Les Moore Photography - Scenic Landscapes, Fine Art and Stock Photography

Watch the full video for the trip here:
https://youtu.be/vgFrDyJzWSA

This 49 mile lightweight backpacking trip through the northern Wind River Range of Wyoming started and ended at the Green River Lakes trailhead, near Pinedale Wyoming. The plan for this trip was to hike a loop including the White Rock Mountain cross-country route, Baker Lake, Downs Lake, Downs Mountain, Crescent Lake and the Osborne Mountain cross-country route. The trip was planned to include a camp at Downs Lake and Crescent Lake in particular, as both have been high on the must-visit list for years. The route plan overall was a good success, with one minor deviation on the last day.

The counterclockwise loop included parts of the Highline Trail, Clear Creek Trail, Slide Lake Trail and Roaring Fork Trail, although most of the route was high altitude cross-country travel.

Below is a link to the CalTopo route map showing the route followed for this trip in red.

NOTE: the map DOES NOT show GPS tracks. The lines and routes on the map were made by me manually from Google Earth and are approximate references only. The actual route I hiked may vary from these lines and routes. Please do your own research and be sure you have the navigation and other backcountry skills before attempting a route like this.

The map includes a couple different variations that were not used on this trip. Rather than hiking out on the last day over Osborne Mountain, the Roaring Fork Trail was descended instead due to overcast skies and rain.

https://caltopo.com/m/LT9DL74

Below is the approximate LighterPack.com gear list, minus the heavy camera gear that was omitted from this trip (approximately the same gear as my 2022 Central Winds loop):

https://lighterpack.com/r/92a5lz

Trail and Route Conditions

Day 1

Green River Lakes Trailhead to meadow below Slide Lake

Day 1. Well used and well marked trails in excellent condition. The wobbly bridge over Clear Creek was sketchy with early morning frost on it, but everything else was standard on-trail travel.

Meadow below Slide Lake to White Rock Mountain Cross-Country Route

The ford of Slide Creek was shallow and easy just before the big meadow at the top of the switchbacks. After the ford, the ground is boggy for a few hundred feet, but elevation and open grassy slopes led to the WSW out of the meadow bottom in short order.

Those grassy slopes continue upward and to the south, then SSE along a broad, easy ridge for some of the most enjoyable, straightforward and scenic cross-country walking one could ask for, with great views of Green River Lakes far below. There’s some steep side-hilling on loose talus for a few hundred yards to skirt under the summit spire of White Rock Mountain, but otherwise, it’s almost entirely open grassy slopes.

White Rock Mountain to Lake 11440+

From White Rock Mountain, the grassy slopes continue all the way to Lost Eagle Peak, and travel remains straightforward on the southerly descent and short traverse to the NE to reach Elbow Lake Number 2.

From Elbow Lake Number 2, travel remains fairly easy to the NE into a small basin to the east of the lake. From the saddle at the north head of the basin, it’s moderate talus and scree all the way up to the summit ridge to the east of point 11886.

Once on the summit ridge, it’s a mix of grassy slopes, broken rocky ground and occasional talus around lake 11720+ and up and over a small saddle to lake 11440+, where I spent night 1.

Day 2

Lake 11440+ to Continental Divide

Day 2. This was a fun stretch of cross-country travel, with one significant question mark for route finding. Some trip reports discuss staying as high as possible traversing the southern side of Baker Lake, on the rocky domes bordering the lake. And while that high route looks doable on Google Earth, it also has at least 3 tricky looking areas that were big question marks. In contrast, the route I took a little further south followed two small drainages that ran east, roughly parallel to the south side of Baker Lake – and it all looked navigable on Google Earth, except for one questionable bit around a small icefield.

After leaving Lake 11440+, the broad valley to the east and southeast went smoothly and quickly all the way up to a broad saddle overlooking a small N-S valley to the east. Just under the saddle was the questionable bit: a steep snow and ice field on Google Earth that appeared to last year-round with non-obvious bypass potential. But fortunately, I was blessed with a good bypass on the left (North) on talus the led around the snow and down into the small N-S valley. From there, a small talus filled pass leads to an E-W valley with grassy slopes on the left, at the base of a line of cliffs, running all the way up to the Iceberg Lake moraine.

Traversing the moraine between Iceberg Lake and Baker Lake wasn’t that bad, with more dirt than loose boulders – I stayed as close to the top as possible. The saddle at the continental Divide is broad, open and grassy with easy travel.

Continental Divide to upper Grasshopper Creek

From the east edge of the big saddle on the Divide, a quick look down the northwest tongue of Grasshopper Glacier quickly confirmed that I wouldn’t be going that way without full crampons with front points. So back to my original plan: an unknown, hopefully snow-free and hopefully non-technical descent a little bit to the north.

From the big saddle, I ascended N just to the E of the Continental Divide to a small saddle at 12040+ overlooking Grasshopper Creek and the NW tongue of the glacier. After scoping out the top part of the unknown descent from a rocky dome nearby, it looked doable and worth trying.

After crossing some low angle snow, the descent was steep, loose in areas and generally unpleasant, but it was snow-free and led all the way down to the grassy slopes in upper Grasshopper Creek.

The descent of upper Grasshopper Creek starting on the left (North) side of the creek, crossing to the right (South) side where an obvious cliff blocked creek-side travel. I crossed back to the left (North) side again where the steep rocky cliffs of Peak 11836 drop straight down into the water. From Google Earth, and from personal observation, it appears doable to avoid crossing Grasshopper Creek altogether. One could likely avoid any crossings by hiking up and around the first cliff blocking creek-side travel. But the hike around the first cliff would entail at least a few hundred feet of vertical gain and loss and travel over some big talus. In the end, the crossings just looked to be quicker. I’m glad it was late August, because any more flow in Grasshopper Creek would have made the crossings even more challenging than they already were.

Upper Grasshopper Creek to Downs Lake

The most tedious part of the trip began immediately after the second crossing: 15 minutes of type-two fun swimming through dense willows. Not far beyond the willows was an upward traverse on a forested ramp east out of Grasshopper Creek, just below where the cliffs of Peak 11836 plunge straight down into the creek. After passing a small narrow divide, forests and small meadows led steeply downward to the outlet of Molar Lake.

From Molar Lake, dense forest and convoluted topography led past Ursus Lake to a steep descent to the inlet of Blueberry Lake. From Blueberry Lake, a gradual upward traverse through the forest to the NE led to the unofficial Downs Lake trail. The Downs Lake trail is lightly used and not marked on most maps, but it’s quite obvious if you keep a close eye out for it. It was slow going with lots of tedious route finding through dense forest the last few hours, so getting back to a real trail was a welcome change of pace (literally and figuratively).

Once on the Downs Lake trail, travel became much easier up the hill, as the trail receives enough traffic to be fairly easy to follow, with only a few areas where the trail disappears briefly in small meadows. Once you reach the large meadows just below treeline, the trail becomes harder to follow, but cross-country travel here becomes easy and obvious. A pleasant grassy saddle and a gentle descent to the NNW on open grassy slopes leads to the eastern outlet area of Downs Lake, where I spent night 2. While day 2 was the shortest in terms of miles, it was the longest in terms of hours: 11 hours to go 11 miles.

Day 3

Downs Lake to Downs Mountain

Day 3. After a short backtrack to the pleasant grassy saddle area above the south shore of Downs Lake, I descended into the pretty valley just east of Downs Lake. The head of the valley provided mostly grassy slopes all the way up onto Goat Flat. Once on Goat Flat, travel was fairly fast, scenic, open and obvious, with a mix of grassy slopes and firm talus all the way to No Man Pass.

From No Man Pass, it’s mostly low angle talus with a few grassy slopes to get to the small pond (Pond 12200) at the foot of Downs Mountain’s east face. From the pond, it was a mix of snow-free low angle slabs, talus and broken rocky areas all the way to the summit, mostly Class II, with mostly talus on the top third of the face.

Downs Mountain to Crescent Lake

From the summit, it was mostly talus down to the broad open saddle between northwest Peak and the top of Continental Glacier. Wearing micro-spikes and carrying a short aluminum ice ax, I did a descending traverse north on the Continental Glacier. Since it was afternoon, the entire glacier surface was melting with nearly continuous little streams and water channels – impossible to keep your feet dry. A few years earlier, ascending this glacier in the morning, it was much drier.

I left the glacier on the left (West) side, close to 12,400 ft. From there, it was a mix of gentle talus, scree and broken rocky ground to the NNW down into the upper reaches of the Roaring Fork valley. The upper Roaring Fork valley has a lot of scree, glacial mud and debris in it, but it’s grassy and much easier to travel below 11,200 ft.

At around 11,000 ft, there’s a traverse to the southwest over a small saddle that leads to the start of a bench running to the southwest. Travel along the bench is pleasant and scenic, passing multiple small lakes and a high waterfall, mostly on grassy slopes with occasional short fields of talus. As the bench broadens to the southwest, you see Crescent Lake nestled in the rolling grassy valley below, with steep eroded cliffs enclosing its far shore. Night 3 was spent near the outlet of Crescent Lake

Day 4

Crescent Lake to Green River Lakes Trailhead

Day 4 (final day). It was cloudy and windy overnight with scattered rain showers. And the forecast called for more overcast and rain on and off today. Not the best weather to hike over the Osborne Mountain cross-country route, with elevations over 11,800 feet, and at least 3 solid hours well above treeline on an exposed plateau to complete the route. So it was an obvious choice to hike the backup route: the unmaintained Roaring Fork Trail.

After crossing the outlet of Crescent Lake, the trail goes east a short distance and then intersects with the Roaring Fork Trail, shooting north across a meadow. The top part of Roaring Fork Trail above treeline is well used and easy to follow, though steep in spots as it descends down to Crescent Creek. After the first creek crossing of Crescent Creek (L to R), there’s a fake trail to nowhere up and to the right across a meadow, but the real trail continues low and along the creek. Just before the third crossing of Crescent Creek (L to R), in a small flat area where the valley levels out, there’s another fake trail heading off to the left, but the real trail crosses the creek and continues straight.

From the third crossing downward, the rest of the Roaring Fork Trail has plenty of downed trees of all shapes and sizes. But overall the trail is easy to follow if you’re on it, as it sees enough traffic to keep it from overgrowing. There are frequent side trails and diversions that piece their way around obstacles, but it was always easy to find the trail again afterward by looking around a little. Overall the trail still went pretty quickly and was much easier than bushwhacking would have been. Once you reach Roaring Fork Basin, the trail is lower and drier and going gets a little easier.

