For our second trip into Wyoming’s Wind River Range in 1988 Buddy and I planned a much more ambitious trip, hoping to hike the length of the range from the south end at Big Sandy Opening to the north end at Green River Lake in a week. The traverse would require a long car shuttle, and more route finding that we had needed on our 1984 visit. We also hoped to have better weather than on our soggy 1984 trip. We planned to visit Cirque of the Towers and Titcomb Basin, and then to follow the Highline Trail for most of the rest, but we ended up using the Fremont Trail for much of the southern part of the hike.
Joining us were my friend John from Dartmouth, Pete and Otto, two friends of Buddy’s from Denver with their dogs, and Buddy’s friend John from Nashville. John and I hadn’t hiked together for ten years when we were in college. Overall, our weather was much better. 1988 was the year of the great Yellowstone fires and few ranges in the arid mountain west were spared their own fires. The Wind River Mountains Fire that year incorporated all four of the Greek elements into its name. Back home in the Black Hills, the massive Galena Fire burned 17,000 acres around Custer State Park.
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I
left Lead, SD around 2 PM and drove to Pinedale, WY via Newcastle, Wright,
Casper, Riverton, and South Pass to arrive at about 11PM. The rest of the group
arrived at the Wagon Wheel Motel by midnight.
Wagon Wheel Motel, Pinedale
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We spent the morning repacking and having breakfast in town. Then John and John drove south to Big Sandy Trailhead, while the rest of us drove north to drop two pickup trucks off at Green River Lake Trailhead. The 50 mile, 90 minute trip to the Green River TH gave me my first views of the west side of the range and of iconic Squaretop. We dropped Pete’s and my trucks at the trailhead and piled into Otto’s pickup. Unfortunately, Otto’s rig started to have engine trouble, and we barely made it back to Pinedale. At one point we had dropped Pete off to hitchhike back to his pickup, but retrieved him when Otto’s started to run better. We dropped the truck off at the Sinclair in Pinedale and went for beer and pizza. With no way to contact John and John, they were likely getting worried as we went well past our expected arrival time. Most of that afternoon featured clouds and thunderstorms over the mountains.
By
5:30PM the problem was diagnosed (water in the gas?) and we were back on the
road. We made it to the Big Sandy TH at 7:15 to find John and John setting up
camp. We decided to cook and eat at the TH, rather than trying to make up a few
late miles. But we would have to move well over the next few days to make up
for the lost time. After dinner we climbed some cliffs just west of the
campground and enjoyed some great views of the sunset.
Big Sandy Campground, 0 miles
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We were up at 6:45 and even the two dogs seemed eager to go. We took about two hours to reach Big Sandy Lake, which looked like a popular campsite. I was unused to the weight of my old Kelty Tioga external frame pack with its week’s worth of food, and spent much time adjusting the straps and belt trying to get the load to sit right. My pack was so heavy that I had decided to leave my camera behind, so no pictures for this post. It took another two hours to go less than three miles up to Jackass Pass where we ate lunch. Jackass Pass gives hikers their first view into the Cirque of the Towers and of Pingora, the iconic peak in the center of the cirque. With a ring of formidable peaks circling Pingora, the cirque is the pinnacle of alpine landscapes. We had stopped here to camp in 1984, but this time just filled up with water at Lonesome Lake and headed on.
I missed the trail leading to Texas Pass and needed to do some bushwhacking to rejoin the group at a small subcirque above the lake. One of the dogs was having troubles losing its pack until I tightened up the straps for it. We chose to leave the cirque via New York Pass to cut off some distance, thus starting the first of our many off trail portions of the route. The climb was steep, but had little snow. Regardless, I was nearly spent by the time we reached the base of the talus slope below the pass. The talus was slippery and loose, but we took a long break at the top.
The
descent on the north side proved even steeper than the climb. Pete’s dog’s pack
kept sliding down on her head, and with her view blocked she wouldn’t move on
until he climbed about 1/3 the way back toward the pass to help her out. But
all the effort proved worthwhile when we found a great campsite along the
southwest shore of Billys Lake on a grassy plain. We could see many of the
peaks on the back side of the Cirque, and further west toward Mt Bonneville. We
felt that the valley was the equal of the Cirque, and the views form New York
Pass superior to even Jackass Pass. Despite starting at ~9,000’ and camping at
10,600’ we thought we’d climbed nearly 4,000’ for the day with the two passes.
Billy’s Lake, 13 miles
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We woke up at 7AM but weren’t on the move to 9, mostly as a result of my stove being slow to boil water. The day started clear and crisp, we were in the start of the long dry spell that would later lead to the massive fire season. I’d gotten a little sunburned on the prior day and began to ration my sunscreen. We were using the original Sierra Club Guide to Winds by Kelsey and navigating by our Handymaps, reduced version of the USGS topos printed on plastic paper. We weren’t always hiking together so often parts of the group would wander off course while the others waited for them to arrive. Not the best way to go, but with a group of six people and two dogs, it was tough to keep everyone together.
