes,” he said, holding up a pair. “You can grab a pair as you get out of the van. Tie them on to your packs.