The unsigned junction with the Highline Trail is a welcome sight, marked with multiple rock cairns. Just past the junction, you cross a well-constructed bridge over the Roaring Fork on the Highline. From there, it’s all well maintained trail the whole way back to Green River Lakes Trailhead.

Summary

This was a great trip that I had been planning for several years. This year the timing, scheduling, weather forecast, fire conditions and physical conditioning all aligned. It was a blessing to see some areas that have been on my list for years (Grasshopper Creek, Downs Lake and Crescent Lake), and to revisit some favorite spots from a Northern Wind River High Route trip in 2022 (Baker Lake and Downs Mountain).

Because of the snowfield bypasses and river crossings, late August to early September seems like the best time to do this trip. Researching forum and blog posts and scrutinizing Google Earth really paid off and made navigation for this trip pretty straightforward and mostly as expected. But this is definitely NOT a beginner’s route! The sustained rocky terrain, navigation challenges, physical demands, isolation, glacier travel, and extended exposure to high-altitude weather make this trip more advanced.

While the trip was great overall, a few highlights and exceptions are worth noting. My favorite part of the trip was the ascent of White Rock Mountain. White Rock has to be one of the best longer day hikes in the Green River area. Downs Lake and Crescent Lake were beautiful and definitely worth revisiting and spending more time at. The cross-country route from White Rock to Baker Lake was a little more enjoyable than expected, with some nice stretches of pleasant grassy slopes to break up the frequent talus and rocky ground. As for the upper Grasshopper Creek drainage from the Divide down to Downs Lake trail, I’m glad I got to see and experience it once, but have no desire to hike this tedious section again. If ever visiting the Continental Glacier in the future, traversing it in the early morning would be much preferred, to avoid cold, wet feet. And since the cross-country route over Osborne Mountain got omitted from the trip due to weather, that route is high on the list to include in a future trip.

Water

Water was fairly abundant for most of the trip with a few exceptions. The longest dry section was from the meadow below Slide Lake up to Elbow Lake No 2. There was also no water between the alpine valley east of Downs Lake and the pond at 12200 ft at the base of Downs Mountain’s east face.

Bugs

There were a few mosquitos here and there, mostly noticeable in camp, but light overall.

People and Wildlife

I saw either people or at least a tent every day on this trip, including tents along the high traverse before Baker Lake and a lone solitary tent up on Goat Flat. There was a NOLS group at Downs Lake, but they were pretty quiet and not close to camp. Having Crescent Lake all to myself was a blessing and if I fished, I would definitely head back there.

The most notable wildlife was elk in the forest and meadow areas between Grasshopper Creek and Downs Lake. There were a few grouse, deer, pika and marmots too. No bear was seen, but saw some scat below Slide Lake.

Gear and Equipment

The principles of lightweight backpacking were employed. The base weight for this trip, including all gear minus food and worn/carried items, was 12 pounds, which included over 1 pound of camera gear. I carried a GoPro instead of the mirrorless camera to save weight on this difficult trip. The total pack weight on day one, including all food for the trip minus worn items, was 19 pounds.

Much of the gear used on this trip is MYOG (Make Your Own Gear), including the backpack, front packs, hiking pants, bug bivy, gaiters and rain jacket/pack cover combo. For more information on the custom ultralight backpack called the Talaria, please see the link below:

The Talaria Backpack: https://olympicul.com/product/talaria-backpack/

Trip Statistics

Note: distances and vertical feet stats are approximate and based on route profiles created in Caltopo. In most cases, Caltopo routes are more smooth and shorter than the real life routes hiked on real trails or routes. I typically multiply mileage values derived from Caltopo profiles by 1.15, to add 15% to more accurately gauge real life mileages hiked. Vertical feet values tend to be less accurate than distance values, with routes drawn in Caltopo introducing many small ups and downs that do not exist in real life. So all vertical feet values derived from Caltopo profiles have been multiplied by 0.7 or 0.8, to more accurately gauge real life vertical feet hiked.

Route

49 mile loop
3 nights
+10700 vertical feet
-10700 vertical feet

Day 1: Green River Lakes Trailhead to lake 11440+

12 mi
9:50 hrs
+ 4700 ft
– 1600 ft

Day 2: Lake 11440+ to Downs Lake

11 mi
11 hrs
+ 2300 ft
– 3000 ft

Day 3: Downs Lake to Crescent Lake

14 mi
10:45 hrs
+ 3100 ft
– 3000 ft

Day 4: Crescent Lake to Green River Lakes Trailhead

12 mi
5:40 hrs
+ 680 ft
– 3000 ft

Watch the full video for the trip here:

This 63 mile light-weight backpacking trip through the Wind River Range of Wyoming started and ended at the Big Sandy trailhead, near Pinedale Wyoming. The main focus of the trip was to hike a loop including Grave Lake and Wind River Peak’s summit and enjoy early Fall in the Winds. The trip was planned to include a camp at Grave Lake in particular, as this was a favorite area I passed through on a prior trip. And if the weather permitted, one camp on the summit of Wind River Peak was also on the itinerary.

The clockwise loop included parts of the Fremont Trail, Hailey Pass Trail, Bears Ears Trail, Lizard Head Trail, North Fork Trail, Pinto Pass Trail, Ice Lakes Trail, Tayo Creek Trail, Little Sandy Trail and Big Sandy Trail. About a quarter of the loop was cross-country travel through trailless areas near Wind River Peak and Coon Lake, but the majority of travel was on designated trails.

Below is a link to the CalTopo route map showing the route followed for this trip. The map DOES NOT show a GPS track – the lines and routes on the map were made from Google Earth and Caltopo for reference only – the actual route I hiked varies from these lines and routes.

The map includes a couple different variations that were not used on this trip. Rather than hiking through the Cathedral and Smith Lakes area, I went over Lizard Head Trail instead. And the weather was good enough to permit summiting Wind River Peak (but not spending the night on the summit), so I didn’t hike the Ice Lakes trail.

https://caltopo.com/m/3PNF3L7

Below is the LighterPack.com gear list (approximately the same gear as my 2022 Central Winds loop):

https://lighterpack.com/r/92a5lz

Trail and Route Conditions

Big Sandy Trailhead to Meeks Lake

The heavily used trail from Big Sandy Trailhead to Meeks Lake was virtually deserted at my 7PM start time on a September Tuesday evening. It was a very short hike with a pretty sunset, ending at a decent campsite in the forest upstream from Meeks Lake in under 40 minutes.

Meeks Lake to Grave Lake

The Fremont trail, Hailey Pass Trail and Bears Ears Trail were all in good condition, well marked and signed, and easy to follow. The trail gets rocky and convoluted around lower Twin Lake just south of Hailey Pass, but it’s easy to follow. The East side of Hailey Pass has very steep switchbacks and is a little loose, which might be intimidating to the less experienced backpacker.

Grave Lake is one of the nicest places to camp in the Southern Winds, with great views, good campsites and an excellent beach.

Water levels in the Winds were the lowest I’ve seen them in the last 5 years for early September, which made stream crossings easier than usual. Washakie Creek was simple to hop across on small rocks with shallow water.

Grave Lake to North Fork Trail

Bears Ears Trail and North Fork Trail were in good condition and well signed. There was no water after passing the snowfield near the junction of Bears Ears Trail until the descent of the Lizard Head Trail above Bear Lake. There are a few spots on the east side of Lizard Head Plateau where the trail peters out and where the trail has multiple branches, but it’s pretty easy to stay on trail nonetheless.

North Fork Trail to Coon Lake

The North Fork Trail and Pinto Pass Trail were in good shape and well signed. The Ice Lakes Trail is steep in a few places below Lower Baer Lake, and campsite trails at Lower Baer Lake are easy to confuse with the main trail, but overall it’s pretty easy to follow.

The cross-country route up the NE ridge of Wind River Peak was pleasant as usual, with lots of easy tundra and good water sources up to 11,800′ feet. There was also water at 12,500′ and also 12,960′ just below the summit area, thanks to lingering snowfields on this side of the mountain. The final 1/2 mile or so to the summit has lots of talus. On the decent of the South ridge, there’s no water between 12,960 at the snowfield and Tayo Lake and intermittent talus to negotiate until you get below 12,100′ or so.

The original goal was to camp on the summit of Wind River Peak, but the weather was a little too unsettled to make that a prudent option. On a similar trip two years earlier, I was blessed with good weather and moderate wind that allowed for a night on the summit. That was an ultralight trip with no video camera, but below are some shots that I took with the phone.

The short segment of Tayo Lake Trail I hiked down was hard to find starting at Tayo Lake, but became obvious again a few hundred yards down from the lake. The cross-country route from below Tayo Lake to Coon lake was pleasant as usual and fairly easy to navigate.

Coon Lake to Big Sandy Trailhead

The cross-country route from Coon Lake to Little Sandy Creek/Trail is pleasant and scenic at the start as it rounds the south side of Coon Lake and climbs to a small pass west of the lake. From there you connect a series of 4 or 5 small benches, each one downward and leftward from the last, progressively working to the northeast. Once you reach the low point or drainage of this bench system, there’s an open area of talus and small ledges that leads down to a steep, wet brushy bushwhacking crux of about 10 feet in length to descend through a thicket of large willows. This short, steep willowy funnel is the only non-technical way I’ve found to pass from the benches through the cliffs below them to the main valley floor.

Once on the main valley floor, travel is fast and easy to the crossing of Little Sandy Creek and the Little Sandy Trail. The upper part of the Little Sandy Trail is one of my favorite spots in the Southern Winds, with pretty meadows and steep towering cliffs on the East side of the valley. The trail peters out as you pass treeline, but bits of trail remain visible if you stay high and left (West) before crossing Little Sandy Creek, not far below lake 10839.

Just above lake 10839 you’ll hit the nicely constructed switchbacks of the Little Sandy Trail as they climb toward the south side of Temple Peak Pass. The trail peters out again as it levels off near the pass, but if you stay high and Right (East) you’ll avoid most of the talus. The trail becomes obvious again as you start descending the north side of Temple Peak Pass.

On this trip I finally found the most efficient trail around Temple Lake. This higher trail option is obvious on maps and on Google Earth, but it’s tricky to find unless you know where it starts. On two prior trips I’ve always resorted to the lower tail near the lake shore, which is easier to find and it works, but it’s more convoluted. As the trail descends steeply on the north side of Temple Peak Pass, it passes through an area of small landslides on the grassy slopes to the left (South). At the bottom of those landslides at just about 11,000′, a spur trail can be seen cutting right and contouring across the talus toward the North – that’s the high trail. Finding the high trail is one thing, staying on it is another. There are a few places where the high trail gets close to the low trail, or where spurs connect the two, but staying high and right worked well.

