Reading Time: 14 minutes

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Status: Not yet proofread. When will I finally be done with Little Sandy Lake? Not this time, but it was enjoyable just the same.

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➻ Quick Facts

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⤷Introduction

I wanted to go on a hike for 3 days, but also wanted to spend time with my eldest daughter—so a hike with her was planned. There weren’t many options with places I hadn’t gone yet, so I selected Little Sandy, which I’ve never had a good experience with. The previous week I’d missed a 5-day hike due to illness, so something easy was nice. To encourage YL, we got a hotel in Pinedale the previous night, so she could swim in the pool. (She loves that.) We wanted actual popcorn to pop, but had to get the gross stuff.

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⤑Day 1: Block and Tackle Hill/Hell to Little Sandy Lake

I had decided that we would try for the very annoying Block-and-Tackle Hill Road. If we didn’t make it, fine, we’d hike in the rest of the way. An old blog had mentioned going in via a shortcut from B&TH, but it seemed to have been before the awful windstorm of 2020. Regardless, we’d see what we could get. We got up on time and I fed the beast, then we hit the road.

Block and Tackle Hill USED to be good they say, though whether this is mere myth I know not. The previous attempt had been cut off early due to mud, but this time it was dry enough—forecast thunderstorms during the period had me a bit worried, but I was ready for the challenge. Yue Little loves what she calls “wild driving” (we do not use that term around officers of the law), so she was excited for the trip up. 

We made it a long way up the hill and came within 400 feet of cresting the top. Had we been able to make it over the top, we’d have been free and clear, as the road thereafter is really nice—sandy and easy to manage. Alas, just before the top there is a steep section that has large rocks. Worse, at the very top there is a massive, exposed boulder in the very center, around which one cannot get in such a pathetic vehicle as a Cheap Patriot. Although it doesn’t look it, it’s was about up to my knee. I had seen another road coming in from the west with two sections of creek crossing and not taken them, because they were not mentioned anywhere, and I didn’t want to drown the Jeep, but now I wondered if I’d made the right choice. Alas!

Yue and I got out feel of water and then set off up the hill, following the road.  As we went up, a redneck truck with a lift and younger adults in the back went up the hill—they rounded the corner and BAM, from near the Jeep we heard the truck, lifted as it was, catch on the huge boulder. Still, they made it somehow. Yue stopped to look at the scrape mark.

Impossible for a Patriot.

At the top of the hill I decided to cut through the forest to save us some mileage. I’m not sure if it saved us time, as there was a lot of deadfall. Had it been just me, it would have been worth it for sure, but with short YL, it was rather slow. She kept yelling, “Dad! Stop! Wait, dad!” This was true even when I was only 15 feet ahead. Anyway, we made it through the forest and to the road in about 35 minutes. The forest path is 1/3rd of a mile, while the loop around on the road to the same place is 1.1 miles. Take your pick. If I were by myself, I’d do the deadfall route again. With a kid, it’s easier to just take your time on the road.

Yue got a lot of pictures.

Once on the main road, it was very easy going. Sandy in many spots. As we headed in, a massive, pristine dually driven by an old couple headed out. They must have crossed Little Sandy River and Chicken Creek in it—I wondered if I could have done it. Maybe I will have to head back to the dang area AGAIN. I really don’t like the Patriot being put in such situations, as it’s just not made for it, but our next purchase is probably going to be a Wagoneer L, which is even less designed for such activities. 

Yue wasn’t fast, so despite the fast walk, it took us 2.5 hours to reach the actual trailhead. 2.5 very boring hours, and only ~3 miles. Goodness gracious, sometimes I swear that child will be the death of me. Along the way to the trailhead, there are one or two opportunities to shave off a little distance using trails, but for the most part the deadfall restricts you to the road.

Numerous 4 wheelers were at the trailhead, but no people. Right after the trailhead, we crossed a little creek and entered the forest. Half a mile later, we broke out into a pretty meadow and encountered a ton of people heading out. Not hikers given their garb, so they must be some of the OHV folks. 1500 feet later, done with a small climb we sat on a boulder to let YL eat some snacks. Another group of people headed out, also not hikers, but one had a very cute BABY! They were so nice. What a blessed baby! 