It took about an hour to hike west to the Pyramid Lake Trail. We found a quick cut off to the west and were on the Fremont Trail the rest of the day. Pete and Otto missed this cut off but caught up to us by the East Fork River. In contrast to Day 1 we were having an easy walk through a series of creek valleys marred only by herd of ~500 sheep grazing just below Shadow Lake. From Shadow Lake it was an easy traverse across a broad ridge SW on Giecke-Bonneville divide which had views back to the Cirque and to New York Pass. Buddy and I swam at a lake at the next trail junction. It was clear by then that sunburn, rather than rain, would be our biggest foe on this trip. With the high elevation we were all fried after only two days on the trail.
We
pulled into a campsite on the north side of Raid Lake. We were lucky to have a
long, but comparatively easy day with little climbing. I was still struggling
with the weight of my pack. While our stoves were not performing well, the
water purifiers were doing great and I decided I’d need to get one for myself. This
may have been the last trip for my 1970s-era Svea 123 stove. I found even
though I’d been hiking often in the Bighorns, that the Winds were much more
rugged, and scenic. So far, we had seen few people since leaving Lonesome Lake.
We had little trouble with bugs, using repellent only in the late evening. Otto
cooked up a fantastic dinner based on Lipton Creamy Noodles, already our
insatiable hiker hungers had started. We had decided to try having one person
cook the main meal each night. That left some free time in the evening for the
rest of us, but also was less fair for those who cooked the last few nights of
the trip as they carried their dinner-for-all for almost the full length of the
trip.
Raid Lake, 14 miles
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We continued hiking northwest on the Fremont Trail. We expected an 8.5 mile hike, but it ended up taking 4.5 hours on a gentle, easy trail. Sandpoint Lake looked ideal for camping, and the valleys opened up to offer broader views beyond it. We talked to two girls who were using food drops for a 19-day trip, and a horseman who barely spoke English. A Pipestem Lake we cut west to Divide (?) Lake, where we had decided to have lunch. After some of our separation yesterday, we decided to make sure we were all together at lunchtime at least.
Lunch proved to be the end of our long easy walk. Buddy and I missed a junction at North Fork Lake until John caught up with us. We passed by August and Rambeud lakes, then apparently lost the trail by going too far northeast. Luckily, the whole group was together for diversion, or we would have had a tough time getting back together. We had followed a narrow drainage past North Fork Peak before realizing our error. Our discovery was followed by a lot of language best restricted to predicaments like this. It took a while to confirm our error and then relocate ourselves on the map.
Rather than turning back, or descending into the valley to the east, we decided to head west for a small tarn in a hanging valley. The weather was starting to look shaky for the first time in the trip, and the valley looked to give us potential shelter. The temperature was much cooler as well, possibly a result of higher elevation (~11,000’) It proved a beautiful, and possibly unique campsite with views of nearby peaks including Round Top and Victor. The cirque walls were too steep to be climbable, especially with full packs.
We
were frustrated to have gotten lost, but everyone seemed in good spirits and in
good shape. We were still hoping to climb at least one peak along the way, but
our late start and extra miles were putting that goal in jeopardy. Buddy and I
hiked back to the pass where we’d done our recon to retrieve a pair of
binoculars that he’d left there. I made a few geology notes here, including
that we’d moved from a granitic to a gneissic terrain. Despite a bit of
rain-snow-slush in the evening, three of us slept out under the stars.
Buddys
Lake, 13.5 miles
Part of our 1988 route showing our unintended detour.
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Our plan for the day was to bushwhack to the north to intersect a trail south of Timico Lake and then follow it back to the Fremont Trail. It took about 1:20 to reach the pass and the trail, then another hour past Timico Lake to reach the Fremont Trail. The cross country hiking went well, but the Fremont Trail wasn’t well marked, and part of the group took a lower route via the Baldy Lakes. A bit further north we ran into some hikers heading south to the Baldy Lakes and they were able to relay a message to get our hikers back on track and we were able to regroup at the next pass.
We descended through the Split Lakes and then stopped at the Cook Lakes to filter water and take a short swim. We had another clear hot, sunny, and day and needed the chance to wash off. At the Cook Lakes we had finally joined the Highline Trail, and would follow it up Lester Pass. Our original idea for this trip was to walk the Highline, but we soon realized that it would not necessarily be the best route, and had improvised our overall route so far. With our trip to Cirque of the Towers and our visit to Buddy’s Lake, it had taken us four days to even reach the Highline.
Lester
Pass offers a gorgeous preview of Titcomb Basin with the highest peaks of the
Winds looming above it. The walls of the basin looked vertical, and I wondered
how any of the peaks ahead could be climbable. Much of the basin was now
obscured by smoke form the Wind River range fire, and when the wind was right,
we could still smell smoke. We camped for the night on the pass and enjoy a
beautiful sunset courtesy of the fire. Our progress was still a concern as we
wanted to hike through Titcomb Basin and over Knapsack Col, but we still needed
to be out by Saturday afternoon, and we’d failed to hit any of our objectives
so far. Six people were proving to be too many, it seemed we were constantly
separating and getting lost on the trail. The dogs were not helping either.
