Week 1: Lander, Wyoming: Working Out the Kinks

This week I bring you the first installment of our homeless series from beautiful Lander, Wyoming. As described in this post, we’ve decided to list our house for sale and hit the road for an extended road trip. In our first week, we’ve seen the good, the bad, and the downright ugly of life on the road. Are we built to last?

Lander is Beautiful

I’ve been to Lander a couple of times on long weekend climbing trips. And since my first trip, I’ve felt a magnetic pull back to this place. The landscape is defined by jutting, eastward-plunging dip slopes of burnt orange sandstone and pale white dolomite. Along these broad inclines, the dry, grassy plains give way to pine and aspen forests, culminating in the incredibly sculped alpine cirques of the Wind River Range to the west.

Culturally, it’s certainly Wyoming, with big trucks and the occasional cowboy hat. What makes Lander stand out from other small Wyoming towns, however, is the collection of young, outdoorsy-types that amass here in above-average population density. This demographic anomaly is thanks to pioneering early climbers like the late Todd Skinner, who realized the potential of the endless rock, drawing many others who never left. Additionally, the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) based the company headquarters here. Today, well-known climbing community members, including Kris Hampton and Steve Bechtel call this place home.

Our Lander Area Campsite

For all my previous visits to this area, I camped at the primary summer climbing destination, Wild Iris. Not so this time. We set off in search of a place that would provide a bit more space, and we also were looking to secure a reasonable source of cellular data. More on that adventure in a moment.

We are camped at 8,600 feet, an incredibly welcome change from the Denver swelter we left behind. I dare say mornings are cold here, with lows in the low 40s. As the sun warms our sub-alpine valley, I know why I’m here. The skies are deep blue and clear, and so far, the weather has been phenomenal. The tension-easing sounds of a stream replaces the shouts of our former short-fuse neighbor. Row after row of city bungalows are missing, and instead are views of snow-filled alpine valleys and craggy peaks.  

We are perched on the side of a short dead-end, rocky forest road that flanks a large dammed lake. Slow and deliberate driving, required to navigate the camper over and around exposed boulders, brought us to a small grove of pine trees, well-shaded from the searing sun. Just beyond our campsite is an open meadow of wild grasses and sage brush. A small creek, fed from the lake several hundred yards upstream, splits the meadow just 30 or so yards from our camper. The water is surprisingly not frigid, which allows for some (almost) enjoyable evening free-spirit bathing and “laundry”. Don’t worry, we use biodegradable soap. Despite Mrs. CC’s deeply-held fear of grizzly bears, we have yet to get a chance to try out our new bear spray.

Pack Simple

I can’t stress the importance of keeping things simple. Bottom line: we packed way too much crap. And believe me, I’ve done plenty of camping, so this isn’t exactly a new concept. But while trying to simultaneously get our house empty and listed for sale, we were also struggling with difficult decisions on how to make the usable contents of our three-bedroom house fit into a tiny camper and a truck.

So far, I’d say the verdict on resizing our life has been a bit of a C- effort.

Take for instance that we brought 17 rolls of toilet paper, 23 lighters, three HUGE bottles of olive oil, and loads of dry goods. I made those numbers up (sort of), but you get the idea. Unfortunately, we did a Costco haul a week before we decided to embark on this journey, which means we purchased months of supplies in bulk suitable to the storage capacity of a house.

When it came to packing, I knew we didn’t need three bottles of olive oil now, but we didn’t want to toss something that we would be buying again anyway. Still not a wrong choice, but when you need some honey for your breakfast and it’s behind seven other large containers in the back of the truck, breakfast starts to feel like a construction site.

Internet and Cellular Network

A lot of admirable folk head to nature in search of a place to disconnect from the incessant drains on our attention: text messages, social media browsing, emails, and a barrage of bad news. I’m one of those people, but unfortunately, I made a deal with Mrs. CC that we would balance this trip with her need to work remotely. And to do her job, she must be continuously connected to the internet.

A quick update on that for those that are following: Mrs. CC was able to secure a 30 hour/week fully remote deal with her employer, and for that I am very proud. In some industries this may be a standard ask and no big deal, but in oil and gas, this is apparently A BIG DEAL.

More on her quest to secure permanent remote work in an up-coming post.

Mrs. CC Has a Job But I Wish She Didn’t

I won’t lie though: I was hoping the effort to secure remote work would fail.

Why? I wanted us to enjoy this road trip as a road trip, not just a mobile office with a view. The truth is, being on the road and camping makes a typical work life all the more challenging. Many of you are intimately aware of the drains of camping: securing water, rationing water, dealing with the elements, pulling all the above-mentioned crap in and out of your vehicle, etc. So, to try and manage all of the cons of camping without time to appreciate the pros—recreation in beautiful natural spaces—well, that’s been hard on her.

Hell, it’s been hard on me and this website is far from a 30-hour commitment!

Our beautiful and quiet campsite has crappy internet. That being the case, we spend more than an ideal amount of time shuffling around to various places for Mrs. CC to try and squeeze in her 30 hours. While the world is looking for an increasingly mobile and remote work/life balance, which I fully support, know that nature can still be nature, whether we like it or not. I’m sure you’ve heard about enough on this subject.  

Lander Climbing and other Activities

Lander is most known for the Wild Iris, a rolling mountaintop punctuated by a series of Bighorn Dolomite cliffs found at high elevation. However, our travel situation and some of my personal ambitions has me more focused on bouldering. I’ve been intrigued by the Lander area granite bouldering for a number of years, which I suspected was quite good but played second fiddle to the more well-known dolomite sport climbing. So far, my suspicions have proven correct. I’ve been squeezing in late afternoon sessions as we work around getting settled and finding internet. Honestly though, it’s still too hot to be really enjoyable.

Don’t cry foul, I’m climbing a bit at Wild Iris too. I’m no chump.

We’ve done some excellent half-day hikes in the Wind River Range (“Winds” if you’re cool), and we’re even considering a short backpacking trip soon. Yeah, we brought all that crap too.

Final Impressions on Week One in Lander

Yeah, we’re learning to find our groove. It’s one thing to hit the road for a long weekend or week-long trip, which I’ve done many times. It’s another to pack your life into a truck and a camper with no end in sight.

To balance Mrs. CC’s work needs, I suspect we will not stick to a 100% free dispersed camping lifestyle. I love it out here, and I certainly love the cost of living, but I have to be willing to compromise on ease-of-lifestyle. We are already beginning to consider a week-long Airbnb stay as we move farther north and west. I think we’ll do this dance between camping and more traditional accommodations as we continue our journey, being flexible of pandemic conditions.

It looks like we’ll be spending at least another week here, maybe more. Life seems to be slowing down, and I mean that in the best of ways. It’s the best medicine out here, they say.

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Thanks guys, see you next week.