The trail past the trailhead is really quite flat for the first 1.5 miles and goes in and out of forests, crosses meadows, and parallels the river for the most part, though the river is often hidden from view, if close by. Right before the last meadow before one has to cross the river, it started to rain and the sky grumbled. I had YL put on her Frogg Togg and we pressed on. Rain and sleet pounded us as we got to the river crossing, which was probably too deep for YL. Although someone had attached a line between banks, it was too high for Yue, and I would not be able to carry her with my pack on. A log jam was downstream, but it didn’t actually cross both channels of the river. I looked upriver, but the channel became steeper and narrower. We couldn’t cross, so we headed back toward the meadows. 

At the meadows I took off my shoes and carried YL, through the various channels, some filled with mud, some with sticks, some with stones, then went back, grabbed my pack, and did it all over again. The air had cooled down significantly, so my feet were frozen! YL thought it was quite fun and wanted to do it again. Ha!

Some use paths existed in places, and there is a trail on the west side of the river that goes off toward Big Sandy. YL wasn’t really happy on the intermittent use paths, but once we got back on the trail proper she settled down. Back into the forest we went, following the trail uphill. Although there is a lot of uphill, I guess, it’s all very easy and pretty enough. We stopped just after 5PM by the river and got water, plus YL had some chips and a freeze-dried ice cream. She was ready to be at camp. We were only 1.3 miles from Little Sandy, but once her “are we there yet” instinct kicked in, it didn’t really leave. She liked that I showed her how to drink rain water from slick granite pools.

There were a couple of scenic-ish ponds along the rest of the route, but nothing too much of note. We stopped briefly to send a cell message to Yurena to let her know that we were fine and almost to a camping spot. I prefer to do that than to burn through satcom data.

Before one gets to the lake, there should be a trail that crosses and goes toward the other trailhead for Little Sandy. We never found it. I am familiar with the trail over the hump to the east but have never fully descended it (going to the lake instead), so I wonder if the other trail even exists anymore.

I knew where the lake was, but we diverged off-trail to find a spot to camp. To cheer YL up, I set up a “game” to find the lake first. Whoever found it got Doritos. Guess who found it…sus, huh?

We reached the lake just before 6:30. An ideal (for Little Sandy, which sucks for camping at) spot too close to the water was taken by a group, so we backtracked until we going a spot that was flat. Anchor stones around the spot indicated that others had been here before us. As I set up the tent, it started to storm again, so I had to really hurry.

Above: Logjam and rocks where others had used the same spot.

YL panicked a bit and started crying, missing her mom and just being sad in general. Once she was in the tent, she calmed down a bit. I let her eat some snacks until I could make dinner and get water.  She had chicken n’ dumplings, as she is wont to do, and declared them DELICIOUS.

We both watched Kitchen Nightmares, but other than that it was reading and then bedtime. 

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⤑Day 2: Down River a Bit

The night was bright and clear…really bright. I took a picture when I had to get up and pee.

We slept in until 730 or 8, then I made YL breakfast, which was PackIt Gourmet’s Diner Deluxe Eggs W/Sausage.  People kept going through our camp heading for the old dam the whole time. At least Yue really liked the breakfast, though she said that she might like the eggs/bacon basic kit more. Unfortunately, she complained about her feet (shoes) and didn’t want to hike much. I vacillated for too long, wondering if we should try for Frozen Lakes or just head back. Yue wanted to fly fish, so we ended up doing that.

The outlet had a ton of fish and seeing Yue so excited was definitely a consolation prize for me. I also showed her the nearby old cabin. We checked out the lakeside across from where we’d camped, too, but it was a disaster of downed trees.

We packed up around 2 and started heading out. I told her we could stop by the meadows, sleep there, and she’d get to fish more. This was right up her alley.

Heading down, I stopped in the same place to message my wife our plan. Yue collected whortleberries (yummy) while I did that. By 3:45, we were to our watering spot from the previous day, and Yue declared it time to have another ice cream.

She also wanted to cross the river there at a logjam so we could walk along the exposed granite outcropping instead of taking the trail. It wasn’t the easiest crossing, but Yue LOVED it and asked if we could do it again. We could, but by no means would we! She then had a blast scaling the granite and decided that she would be the “leader” down to the meadows.

The granite is a quick way to go if your child isn’t trying to play a lot, but it was still fun. Yue said it was her favorite part of the trip (she thought Little Sandy was ugly, and she wasn’t wrong). A few sections of trees are a pain, but otherwise it’s fun enough. She collected wild onions for me to eat for dinner, too! We facetimed mom and Vicca, too, as the service was better there.