Once you hook up with the main trail again after passing the cutoff trail to Deep Lake, it’s a smooth, straight-line trail most of the way down to Big Sandy Lake. The trail from Big Sandy Lake to Big Sandy Trailhead was busy as usual and one of the few Trails in the Winds where I can keep up a 3 mph pace for two hours.

Water

Water was fairly abundant for most of the trip with no extended dry sections of more than a few miles. If you plan ahead and fill up your water bottle before heading over a pass, you should have no issues staying hydrated. As mentioned earlier, water levels in streams was unusually low for early September, making stream crossings easier than expected.

There was no water after passing the snowfield near the junction of Bears Ears Trail until the descent of the Lizard Head Trail above Bear Lake. And the South Ridge of Wind River Peak is dry too.

Bugs

I saw maybe a dozen mosquitos total on the entire trip. There were some biting flies at Grave Lake.

People and Wildlife

By far most of the people were along the Big Sandy Trail, followed by the Fremont Trail and Hailey Pass trail. Traffic was moderate on Bears Ears, Lizard Head and North Fork trails, and also moderate on Little Sandy Trail north of Temple Peak Pass. I saw nobody on the Ice Lakes Trail or the southern part of Little Sandy Trail.

The most notable wildlife was a bull moose along the North Fork Trail. There were a few grouse, deer and elk too. No bear or bear scat was seen, although I was not specifically looking for it.

Gear and Equipment

The principles of lightweight backpacking were employed. The base weight for this trip, including all gear minus food and worn/carried items, was 13.9 pounds, which included nearly 4.5 pounds of camera gear. The total pack weight on day one, including all food for the trip minus worn items, was 21 pounds.

Much of the gear used on this trip is MYOG (Make Your Own Gear), including the backpack, front packs, hiking pants, bug bivy, gaiters and rain jacket/pack cover combo. For more information on the custom ultralight backpack called the Talaria, please see the link below:

The Talaria Backpack https://olympicul.com/product/talaria-backpack/

For camera and video gear, the goal was to achieve very good video quality with the lightest gear possible. For video, a Fuji X-T4 mirrorless camera with 18-55mm lens was used. I also carried a MYOG tripod adapter to turn three trekking poles into a tripod. Also included were four camera batteries, a polarizing filter and a Rode VideoMicro hotshoe microphone for the camera.

Trip Statistics

Note: distances and vertical feet stats are approximate and based on route profiles created in Caltopo. In most cases, Caltopo routes are more smooth and shorter than the real life routes hiked on real trails or routes. I typically multiply mileage values derived from Caltopo profiles by 1.15, to add 15% to more accurately gauge real life mileages hiked. Vertical feet values tend to be less accurate than distance values, with routes drawn in Caltopo introducing many small ups and downs that do not exist in real life. So all vertical feet values derived from Caltopo profiles have been multiplied by 0.7, to subtract 30% to more accurately gauge real life vertical feet hiked.

Route

63 miles
4 nights
+10100 vertical feet
-10100 vertical feet

Day 0: Big Sandy Trailhead to Meeks Lake

2 Miles, +230 -40 Vertical Feet
Big Sandy Trail #099
Fremont Trail #096

Day 1: Meeks Lake to Grave Lake

17 Miles, +2600 -2000 Vertical Feet
Fremont Trail #096
Hailey Pass Trail #111
Bears Ears Trail #716

Day 2: Grave Lake to North Fork Trail

15 Miles, +2100 -2200
Bears Ears Trail #716
Lizard Head Trail #714
North Fork Trail #710

Day 3: North Fork Trail to Coon Lake

14 Miles, +3600 -3100
North Fork Trail #710
Pinto Pass Trail #708
Ice Lakes Trail #706
Tayo Lake Trail #707

Day 4: Coon Lake to Big Sandy Trailhead

15 Miles, +1500 -2800
Little Sandy Trail #098
Big Sandy Trail #099

Watch the full video for the trip here:
https://youtu.be/mAr9VgoPQXE

This 65 mile light-weight backpacking trip through the Wind River Range of Wyoming started and ended at the Pole Creek trailhead at Elkhart Park, near Pinedale Wyoming. The main focus of the trip was to hike a high route loop in the Fremont Creek and Pole Creek areas of the range, using the range’s most popular trailhead at Elkhart Park. The trip was planned to visit a few new destinations in these areas, plus some favorite spots I’ve visited before. The clockwise lollipop loop included the Pole Creek trail, Seneca Lake trail, Lost Lake trail, Highline trail, Knapsack Col, Titcomb Basin trail, Wall Lake Pass, Cook Lakes, Angel Pass, Fall Creek Pass, Timico Lake, and the Fremont trail.

At least a quarter of the loop was cross-country travel through trailless areas, but the majority of travel was on designated trails. Nearly half of the loop followed a variation of the Wind River High Route, a mostly off-trail route staying close to the spine of the Continental Divide. The segment of the high route in this loop included Knapsack Col, Wall Lake Pass, Angel Pass and Fall Creek Pass.

Below is a link to the CalTopo route map showing the route followed for this trip:

https://caltopo.com/m/ARCUKRT

Below is the LighterPack.com gear list (approximately the same gear as my 2022 Central Winds loop):

https://lighterpack.com/r/92a5lz

Trail and Route Conditions

Pole Creek, Seneca Lake, Highline and Fremont Trails

The heavily used trails accessible from the highly popular Elkhart Park were in great condition and recently maintained, as expected. From the trailhead to Peak Lake (with the exception of the Lost Lake trail), and from the Timico Lake trail/Fremont trail junction all the way back to the trailhead were well maintained, with the exception of a few easy fallen trees along the Fremont trail.

Lost Lake Trail

The Lost Lake trail was new to me and it was great to finally explore this lightly traveled area next door to one of the most popular areas in the Winds. The Lost Lake trail was good enough to be fairly efficient, yet rustic enough to provide a mild adventure.

The first half of the trail from Seneca Lake to Lost Lake was in pretty good condition, though it’s steep and hard to follow in a few meadows as it descends to Lost Lake. At Lost Lake, Fremont Creek must be crossed to continue, but the crossing was easier than expected. The large creek is broken up into 4 separate channels just upstream from the inlet to Lost Lake. The first two channels were small, with the hardest part being willow evasion. The last two channels were much wider, but with moderate currents that were never over knee deep.

Past Lost Lake, the second half of the trail is more rustic and less maintained, but still obvious most of the time. There were occasional downed trees over the second half of the trail, a few requiring some mild gymnastics to bypass or crawl under. The trail also disappeared in a few meadow areas, but was easy to find if you pay close attention to your map. After crossing the last channel of Fremont Creek, there are a few different trail options on the far bank – I choose the right most option as that’s where the map showed the trail going, and it worked out fine. After the crossings, the trail climbs steeply for a while, then it bobs up and down and weaves right and left for a few miles until you reach a large meadow. From the meadow, the trail picks up again on the right, climbing steeply to a small saddle, then on to the pond just downstream from the Highline trail junction and Fremont Crossing bridge. The roar of Big Water Slide fills the air as you pass by the pond below Fremont Crossing.

Shannon Pass Trail

The trail between the Highline North of Upper Jean Lake and Peak Lake was high and scenic. After Shannon Pass, the trail descends steeply and becomes rocky and gets lost in the boulders briefly a few times. From the low point of the trail near Peak Lake, I cut cross-country past a small pond to the East and below Cube Rock Pass and picked up the Glacier Trail on the other side of this pond, as it descended to the outlet of Peak Lake. The outlet creek is wide with good flow, but if you follow the shoreline downstream a hundred yards or so you’ll find an easy crossing where a large number of rocks strewn from shore to shore let you easily hop across the wide stream.

Glacier Trail/Knapsack Col

From the North side of Peak Lake’s outlet stream, the trail traverses the North side of Peak Lake, first on talus and then below high vertical cliffs near the water line, passing an improbable looking yet easy section by stepping onto a rock literally sitting in the lake. There are good camp sites in the meadows East of Peak Lake, dotted with Krummholz, granite slabs and large boulders. The trail continues upstream toward Knapsack Col for quite some distance, though it peters out often in meadows. Above 11400’ the trail is pretty much gone, until you get close to Knapsack Col, where it becomes obvious again as different route options converge just below the Col. The East side of Knapsack Col did not require any snow travel, although bypassing the highest snowfield on its North side required descending on steep loose talus and scree. Once on more level ground, I did use the snowfield for travel, as low angle snow is more efficient than travel on talus. Below 11700’, the talus gives way to broken rock and gravel, making for faster travel. And once you descend to 11200’, travel becomes even faster on grass and tundra as you descend to pick up the Titcomb Basin trail on the far side of the main creek.

Titcomb Basin Trail

Fantastically scenic, crowded and a few spots of muddy bog, as usual. The trail becomes more and more obvious as you descend closer to upper Titcomb Lake from the North. Once you get to the lakes, the trail is obvious the whole way to Island Lake.

Wall Lake Pass

This scenic and lightly used trail is obvious and easy to follow until you reach 10700’, where it becomes lost in the meadows. The trail crosses to the South side of the creek around 10700’ before you reach the lake. If you follow the willow-free patches on the right (South) side of the valley, you’ll see bits of the trail, where it’s visible, as you ascend to Wall Lake Pass. From the Pass going East, the easiest route passes right (South) of an obvious dome which straddles the pass, over a small snowfield, then down to a small saddle at 11030’. It’s best to descend due East into the main side valley below Harrower and Elephant Head peaks. At 11030’ and again 10830’ you’ll pass small saddles on your right (South) that appear to descend down to Wall Lake, but it’s best to continue due East until you reach 10600 in the main side valley, then descend to Wall Lake above its Northern most tip. As you reach the valley floor, you’ll find bits of trail, where it’s visible. Up and over a small saddle and the trail will take you to the outlet of lake 10488.

Crossing Pole Creek is a mini adventure, as the flow is great and the stream is wide. The way trail ends at a prominent boulder on the West side of the creek just downstream from lake 10488’s outlet. This large boulder is surrounded by several smaller boulders, offering an adventurous series of step stones working North, East and South around the large boulder, then following more well-spaced boulders East across the remainder of Pole Creek.

From the East side of Pole Creek, it’s reasonably easy travel to the middle of Wall Lake, with some nice camping areas along the way.

Wall Lake to Cook Lakes

This stretch of off-trail country presented the most challenging route finding of the trip, even though I had done this same route in 1994. It really helps to spend some time studying this route on Google Earth and to print out some Google Earth screen shots to take with you. There are likely multiple route variations up and around the steep granite domes that impound the Eastern shore of aptly named Wall Lake. But the route I took on this trip seemed to be fairly efficient, even though I gained a few hundred feet of extra elevation.