They’d always walk with the first person, usually me, and then be constantly
underfoot.
Lester Pass, 11.5 miles
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In the morning we immediately left the Highline Trail to traverse north cross country due north toward Island Lake. It seemed our best traverse yet, easy walking to a small lake then an easy descent to Island Lake. At the lake John and John split off, taking the Highline Trail around to Peak Lake to avoid the climb over Knapsack Col.
The walk through Titcomb Basin with sheer cliffs all around was amazing. We saw a lot of campsites, but only about a dozen people, most were likely off climbing. Our subgroup was moving well, reaching Knapsack Col at around 1:45. Mid July was early for the Col to be open, we found mostly snow and a little talus. Otto was feeling bad at the Col from the altitude, but Buddy, Pete, and I decided to try to climb Twin Peaks on the north side of the Col. We traversed over from the pass with Pete leading some climbing that made me a little nervous. The climb was rated class 3 and we had no equipment, so we were surprised to find ourselves on steep snow and ice on an upper part of Twins Glacier. There were at least two crevasses, one that we didn’t see until we were past it. Pete tried climbing on the rocks, but made little headway. Buddy and I tried for the top of the snowfield, but then reached a spot where someone had left a belay sling. We decided to call it quits there.
We were able to down climb the snowfield to Pete, then tried some tough down climbing on the rock. Next, we decided to glissade the snowfield. I went last and went about 10’ on my feet, and then fell on my ass and completely lost control. I was headed toward two sharp rocks poking thru the ice, but managed to pass between them somehow. Finally, I was able to dig my heels in enough to stop, and we were able to traverse back to the Col.
Meanwhile, Otto had napped away his altitude sickness. Taking stock of our party, Pete had a large raspberry on his butt from his slide and I had strained my right thumb and rubbed most of the skin off my left ass cheek and abraded a three inch diameter hole in the seat of my wool pants. We were able to bandage me up enough that the abrasion wasn’t an issue for the rest of the trip.
Our next trip to the Winds in 1993 would prove far more successful for peak bagging. Along with our main objective of Granite Peak, we would also climb Winifred on the south side of Knapsack Col, and Stroud Peak, just to the south of Peak Lake on a loop through Titcomb Basin launched from Elkhart Park.
From
the Col, we descended off trail down to the northwest shore of Peak Lake. Views
of Sulphur and Brimstone were great. The walk was easy, but not the grassy
slopes that the guidebook described. We met up with John and John and ended up
sharing the lake with two other large groups. Everyone was really tired, and
unfortunately it was my night to cook. I whipped up ramen noodles, freeze dried
corn, and minute rice with chicken and water chestnuts.
Peak Lake 11 miles
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After our tiring day we slept in a bit before starting our hike. We followed the Highline Trail northwest after crossing a short section of trail that had been buried in an avalanche. I found Vista Pass misnamed, partially overgrown and inferior to numerous other passes we’d seen. But Vista marked our highpoint, and the hike was downhill from there. This section of trail was heavily maintained and used by many horse packers.
But
long downhill hikes usually mean the end of a trip. This traverse really
brought home the length of the range to me and the innumerable climbing and
exploration options here. What would it be like to be Finis Mitchell and live
your life in these mountains, with infinite opportunities to explore? A steep
descent beyond Trail Creek brought us to the headwaters of the Green River. We
tried bathing in the creek at lunch, but the aquamarine water was too cold for
us.
The end of our 1988 route at Green River Lakes.
The
lower Green had abundant campsites. Pete and Otto got a little off course and
headed briefly toward Granite Lake before getting back on track. We camped
along the Green, north of Squaretop Mtn. at 8200’, our lowest elevation of the
trip so far. To our dismay, the wind dropped after dinner and the mosquitos
came out in force.
Green River, 9 miles
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After a warm, buggy night we had a quick rush to break our last camp. Buddy and John were the most motivated as they had a plane to catch the next morning. All that remained was a three hour, ~ eight mile hike past the upper and lower Green River lakes to the trailhead, enlivened by the siting of a bull moose early on Our proximity to the trailhead was marked by the presence of sagebrush along the trail. We learned that the fire we had been seeing was up Clear Creek. The fire had burned most of the basin and was started by a campfire.
Our toughest route finding of the trip was between the end of the Highline Trail and the parking lot. There were about 200 firefighters stationed there, and Pete described it as looking like the circus was in town. We took a quick dip in the lower lake to rinse off, then headed to Pinedale for beer and pizza. Next, we returned to Big Sandy to fetch our vehicles. The trailhead was now full, and we were grateful to have gone in with less of a crowd.
John
and I drove to Lander and got a motel room.
Lander, 8 miles
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After
breakfast, John headed north to visit Yellowstone, and I drove home to Lead.