We rejoined the trail around 1800 and then looked for places to camp, finally selecting a nice, flat spot by the river, which also happened to be out of the wind. Although we had originally planned on being up on a flat spot above the river, the meadow no longer existed, instead being a haven for trees blown down by the great windstorm of old.

I’ll say that the area we stayed at by the river was nicer, anyway, as it wasn’t damp or marshy and had just the right amount of grass to be pleasant yet not overwhelming. We also considered crossing the river, as it was nice on the other side, but didn’t want cold feet in the morning.

Yue Little fished for quite a while (the point that I had to remove her from the activity), helped me collect some firewood (roasting the onions), and challenged me to races. It’s crazy how often she wins those. Def sus.

Dinner was chicken and dumplings for us both, but this time YL had the cheap type (she loves them, too), and for dessert we had creme brulee. TL said the night was very cold, so she didn’t want to get out of the tent. I washed up by the little fire and found that it was indeed chilly. Thankfully, the side of the “bend” we were on was sheltered from the wind. 

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⤑Day 3: An Incredible Man Causes Me Existential Dread

I woke up at 730. YL slept in with the quilt over her head, so I guess she was still cold. I got out of the tent after 8 and made YL an egg and bacon scramble; she really loved the stink out of that! While she ate, I started packing stuff up. We had most everything packed by 9 but had to get all the condensation off the rainfly. Finally, we hit the road…which meant walking across the field toward the trail. As we got near, the field turned into a billion springs, with springs on the sloping hill, too. Navigation was an utter fright. 

As we walked down the trail, Yue Little kept insisting that, “You must never disturb the peace of a butterfly, or you will be cursed for two weeks.” She was irritated that I would brush them off me. There were lots of them landing all over us and everything else. She was fine with me disturbing the peace of a fly, but not a butterfly. 

We got to the trailhead proper at 1043 and found no OHV/ORV/4 wheelers. The walk on the road was mostly uneventful; as we reached the point we’d initially emerged from the trees during our deadfall shortcut, a retired man was walking up the road with a nice, light pack on and stopped us. He was entirely affable and introduced himself as (we’ll say) Stone Meadow (PG). He gave me a terrible fright by starting the conversation like this:

with a light backpack and approached us.

“Excuse me. May I ask you a question?”

“Hey, nice to meet you, absolutely.”

“Is your name Luke? Lucas? Necessary?”

“Yes, that’s me.”

“Do you own a Jeep Patriot parked up Block and Tackle Hill?”

“Yes, I do…”

Gah, was all the oil gone? Did it catch fire? Stolen? Rolled down the hill? 

Nope. When I said yes, he was happy to meet me, and recognized me from my little online scrapbook. We chatted; YL was amazed that I was recognized in the wilderness. Stone Meadow was happy that I was out hiking with my kid. She gave her name (initials are YAM) and we decided that her trail name was Sweet Potato. (Like Wandering Daisy, St. Grizzly, Hiking in the Light, etc.)  We had a really nice chat before parting ways. He was a retired neurologist living what is obviously the best life in America—I told YL that I should have used my brainpower to make something of myself rather than being lazy and becoming an air traffic controller wage slave. Oh well.

Yue Little and I took the road the whole way out, encountering my favorite flower along the way. Do you recognize it? We got back to the Jeep at 1249, where I found that a bear had pawed at the driver side door. On the way down, we saw Stone Meadow’s parked Subaru. He had been much more cautious than I, and rightly so, as his was quite a nice vehicle!

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➤Conclusion and Rating

Little Sandy is such a terrible lure. You know you won’t love it, but dangit, you need something easy, so there you find yourself, disappointed all over again. 

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•  My scientific rating system. I liked this hike because it was with my daughter. Otherwise, it was just about as boring as they can get.
• Beauty. Mild at best. (Views from the meadows, not the lake.)
• Camping spots. Plentiful prior to the lake. Little Sandy isn’t made for camping.
• Crowds. Lots of OHVs and hikers on the CDT.
• Difficulty. Easy. More of a walk. Couple of river crossings.
• Fishing. Lots, but just for brookies.
• History. An old cabin.
• Over/Under. I try to closely bracket these. A hike that is just a little bit better is hard to select, because this one isn’t great, but it is short, and short hikes in the Winds are rare. I guess I’ll pick Slide Lake out of Green River Lakes, because despite being far more strenuous, it also has crowds, meadows, and a road that likes to give one flat tires. Under is easy—Little Sandy from the other trailhead, because it doesn’t have any beauty but has a ton of elevation gain.

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