The map below shows my approximate route. The map is NOT a gps track, but was drawn using Google Earth as a rough guide for me to use while hiking. The map includes two slightly more efficient variations that I would choose instead next time.

Basically, I ascended a ramp that sits kind of midway up the face East of Wall Lake. At the top of the ramp, there’s a corridor you hike through with steep rock on each side. After the corridor, you can keep going slightly up and right to the top of the traverse, or go slightly right and contour around the top area instead, which appears to be a better option on Google Earth. Once you reach the saddle just East of the obvious rock dome, you follow the drainage down until you find a decent trail on the West side of the lower valley. That trail takes you to a pretty meadow, but the actual trail continues up and East of the meadow, going over a small saddle before finally descending to Cook Lakes.

Cook Lakes to Angel Pass

The route finding crux of the scenic off-trail segment between Cook Lakes and Angel Pass was just above upper Cook Lake (aka lake 10170). The main trail leaves the Southeast side of the lake and goes uphill for a few hundred yards to a small forested saddle, before continuing its mile long descent Southwest to a junction with the Fremont trail. Where the trail reaches its high point at the forested saddle above lake 10170, I cut off-trail uphill to the Southeast, seeking a direct line toward Angel Pass. However, the terrain here is steep and rocky with intermittent dense forest, so I ended up traversing North a few hundred yards to get around the steep rock domes. It would have been easier to cut due East (up and left) from where the trail passes the forested saddle.

Once above 10500, the terrain opens up to grassy meadows with pretty ponds amongst small rolling hills. Once you can see Spider Lake, you can either traverse high or drop lower and closer to Spider Lake to approach Angel Pass’s East side. I stayed high and traversed much of this section, but dropping to the gentler slopes closer to the lake may have been easier.

Angel Pass is very interesting and enjoyable, if you like to scramble. As you ascend to the cliff bands guarding the East side of the pass, the easiest way upward is on the right side, up a small, steep grassy ramp cutting up and right through the first cliff band. From the top of this ramp, you have to scramble over a fin of rock to access the ramps and talus slopes leading up the next cliff bands toward the Pass. After ascending a slope of large blocky talus, the next cliff band has an easy route through it on the far left, in an area of reddish colored rock slabs. After clambering across the reddish slabs, the route sags back to the right, then left again up a series of narrowing ramps to the crux move – an exposed by moderately angled slab providing the easiest route through the next rack band. After the crux move, there are only a few moderate rocky ramps left to reach the top of the pass.

The East side of Angel Pass is very different from the West. From Angel Pass, you traverse East a few hundred yards on large steep talus. But after the talus, the terrain becomes a mix of grassy meadows and easy gravely areas most of the way down to the valley floor and up again to Fall Creek Pass.

Fall Creek Pass to Timico Lake

There are remnants of an old and long unmaintained trail from Fall Creek Pass all the way down to beautiful Timico Lake. This is likely an old CCC trail built back in the 1930’s, abandoned shortly after it was built, with the coming of WWII. It’s fun to try to follow this trail as much as possible as you descend from the pass to Timico Lake. The trail is barely visible at times, only perceived as a faint depression, or a sight excess of gravel compared to the surrounding tundra. I was able to follow this trail all the way down to 10800’, at which point it was finally lost. But even without a trail, travel from Fall Creek Pass to Timico Lake is about as easy as cross-country travel above treeline in the Wind River Range can get.

From the outlet of Timico Lake, it’s a very pretty mile or so of hiking on the Timico Lake trail to the junction with the Fremont trail, which takes you back to the land of maintained trails again.

Water

Water was fairly abundant for most of the trip with no extended dry sections of more than a few miles. If you plan ahead and fill up your water bottle before heading over a pass, you should have no issues staying hydrated.

Bugs

Mosquitos were mild to moderate, depending on location and time of day. By late July, it’s typical to see far fewer bugs in the Wind Rivers than just a few weeks earlier, and this trip held to that general rule. The most mosquitos were encountered around Lost Lake, as it’s lower in elevation, warmer and less breezy than most other areas on this trip. Most lakes near or above treeline had enough breeze in the afternoons to allow for relaxing around camp with minimal mosquito harassment.

People and Wildlife

By far most of the people were along the Pole Creek, Seneca Lake and Titcomb Basin trails. There were lots of day hikers on the Titcomb Basin trail hiking in from camps at or around Island Lake. Nobody was seen on the Lost Lake trail, except for a horse camp at the top of the trail near some ponds, a mile or less from Seneca Lake. The Highline and Fremont trails had moderate traffic with occasional backpackers. A few parties passed by Peak Lake while I camped there, but only one other person was seen between Peak Lake and Titcomb Lakes. There were a few day hikers from Island Lake hiking up to Wall Lake Pass and back. One group was camped at Cook Lakes and a large NOLS group was passed and camped at the far Northern end of Timico Lake.

The most notable wildlife as a bull moose above Spider Lake, below Angel Pass, intent on walking up to the hillside I had just descended. And there was another moose right on the trail, a mile or less from the trailhead, early in the morning on the hike out. Pretty much every day there were multiple grouse unexpectedly flushed into flight as I hiked by. A few deer but no elk were seen, although there was ample elk scat in some areas. No bear or bear scat was seen, although I was not specifically looking for it.

Gear and Equipment

The principles of lightweight backpacking were employed. The base weight for this trip, including all gear minus food and worn/carried items, was 13.2 pounds, which included nearly 4.5 pounds of camera gear. The total pack weight on day one, including all food for the trip minus worn items, was 22.5 pounds. While microspikes were carried for the East side of Knapsack Col, they were never used.

Much of the gear used on this trip is MYOG (Make Your Own Gear), including the backpack, front packs, hiking pants, bug bivy, gaiters and rain jacket/pack cover combo. For more information on the custom ultralight backpack called the Talaria, please see the link below:

The Talaria Backpack https://olympicul.com/product/talaria-backpack/

For camera and video gear, the goal was the achieve very good video quality with the lightest gear possible. For video, a Fuji X-T4 mirrorless camera with 18-55mm lens was used. I also carried a MYOG tripod adapter to turn three trekking poles into a tripod. Also included were four camera batteries, a polarizing filter and a Rode VideoMicro hotshoe microphone for the camera.

Trip Statistics

Note: distances and vertical feet stats are approximate and based on route profiles created in Caltopo. In most cases, Caltopo routes are more smooth and shorter than the real life routes hiked on real trails or routes. I typically multiply mileage values derived from Caltopo profiles by 1.15, to add 15% to more accurately gauge real life mileages hiked. Vertical feet values tend to be less accurate than distance values, with routes drawn in Caltopo introducing many small ups and downs that do not exist in real life. So all vertical feet values derived from Caltopo profiles have been multiplied by 0.7, to subtract 30% to more accurately gauge real life vertical feet hiked.

Route

65 miles
5 nights
+10400 vertical feet
-10400 vertical feet

Day 1: Pole Creek Trailhead to Hobbs Lake

7 miles
+1200 vertical feet
-750 vertical feet

Day 2: Hobbs Lake to Peak Lake

14 miles
+2300 vertical feet
-1700 vertical feet

Day 3: Peak Lake to Wall Lake

13 miles
+2100 vertical feet
-2300 vertical feet

Day 4: Wall Lake to Timico Lake

10 miles
+1800 vertical feet
-1900 vertical feet

Day 5: Timico Lake to Sweeney Creek Trail Junction

16 miles
+2600 vertical feet
-2750 vertical feet

Day 6: Sweeney Creek Trail Junction to Pole Creek Trailhead

5 miles
+400 vertical feet
-1000 vertical feet

Watch the full video for the trip here:
https://youtu.be/veOI96qlQbQ

This 58 mile light-weight backpacking trip through the Northern Wind River Range of Wyoming started and ended at the Glacier trailhead, Southeast of Dubois Wyoming. The main focus of the trip was to hike the Northern section of the Skurka variation of the Wind River High Route, plus Shale Mountain. The counterclockwise loop included the Ross Lake trail, Shale Mountain, Continental Glacier, Downs Mountain, Baker Lake, Grasshopper Glacier, Gannett Glacier and the entire Glacier trail.

Half of this loop used designated trails (Ross Lake trail and the Glacier Trail). The other half followed a variation of the Northern Wind River High Route, an exposed off-trail route, including travel across glaciers with open crevasses. This high route is for experienced off-trail hikers with mountaineering and glacier experience – travel at your own risk! Here’s a link to the CalTopo route map showing the route followed for this trip:

https://caltopo.com/m/JGB35

Here’s the LighterPack.com gear list:

https://lighterpack.com/r/xu8jkm

Route Conditions

Ross Lake Trail to NE slopes of Shale Mountain

The Ross Lake Trail (#804 and 804.2A) was well maintained with gently inclined switchbacks and a mostly smooth trail bed to at least 10000′, although there’s a lot of vertical from the trailhead. After that, the trail was little more rugged but still in pretty good shape. At the junction with trail 805 at the SW side of a large meadow at 10250′, there was no sign of any cross country route heading East toward point 11038, but the forest was fairly open with easy travel most of the way to the saddle just East of point 11038.

From the saddle just East of point 11038 there is a descent down to the small valley which leads up to the NE slopes of Shale Mountain. From the saddle, as you descend there’s a grassy ramp up and left (West of the small pond). At the top of this ramp is a rock cairn where you can turn right (East) and descend rocky slabs to get below the pond. From below the pond, it’s talus and scree to the bottom of the valley below. Once in the floor of the small valley, travel to the West was easy for a while on the North side of the creek, but quickly became bushwhacking, riddled with large talus, awkward deadfall and frequent boggy spots for good measure. At 10500′ travel up the small valley became more straightforward over grassy meadows, with two obvious options upward on the left flanks of the valley. One option stayed a little to the right on steep grassy and rocky slab areas with a few trees, and another option cut high and left over talus. I chose the left option where the talus fields met the steeper cliffs and slabs further to the left as it seemed more direct. It worked out fine, with a mix of loose gravel and rocky slabs and ramps near the top. Once above 11400′, travel become much easier. See map and satellite images below for details:

Shale Mountain

Once you get above 11400′ travel become much easier, with lots of tundra, grass and very little talus or sustained rocky areas. The main challenge hiking up the Northeast slopes of Shale Mountain were actually large areas of mud and/or soft, sandy ground. There’s so much surface and subsurface water and the slopes are so gentle that water just saturates a good portion of the area. I looked for more rocky areas when possible to avoid as much of the soft ground as possible.

Shale Mountain itself had great views and is a very worthwhile destination, with the summit atop a 50 foot mound of rock that’s easy to scramble up. The descent to Lake 11751 was a little more rocky, but less muddy and still pretty easy travel. Lake 11751 had some nice camp sites along the SW shore, some of them fairly sheltered from the West wind.

Downs Mountain

The grassy ridge ascending to the continental divide from the South side of Lake 11751 was pure grassy tundra perfection, with smooth easy travel and great views in all directions. Because I was carrying microspikes, I choose to ascend Downs via the Continental Glacier, rather than hiking around the West side of the ice along the rocky spine of the continental divide. The glacier was very enjoyable, efficient, and only had significant crevassing near the top, just West of point 13202′. The crevasses were easily end-run by staying to the East side of the glacier toward the top.

As you approach Downs Mountain from the North, the talus become more sustained, but stable and easy to travel, at least when it was dry. The views were excellent from the summit in all directions, well worth the effort to visit. The talus was fairly sustained but stable the whole way from the summit of Downs Southward to the flat saddle area at 12700′, between Downs Glacier on the East and point 12975 on the West. Here travel become much easier on mostly level gravel.

The Divide North of Baker Lake

From the saddle between Downs Glacier and point 12975, there’s a shallow, low angle valley leading down and Southward toward a small silty lake surrounded by permanent snow fields. Point 13062′ impounds the West side of this small valley, with a low rocky ridge immediately on the East side. This small valley was fairly easy to travel with a mix of gravel, small low angle talus and brocken rocky areas, and a little tundra here an there. From the lake, a gentle climbing traverse on talus Southward just under point 12702 leads to an open flat saddle just East of Yukon Peak. From here, a traverse Southward on gravel, broken rock and tundra stays above the snowfields before descending to the Southeast on the low angle, grassy tundra slopes above the NE side of Baker Lake to the large saddle East of the lake, with many good campsites.

Baker Lake to Grasshopper Glacier

The easiest passage of the High Route Southward from Baker Lake, just North of point 12705′, is a little uncertain at first glance and is well worth a close examining on Google Earth. While camped at Baker Lake I saw a party of three slowly descending with difficulty from the South (they were Northbound on the High Route) on steep rocky slabs and steep, loose ramps directly to the center of the saddle East of Baker Lake. But the easiest passage begins near the East side of Iceberg Lake, not near the middle of the saddle. The easiest passage follows a small, narrow, steep ramp heading up and Southward on a mix of grass and talus, with Iceberg Lake and Sourdough Glacier immediately to the West and below. If you examine terrain closely, this ramp stands out as the easiest path Southward from Baker Lake. See images below for details:

At about 12300′, the ramp peters out into a lower angle small shallow basin just to the NW of point 12705′. If you follow a mix of low angle rock slabs and tundra Eastward, you come to a pretty grassy saddle just to the NE of point 12705 that allows easy travel Southward toward the flat, broad West-central arm of Grasshopper Glacier, to the East of Klondike Peak.

There appear to be multiple places to cross from the West side of Grasshopper Glacier to its East side. I chose a route just to the South of a melted out area (a large rock island) that’s situated due South of point 12568′ and to the WNW of point 12295′, at the 12200′ contour line. I met rock on the East side of the glacier just a little North of the NE side of the glacial lake just below the 12000′ contour line. It was a little steep around the South side of this rock island, with nearby open crevasses, but the steep section was short and the rest of the glacier was low angle with few nearby crevasses.

Grasshopper Glacier to Dinwoody Moraine

Travel from the glacial lake to the divide separating Gannett Creek drainage was fairly easy with a mix of small shattered rock, talus, sandy areas and some tundra. From just before the saddle, staying high and to the East will give you more tundra and less talus.

One of the two most unpleasant stretches of the High Route was the descent into the valley to Gannet Creek, just North of point 12025′. This was mostly steep, unstable talus of various sizes, with a stretch of ice/snow in the middle. The ascent of the little saddle immediately West of point 12025 was less rocky and more dirt/sandy with no snow or ice, but was very steep. The descent from the little saddle to Gannett Glacier was mostly loose scree and steep dirt/sand. The flat stretch of Gannett Glacier from here to the pass just West of West Sentinel as easy to travel with only a few crevasses until you near West Sentinel, where the cracks can be end-run on the East side of the glacier.

The second unpleasant stretch of the High Route was descending from West Sentinel pass to the camping area at Dinwoody Moraine, with loose, steep talus of various sizes. From the several rock-ringed campsites at Dinwoody Moraine, there’s a well cairned route leading over large and medium talus to the East, picking up the end of the Glacier Trail at about the 10800′ elevation.

Glacier Trail: Upper Dinwoody Creek to Downs Fork Meadows

After two and a half days of talus hopping, glacier traversing and high, exposed, off-trail travel, the top of the Glacier Trail in upper Dinwoody Creek weaving through grassy meadows is a welcome sight. Upper Dinwoody Creek is very scenic: a classic U-shaped alpine valley, paved with a mix of meadows and granite slabs, split by a braided glacial stream and surrounded by towering craggy peaks. The trail is easy to follow with a mix of rough sections with deep erosion, mud holes and rocks, plus smooth sections with good trail bed. There were good campsites just above treeline on the West side of the trail, amongst the krummholz. There were also tent pads higher up the valley at the top of the trail, just below where the talus began.

From treeline down to Ink Wells trail junction and Big Meadows, there is one significant stream crossing which required fording at Gannett Creek, and another smaller stream just down the trail from there. The trail is a little steep just below treeline for a ways, but fairly low angle overall, with many small ups and downs as it skirts around the West side of many meadows. The trail was again a mix of rough rocky and muddy areas near the meadows, plus stretches of smooth trail bed here and there. After the junction with Ink Wells trail, the trail become more well used, especially by horses.

The “new bridge” over the Downs Fork river is at least 20 minutes upstream from the old removed bridge location on relatively level brand new trail. The old bridge has been completely removed. The signs on the North and South sides of Downs Fork river could be a little confusing to hikers unfamiliar with the background on these bridges. The signs point toward the old removed bridge location and call it the “Glacier Trail” and also point to the West and call it the “New Bridge Trail”. People unfamiliar with the old or new bridges would logically seek to stay on the Glacier Trail, which just leads to a removed bridge historical location with no easy way to cross the river. In reality, the “New Bridge Trail” is just a rerouting of the Glacier Trail, of which it is a part, though the signs don’t reflect this.

Glacier Trail: Downs Fork Meadows to Glacier Trailhead

The trail becomes more rocky and steeper as it leaves the Downs Fork river a little ways North of Downs Fork Meadows. There were good campsites on the South side or pretty Star Lake and lots of camping options along the East shores of beautify Double Lake. As you approach treeline, the last water for 4 miles is where the trail passes the willow-chocked creek draining Burrow Flat. The high point of this part of the Glacier Trail at Pass 10895 (aka Arrow Pass) is very scenic with vast gentle grassy meadows in all directions. The switchbacks descending into the Bomber Basin from the South are numerous, rocky and mostly dry, but gently inclined. As you descent below about 8400′ the trail becomes more rough and rocky as the terrain changes from a mountain valley to an area of rocky domes. After passing the bridge over Torrey Creek it’s smooth sailing on good trail to the trailhead.

Water

See the Caltopo.com map above for water locations marked by blue dots. There were many other locations with water, but the dots marked some of the main ones.

Water was fairly abundant for most of the trip with no extended dry sections of more than a few miles, with a few exceptions. The Ross Lake Trail and the off-trail route beyond it was dry for a 7 mile stretch from the trailhead to the small valley just North of point 11038′, with one exception: a small trickle of muddy water running at the spring marked at 9880′ on some topo maps, SE of Whiskey Mountain’s summit.

There was also a 4 mile stretch with no easily accessible water on the Glacier Trail between the creek that drains Burrow Flat at 10460′ and the stream below Williamson Corrals, where the trail crosses the 10000′ contour line. And the rocky switchbacks between Williamson Corrals creek and Bomber Basin (East Torrey Creek) was also mostly dry.

Other than the first 7 miles of the trip, water was abundant for nearly all of the route, with only a few short dry stretches of a few miles or less along the High Route. Water was plentiful on the glaciers, with frequent rivulets running down their surfaces. In many areas along the High Route, the water was silty from filter-clogging glacial till, so plan accordingly. If you’re willing to carry a liter or so of water, you can pretty much avoid the silty water sources and filter only from clear, un-glaciated sources.

All along the glacier trail there were side streams with clear water at least every few miles or so, with the exception of the 4 mile stretch mentioned above.

People and Wildlife

Most people were along the Glacier Trail and the central part of the High Route, but overall the area was much less crowded than other iconic destinations in the Winds.

A small herd of sheep as seen just to the NE of the summit of Shale Mountain. One elk and one deer were seen in Big Meadows, along the Glacier Trail just North of the Ink Wells trail junction. Elk and deer scat were seen occasionally, and bear scat was seen just a few times.

Gear and Equipment

The principles of ultralight backpacking and lightweight backpacking were employed. The base weight for this trip, including all gear minus food and worn/carried items, was 15.5 pounds, which included nearly 4.5 pounds of camera gear and over a pound of technical gear for the glaciers. The total pack weight on day one, including all food for the trip minus worn items, was 23.3 pounds.

Because of the glacier travel, microspikes and an small ice axe were carried. While the axe was not necessary, it was nice to have while descending the central portion of Grasshopper Glacier, which was moderately steep with a short, crevassed runout.

Much of the gear used on this trip is MYOG (Make Your Own Gear), including the backpack, front packs, hiking pants, bug bivy, gaiters and rain jacket/pack cover combo. For more information on the custom ultralight backpack called the Talaria, please see the link below:

The Talaria Backpack

For camera and video gear, the goal was the achieve very good video quality with the lightest gear possible. For video, a Fuji X-T4 mirrorless camera with 18-55mm lens was used. I also carried a MYOG tripod adapter to turn three trekking poles into a tripod. Also included with four camera batteries, a polarizing filter and a Rode VideoMicro hotshoe microphone for the camera.

Watch the full video for the trip here:
https://youtu.be/z5KnQHimP1U

The inspiration for this trip, hiked from July 23 – 30, 2021, was to hike a high route through the Wind River Range. The most popular high routes through the Winds are one-way routes, starting from one end of the range and ending at the other end, combining trails and off-trail travel while staying close to the crest of the range. If you do a quick search online you’ll find many trip reports, photos and books covering various Wind River High Routes, and there are links to some of them below.

Rather than hiking a one-way high route through the entire range, two separate loops were planned: a Northern high route loop and a Southern high route loop. This trip was the Southern loop. There are several advantages to a loop over a one-way route. Being a loop, no pre-arranged shuttles or hitchhiking between distant trailheads was required. A loop also takes you through twice as much country as a one-way route through the same area. And because the Scab Creek trailhead is roughly half-way along this Southern loop, there were several ways to shorten the trip easily and conveniently, due to weather or for some other reason.

Maps and Route Planning

Planning for this trip included internet research, viewing of multiple maps and extensive use of Google Earth, especially for the off-trail portions of the trip. Most maps of the Winds have inaccuracies and many off-trail routes are not shown on maps. Many of the trails and junctions on maps are either hard to find, misplaced, or nonexistent.

To make printed maps as accurately as possible, trails and route segments were first created using Caltopo.com, then they were exported to Google Earth. Google Earth was then used to adjust and edit the trail and route segments to match actual satellite imagery. Unlike a map, Google Earth lets you see actual trails, talus, scree, cliffs, willows, grassy areas, tundra, game trails and unmapped trail segments, so you can adjust your routes accordingly. Finally, all the routes, trail junctions and numbers and camp locations that were edited in Google Earth were uploaded back to CalTopo.com and printed at a scale of 1:35,000 with a 1 km UTM grid using WGS84 datum.

My Delorme InReach satellite messager was also set to use UTM coordinates and UGS84 datum to allow exact positioning on the printed maps using the Location function of the InReach. There’s a link to the pre-trip CalTopo routes in the descriptions below this video. While I deviated slightly from the planned CalTopo routes in a few places, deviations were short and fairly obvious:

Caltopo map route link:
https://caltopo.com/m/6HAD

Route and Trail Details

Most of the off-trail parts of this trip are well documented online with two exceptions: 1) the ramp connecting Little Sandy trail with Coon Lake near Wind River Peak, and 2) the pass and high bench connecting the Halls Lake drainage to Europe Pass. There are details below on both of these useful cross country routes under Day 3 and Day 7.

DAY 1: Scab Creek trailhead to South Fork Lake

The Scab Creek trail is well maintained, mostly in forest, heavily used and easy to follow the whole way to the trail junction to South Fork Lakes and Cross Lake. This is where the heavy timber ends and the big meadows begin, providing your first wide open views of the high peaks. The junction to South Fork Lake and Cross Lake (trail 110) to the left (strait is called the Dream Lake trail 167) is well marked and obvious and the Cross Lake trail is fairly easy to follow the whole way to Cross Lake area. You’ll pass a few faint trail junctions and a couple of dilapidated cabins on the left before you reach South Fork Lake, were there are a couple of nice camp spots on the treed knob on the South side of the lake.

DAY 2: South Fork Lake to South Side of Texas Pass

The country between South Fork Lake and Cross Lake could be summed up in one word: YUM! It’s not in a grand mountain cirque or bounded by towering rock walls. The beauty of this country lies in its many lakes, its expansive meadows with wide open views and in the cozy, easy travel in nearly any direction you choose to explore. And all the while the jagged spine of the central Wind River Range sweeps along the entire Eastern horizon.

The trail from South Fork Lake to Cross Lake area is fairly easy to follow, though it peters out here and there for short distances in some meadows. Some of the trail junctions marked on some maps are not obvious. From the trail on the South side of Cross Lake looking Eastward, just after the sign and trail junction leading to Upper Silver Lake, the trail disappears for a hundred yards or more in a meadow to the left. The only immediately visible trail at this junction is the one going right (it looks like it’s going strait) to Upper Silver Lake (trail 094), but that’s not the correct trail. If you look in the far distance to the East, you’ll see the correct trail leading up a slope toward higher ground 3/4 mile in the distance (trail 093, Crossover Trail). If you just keep heading due East, the Crossover trail becomes more obvious trail in 10 minutes or so.

As you get closer to the Fremont Trail junction near pass 10342 in the USGS map, the Crossover Trail peters out and disappears, But if you keep looking off to the left, you’ll see the Fremont Trail on the East edge of the meadows you’re hiking through, and it will keep getting closer and closer until you reach the obvious sign and junction at point 10342.

Once you’re on the Fremont Trail (Continental Divide Trail or CDT), the trail is fairly obvious and well used the whole way to the crossing of East Fork River (near where Washakie Creek joins it) at UTM coordinates 12T 0638098E 4739536N (WGS84 datum). However, shortly thereafter there’s a junction where you leave the CDT and take a left and descend to Washakie creek, but this junction was not marked by a sign and no trail junction was visible. This unmarked and unseen junction is at 0638861E 4739470N. After descending to the Washakie creek, the trail becomes obvious again. In a few minutes or so, you’ll come to the creek for a third time and there’s a short dogleg to the right and up a small hill to pick up the Shadow Lake trail, which is well signed and obvious (left across the creek goes to Washakie Pass).

Once you’re on the Shadow Lake Trail, the trail is very obvious and much more well used. Near Shadow Lake there are many interconnected trails and campsites on the North end of the lake. But if you keep going upward and stay to the left when in doubt, you’ll eventually hit the main trail up to Texas Pass.

The trail over Texas Pass was fairly obvious the whole way and well-used. The scenery keeps getting more and more spectacular as you climb up this alpine valley. There is a trail and switchbacks the whole way up the North side of Texas Pass, but it’s steep and loose, but nothing technical. The South side of Texas Pass begins with a short snowfield crossing, which was low angle and easy, followed by rocky slabs for a few hundred yards, then a good trail begins once you reach the grassy meadow areas. There are several small areas in this open grassy section of the trail where one could camp, off to the right, with plenty of nearby water (between 10700′ and 11000′ in elevation) thus avoiding a camp at Shadow Lake.

DAY 3: South Side of Texas Pass to Coon Lake

The remainder of the trail descending from Texas Pass to Lonesome Lake takes you down to the Northwest side of the Lake and is steepest and most rocky the last quarter mile just above the lake. The picture-perfect view from the lake’s outlet looking back up at Pingora and the other towering peaks of Cirque of the Towers was one of the scenic highlights of the trip.

Jackass Pass’s North side is very obvious, well used and moderately graded. However, on the South side of Jackass pass, there are two trail options that join in a mile or so. I followed the Eastern trail above Arrowhead Lake (trail 099) to avoid the large talus boulder on the lower trail that traverses around the West side of the lake. The trail is rocky, convoluted and slow going with lots of little ups, downs and curves around the many obstacles in the valley passing Arrowhead Lake and North Lake. After you cross North Creek at 10080′, the trail become much smoother and easier the rest of the way down to Big Sandy Lake.

At the East end of Big Sandy Lake, immediately after crossing the outlet stream from Clear Lake, be sure to stay low and to the right at the junction with the trail to Black Joe Lake. This junction is signed and the correct trail to Clear and Deep Lakes is down below and to the right of the sign. From here, the trail is obvious and well used up past the inlet to Clear Lake.

As the trail curves toward the creek above Clear Lake, it disappears after crossing the creek. However, there are large, smooth and easy to travel rocky slabs on the West side of the creek that take you the whole way up to Deep Lake. Once at Deep Lake, the trail is fairly obvious around the West side of the lake and up to the small pass between Deep and Temple Lakes.

After you pass the narrow middle part of spectacular Temple Lake, the most obvious trail takes a sharp right turn and descends steeply to the lake. This is the trail marked on the USGS 7.5′ maps. However, on Google Earth, there is an obvious optional trail which stays high above the East side of temple lake, loosing less elevation than the marked trail. However, I could not find the beginning of this trail from its North end, and so I ended up descending the the SE side of the lake and following the trail on the USGS map. Only after ascending half way to “Temple Pass” did I look back and see an obvious rock cairn making the Southern terminus of this higher trail option.

The trail up “Temple Pass” (the unnamed pass between Temple and East Temple peaks) was very steep and disappeared here and there in meadows, but with a little looking around, it was easy enough to find and follow the whole way to the broad pass above. At the Pass, there’s little sign of any trail and few visible rock cairns to follow. However, if you stay to the left (East) as you begin to descend the East side of the pass, you’ll soon see a well-used trail and several well-constructed switchbacks the whole way down the East side of the Pass. This well-constructed trail quickly disappears as you approach the last grassy slopes just above lake 10839 at the bottom of the pass. But the trail position on the USGS 7.5′ maps is fairly accurate, and if you head downstream first on the North side and then crossing the stream at 10600′, you’ll find a fairly obvious trail that follows the South side of the Little Sandy Creek down the valley.

The upper valley of Little Sandy Creek is very pretty, with a classic U-shaped floor filled with flowers, meadows and stands of stunted subalpine trees. The trail down Little Sandy does peter out here and there in meadow areas, but is easy to follow. And as you continue down valley, the cross-country ramp leading up toward Coon lake is fairly obvious in the distance.

Below are details on the cross-country ramp route leading from Little Sandy Creek to Coon Lake:

Little Sandy trail to Coon Lake

The ramp from Little Sandy trail to Coon Lake is obvious as you hike East on the Little Sandy trail from Temple Pass. As you approach the base of the ramp, the valley flattens and widens into meadows and there’s also a rock cairn near the stream draining lake 10786 to the West. Leave the trail and cross Little Sandy Creek just above the confluence with the stream draining lake 10786 – UTM coordinates 12T 0652719E 4726414N (WGS84 datum). As you climb the hill up and right on intermittent game trails, you’ll soon encounter a fan of talus breaking through the cliff band with a large boulder/chockstone at the narrow top of the fan. The crux is getting around this boulder/chockstone on the right, climbing over steep, heavily vegetated talus.

The crux chockstone was not technical and only took a few moves to get around, but it was heavily vegetated with willows, slippery and steep Class III terrain. After the chockstone, the route becomes more and more obvious as you climb the obvious ramp up and right, with intermittent trail segments becoming visible as you get closer to the top. Near the high point of the route, stay left of the largest rocky dome and continue down to the Southwest corner of Coon Lake, then pick up a way trail lining the South side of the lake. The image below has more details:

DAY 4: Coon Lake to Bear Lakes via Wind River Peak

Around 400 – 500 feet West of the outlet of Coon Lake, there’s an open meadow area that heads ENE. Follow this meadow with intermittent faint trail segments leading to the ENE and stays just right (East) of the rocky ridge on the left. You’ll come to a modest pass (12T 0654801E 4726352N, WGS84 datum) with a view down to an open valley and Tayo Creek. Descend ENE and stay right in the bottom of the valley, crossing Tayo Creek, and then continue ENE to find the Tayo Lake trail in short order.

From scenic Tayo Lake, you’ll find intermediate faint trail segments on the gentle ridge just East of the lake heading up toward Wind River Peak – just follow the path of least resistance and it’s hard to get lost the whole way to the summit. If the weather is good and you’re in this area, the views from the summit are not be be missed. On the descent from Wind River Peak to Deep Creek Lakes, stay to the right after passing Chimney Rock to find the most gentle slopes leading down to Deep Creek Lakes.

From the outlet of lake 10840+ (UTM 12T 0656162E 4732387N, WGS84 datum), follow a faint intermittent trail to the NNE and descend a small valley toward lake 10480+ and pick up the trail just above the lake near UTM 12T 0656259E 4732819N. After crossing the outlet stream of lake 10480+, you’ll see an obvious trail and sign post for the Ice Lakes trail, heading up a small pass then down to the North past Echo and Baer Lakes to the Pinto Park trail.

The next few hours of hiking were perhaps the least scenic of the trip, with heavy timber blocking most of the views of the surrounding peaks, but the trail is good and well traveled. A left at the junction with Pinto Park trail and a mile later another left on the North Fork Trail will take you to the Lizard Head meadows in 5 miles.

At Lizard Head Meadows, there’s an obvious sign and trail heading up the Lizard Head trail to Bear Lakes and Lizard Head plateau beyond. At 10600′ there’s a trail junction with the way trail heading over to the smallest of the two Bear Lakes with multiple campsites at the first pretty lake.

DAY 5: Bear Lakes to Mays Lake via Lizard Head and Hailey Pass trails

Going back to the 10600′ junction, take the uphill path that leads up and onto Lizard Head Plateau. This trail is singular and obvious until you reach a flatter area 11700′ in elevation, where the trail diverges and re-converges again multiple times. As you hike further North along the plateau, the trail becomes less obvious and discontinuous, but it’s pretty easy to follow if you look around a little. As you begin climbing the pass left (West) of Cathedral Peak, the trail becomes more obvious and singular again. Being a fan of high open places, the plateau was one of my favorite parts of the trip.

The Junction with Bears Ears trail where you turn left is obvious at the North end of the large flat pass area to the NE of Cathedral Peak. From there, the trails and trail junctions down past Valentine Lake, down the South Fork Little Wind River and up past Grave Lake were obvious, well marked and well used. Grave Lake has a big sandy beach and cove not far North of the bridge crossing of the outlet stream – this would be a fun place to camp and swim on a future trip.

Further on, the trail junction with Baptiste Lake was signed and obvious, just before the crossing of Baptiste Creek. This area is a real scenic gem – a return trip to see Baptiste Lake and Mount Hooker closer up is in order. Hailey Pass was steep on the North side, but it has good switchbacks and easier, better footing than Texas Pass’s North side. From there’s it’s a pretty obvious trail down to the outlet meadows of Mays Lake (Maes Lake on some maps).

DAY 6: Mays Lake to Halls Lake via Raid and Bonneville Passes

The trail up to Pyramid Lake beginning along the West shore of Mays Lake is obvious and well used. The pretty little valley West of Pyramid Lake and North of Midsummer Dome had a faint and intermittent way trail up to the gentle divide above East Park Lakes. From the gentle divide, it’s a mix of grassy slopes and intermittent easy rocky areas if you contour NNW between 10700 – 10800′ in elevation to the outlet of lake 10800-. The East Fork valley was one of the scenic highlights of the trip, with very pretty lakes, pastoral meadows and towering shear granite walls.

From lake 10800-, there’s an obvious way trail ascending the ridge due North just left (West) of the lake. Above 11200 feet, the way trail peters out – but just crest the ridge and the route to Raid Peak Pass due West from this point should be fairly obvious. There’s a bit of large talus in the small basin just below the pass, but the route is very obvious.

Descending the East side of Raid Peak Pass starts with talus but gets easier as you near the small pond at 11400-. I choose the longer and easier route around lake 10521 to descend into Bonneville Basin rather than descending steeply and directly to Lake 10828. The key to the easiest descent to Bonneville Basin is to continue descending in the small drainage Eastward making sure to pass the point where the stream turns right and drops abruptly into Bonneville Basin. If you keep descending East, leaving the stream, you’ll come of a small, flat, obvious grassy shoulder meadow (UTM 12T 0633909E 4746727N, WGS84 datum) – this is where you turn right to descend to Lake 10521 most easily.

From the outlet of Lake 10521, there’s a faint intermittent way trail up the valley that stays North or West of the creek. At 10600, the route crosses to the East side of the creek and immediately goes up a steep and obvious way trail up to the outlet of lake 10828. The route stays on the West side of Lake 10828 from here. Above the inlet of lake 10828, there are interconnected rocky ramps that lead up to Bonneville Pass (aka Sentry Pass), with 10 feet of steep and solid Class III scrambling in one spot below the pass.

The highly scenic Middle Fork valley lies below you to the North from Bonneville/Sentry Pass. On the descent I stayed right on the descent in order to intersect with grassy slopes West of Nylon Peak as soon as possible. I then stayed high above Lee Lake as long as possible to shorten the amount of time having to travel through willows. Near the outlet of Lee lake on its East shore a use trail become obvious. At the ponds and marshy area between Lee and Middle Fork Lakes, I veered right and upward to find more open grassy slopes East of the inlet of Middle Fork Lake and to avoid the willows lower in the valley. In the open grassy slopes above the East side of Middle Fork Lake a way trail begins to appear and becomes more obvious and consistent as you approach Bewmark Creek. From the creek, there’s an obvious trail along the pretty North shore of Middle Fork Lake all the way to its outlet.

At the outlet of Middle Fork Lake, there’s an obvious gentle and open grassy slope leading up and North. After rounding the first few small ponds on the left, begin heading to the West through pleasant rolling, mostly open country upward toward a 10720+ foot pass just South of point 11506 (12T 0629914E 4753000N). From this little pass (which is more of a shoulder than a pass), descend gently to the NNW passing the lake South of Halls Lake on the West side until you reach the South end of Halls Lake. Yet another grand lake resting in a beautiful alpine valley. There are a few campsites further along the West shore of Halls and several camp sites a little further North near the outlet of Halls Lake.

DAY 7: Halls Lake to Crescent Lake via Europe Canyon “Highpass”, and the Europe Canyon, Fremont and Scab Creek trails

The “Highpass” route from Halls Lake to Europe Pass is detailed below:

Halls Lake to Europe Pass “Highpass” route

The pass and bench connecting the Halls Lake drainage to Europe Pass is fairly obvious on Google Earth and it provides an efficient high bypass or “highpass” of Europe Canyon. From Halls Lake outlet head North along the East side of pretty Shoestring Lake (Lake 10664) to a valley that leads around to the right and then up to the gentle grassy slops that lead up toward the pass just East of point 11871. From the pass, look to the right for the beginning of a narrow ramp or bench that will take you North to a hanging valley below points 11630 and 11778. Head north along the ramp/bench to the hanging valley, then climb the grassy slopes just right of point 11630 for a few hundred vertical feet to the Continental Divide. Once on the Divide, walk a short distance WNW to Europe Pass.

Overall, the route from Halls Lake to Europe Pass was very scenic, fairly obvious and less steep and slightly easier than the routes over Raid Pass and Bonneville Pass the previous day. The image below has more details:

From Europe Pass, there’s an obvious trail that descends into Europe Canyon for a while, though the trail peters out as you pass the upper lake (lake 11023). The trail is visible intermittently as you pass the West side of the middle lake (lake 10813), cross the creek near its outlet, then pass the South side of the lower lake (Lake 10741). As you approach beautiful lake 10542, the USGS 7.5′ maps shows the trail leaving Lake 10542 and descending a valley to the right, just below point 11245. However, on Google Earth, the only obvious trail in the area stays close to the North and West shore of lake 10542 all the way to its outlet, and then continues down the lake’s outlet stream. Despite looking for it, I could not find the trail to the right shown on the USGS map.

Fortunately, the trail along the North and West shores of lake 10542 was obvious, well used and easy to follow. About a mile below the lake, the Europe Canyon trail peters out a bit here and there, but it soon intersects the well-used and obvious Fremont Trail/CDT near the NE shore of Valley Lake. Where I joined the CDT there was no sign or obvious trail junction to Europe Canyon, and the trail I had just descended was not obvious from this junction. I’ve seen photos of a signed junction with Europe Pass trail, which may be a little further East along the CDT.

Travel along the Fremont trail from Europe Canyon trail to Scab Creek trail is obvious, well used and generally well signed at trail junctions. This stretch of the Fremont Trail has a really nice mix of lakes, meadows, bits of forest and ever-changing mountain views to the East. Turning off the CDT, the Scab Creek trail (aka Dream Lake Trail 167) peters out and disappears intermittently on the NW side of Dream Lake, but it becomes more obvious again as it passes the Western bay of Dream Lake. There’s a short side trail to Crescent Lake, with lots of campsites between the main trail and the lake. Big meadows studded with pretty lakes with wide open views of the high peaks – yum!

DAY 8: Crescent Lake to Scab Creek trailhead

From Crescent Lake area, the Scab Creek Trail 110 is obvious and well used all the way back to the Scab Creek trailhead. Day 8 was a short 4 hour hike out through mostly forested country.

Overall Route Observations

There was some uncertainty before the trip about the route, especially the off-trail portions of it and how easy it would be to find the best paths. As always, the weather was a concern, given the high and exposed nature of a high route. But in the end nearly all of the routes and paths followed on the trip were fairly easy to find and navigate. And the weather for the first five days of the trip was completely dry all day long, which was a true blessing.

If you’re accustomed to boulder hopping and/or off-trail peak bagging in the Rockies, then this route should feel moderate and very doable to you IMHO, even with a 25 pound pack. The two most technically challenging parts of the trip were Class III and very short lived and were the only two places where I stowed my trekking poles to the backpack so I could use both hands. The first was at the top of the talus fan toward the beginning of the ramp leading from Little Sandy trail to Coon late (see details above). The second was just below (or just South of) pass 11360+ between Bonneville Lakes and Lee lake, involving a few steep Class III moves on solid rock, connecting rocky ramps.

Water Availability

With few exceptions, there was frequent water available each day, even at higher elevations and in places unexpected. Given the abundance of water, there was no part of the trip that required me to carry more than a liter of water at a time. Some key observations about water availability include:

• There was water just below the summit of Wind River Peak, below the snowfield on the South ridge, and at 12000′ on the ENE ridge as well. If you’re at Tayo Lake and can see a snowfield just below the summit on the South side of the peak, then there should be plenty of water just under the snowfield.
• Water was found at pass 11480+ near the junction of Lizard Head plateau trail and Bears Ears trail. There as a snowfield here with plenty of running water.
• There was little water along the Lizard Head plateau trail after passing the small streams near 11600 in elevation above Bear Lakes, Northbound.
• In the East Fork Valley, the highest easily accessible water was from the outlet stream of the small lake at 10800. There’s a well-defined way trail for a while going up the ridge just left of this lake.
• In the small valley just NE of Shoestring Lake at 10800-11000 there was a small stream with plenty of water. There was a little water just below the pass just East of point 11871 from a small snowfield under the pass. There was also water flowing in the small hanging valley at the northern end of the Europe Canyon “highpass” bench/ramp as described above.

Favorite Areas

This was an amazing trip through one of the most beautiful and unique mountain ranges in the U.S. The scenery and country was consistently gorgeous, but there are some places I’d visit again and others I probably won’t. While the Texas Pass, Jackass Pass, Shadow Lake and especially Cirque of the Towers were spectacular and very scenic, these areas are not high on my list of places to revisit, mostly due to the crowds. Probably 80% of the people I saw on the entire trip were seen between Shadow Lake trail and Big Sandy Lake.

My favorite areas were the South Fork valley, Middle Fork Lake area and especially the area around Halls Lake and Europe Pass. The mountains here are a little less dramatic, but the valleys are flatter and more open, cross country travel is easier and the peaks are still quite majestic and pretty, if not as dramatic as the Cirque of the Towers. The Lizard Head plateau, Grave Lake and Baptiste Creek were also very pretty on my list for a revisit in the future.

Although this trip was in July, it was a low snow year and all the routes followed were essentially snow-free. Being late July, wildflowers were in their peak, as were the mosquitos. The sun hat, woven nylon shirt and pants and a tightly woven wind shirt with hood in camp did a good job of keeping mosquitos from biting for the most part, though either a bug net or repellent would have been welcome at a few of the campsites.

Overall, there was very little game encountered on this trip, apart from a few moose above Lonesome Lake, a few elk above Middle Fork Lake and the occasional deer here or there in a meadow. Bear scat was only observed a few times on this trip – a lot less bear sign than my old stomping grounds in Olympic National Park 🙂

Gear and Equipment

To make this trip as easy and enjoyable as possible while still being safe, the principles of ultralight and light weight backpacking were employed. The base weight for this trip, including all gear minus food and worn/carried items, was just over 11.8 pounds. The total pack weight on day one, including all food for the trip minus worn items, was 24 pounds. While I could have saved 2 to 4 pounds easily and safely, a little extra weight was allotted since this was a longer trip: a very comfortable sleeping pad, sandals to wear around camp and extra video gear. There’s a LighterPack.com link to all the gear used for this trip in the description below.

Gear list for Southern Wind River High Route loop:
https://lighterpack.com/r/y3mdwx

Much of the gear used on this trip is MYOG (Make Your Own Gear), including the backpack, front packs, bug bivi, hiking pants, gaiters and rain jacket/pack cover combo. For more information on the custom ultralight backpack called the Talaria, please see the link below:

https://www.olympicul.com/product/talaria-backpack/

Video and Photo Gear

For camera and video gear, the goal was to take the lightest and most affordable setup possible that provided reasonable video quality and good image stabilization without a tripod. For video, I used a GoPro 8 set to Cinematic mode, 4K and full stabilization. For stills an iPhone SE was used because it’s small, light and captures RAW images. I also carried a small Joby tripod and an Anker 10000 mAh power pack for recharging. The stills were processed using Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop. Audio was made using Adobe Audition. The video was made using Adobe Premiere Pro and Bridge as well as Google Earth.

As 2019 draws to a close we are thankful for the blessings we enjoyed this year and for the new opportunities that lay ahead for 2020. While it was a trying year in one way, 2019 was also a year of successes in our personal lives, our health and in our business.

After more than 20 years of living a full, happy life our cat Patches passed on the evening of October 8th – the eve of Yom Kippur. She did not suffer and things went very quickly and smoothly at the end, which was a real blessing for Patches and for us. Her being with us the last year or so was an unexpected blessing, thanks in part to the daily fluids, special home-cooked diet and finely tuned supplementation and medication regimen we provided for her. She was a sweet little trooper, always pulling through the rough spells quickly and in good spirits.

The big bright side of Patches’ passing is the opportunity to travel again, especially trips with the two of us together. Most of 2019 we were pretty much home bound caring for Patches, but we have already begun to make plans for some longer trips. We look forward to seeing more of our family and friends again!

In mid October we visited Ocean Shores WA together for a night – it was our farewell trip for Patches and the beginning of a bright new stage in our lives. We watched the sun set into the Pacific and Les enjoyed the best pancakes he’s ever had at Ocean Beach Roasters & Bistro. In late October we enjoyed a two-night trip to see the Columbia River and North Cascades highway, staying in Wenatchee WA. The North Cascades treated us to bighorn sheep, towering glacier clad peaks and Michelle got to see larch trees for the first time, with their needles in full Fall golden glory.

Michelle continues to be blessed with positive results in her health journey, through a combination of metabolic nutritional typing, customized diet changes and a successful supplement and detoxification regimen. She is looking better, feeling better and has more energy and stamina than she’s had since the mid 90’s.

Les enjoyed some fun day hiking and a few one-night backpack trips in 2019. He’s looking forward to more trips into the hills in 2020, especially a few longer trips. His part time custom backpack business www.OlympicUL.com did well this Spring and Summer. He’s made 18 backpacks so far with plans for more this winter season.

Business has been doing better this year with the help of some new strategies and products. Our health and wellness websites took a big hit in 2018, losing over 90% of our traffic after Google started censoring holistic and natural health information. Despite this setback, our new e-courses, books and supplement products have been doing well and should continue to expand through next year.

Basically, Google is now financially partnered to big Pharma. Any health information outside of mainstream medicine and drugs has been demoted or completely removed from Google search results. Very popular, authoritative and science-based holistic doctors and their websites can no longer be found using Google search, unless you already know their name and search directly for them. Google also censors news, scientific, political, social and other information that they deem is best for you not to know. The days of believing that Google is unbiased are over. Google used to show you information based on popularity and helpfulness, but now you only see what Google feels is best for you to know. If you want unbiased health or other information on the internet, be sure to use other search engines like Duckduckgo.com or StartPage.com.

Below are a few photos and videos from 2019 – we hope you enjoy them!

Here are the web addresses for two videos:

https://youtu.be/OXEDzhI2bpc

https://www.facebook.com/lester.moore.5817/videos/143698420140798/

Tyler Peak (6364′), Baldy (6831′), Gray Wolf – North (7218′) and Gray Wolf – South (7076′) sit at the northern end of the Olympic Mountains and form a high ridge line of conspicuous summits visible above the town of Sequim WA. The steep trails accessing Baldy and Tyler offer quick access to some of the prettiest high mountain terrain in the Olympics, with commanding views of the Strait of Juan de Fuca to the North and the high peaks of Royal Basin to the South.

The summit of Baldy is broad and gentle with a convenient tent platform ringed with stones to block the wind. It’s a memorable and scenic place to spend the night, provided that the weather cooperates.

The ridge line connecting these four peaks is high, mostly gentle and relatively easy to hike. Baldy and Tyler are by far the most popular of the four, with trails leading to both summits. Gray Wolf North sees some traffic, with a faint and intermittent foot path. Gray Wolf South is rarely traveled, with very few signs of a path.

This is a one-night trip in the Buckhorn Wilderness, in the rain shadow of the Olympic Mountains. Being in the rain shadow, this area sees less snow and the winter snow pack melts out earlier than other mountain areas. This allows easy high mountain access in June without extensive snow travel. And June is one of the best times of year in the Olympics: wildflowers blooming, warmer nights, moderate bugs and really long days.

This loop hike is 28 miles long and has a lot of variety, including forested valleys with 200 foot trees, scenic mountain passes, multiple non-technical peaks and a mix of on-trail and moderate off-trail travel. It includes three passes, including Marmot Pass, “Hawk Peak” pass, and the Mt. Townsend-Welsh Peaks pass. Here’s the map: https://caltopo.com/m/TA7D

Getting to the Tubal Cain trailhead around 3:30PM on Friday, I was blessed to find a ride back down the road 4 miles to the Upper Dungeness trailhead. Camp was just beyond Marmot Pass on the PNT, not far from the summit of Buckhorn. The following day had all the vertical: up and down Buckhorn, down to Tubal Cain, up Tull Canyon to Hawk Peak, down to Silver Lakes, up to Mt Townsend, and down the steep Dirty Face Ridge trail to my waiting truck.

2018 was a year of growth and change. Michelle, our cat Patches and I all experienced some big health events this year, mostly for the better. We made a major shift in our home-based business in the way we market our products. Michelle and I also got away on several short trips this year and we got to see some old friends visiting from Colorado. You can see our 5 photo albums from 2018 below the text.

Michelle has made some major strides with her health over the last several months. She started a metabolic nutritional typing program that has helped her to resolve several health challenges she has had for years. The program is a combination of diet and lifestyle evaluation, testing, very specific and individualized foods and supplementation, genetic testing and ongoing consultations with a specialist in nutritional typing. In part, she was eating way too many vegetables for her metabolic type and that was making her health worse. Michelle is feeling and looking better than she has in years and is back to her mid-1990’s weight. It’s a program I’ll likely do myself after Michelle has a chance to go through it some more – she’s the designated guinea pig 🙂

My health has been doing well with the exception of Bakers Cysts behind both knees, which started in September of 2017 after a long backpack. It’s not an uncommon issue for runners, but for me it was a combination of factors that was the likely cause (improper shoes, gate issues and some diet factors). This spring I learned how to manage the condition well enough to hike and run, thanks to a combination of PT work and visiting a naturopathic sports medicine doctor in Seattle. After fine-tuning my diet and supplements, the cysts are hardly noticeable anymore, unless I start eating a lot of sugar and dairy.

Patches has been doing remarkably well, considering that two years ago we didn’t envision her living more than a few more months. Her health and stamina have been holding pretty well over the last year, which is great considering that she’s almost 20 years old – that’s like 96 years to you and me. This summer we started giving her subcutaneous (under the skin) fluids every other day, which has helped her feel better. It’s a two-person job giving her the fluids. In fact, it’s a real part-time job taking care of her. If Michelle and I had regular jobs, I doubt Patches would be here today, so we’re blessed to be able to work at home and care for her.

On the business front, we’ve been switching gears away from Google and search marketing toward Amazon and non-search marketing. Google’s constant search algorithm changes keep making it more difficult to find good alternative and natural health information online, including websites like ours. While Google says they are trying to protect people from dubious medical advice, they are actually squelching many well-established, science-based voices in the natural health arena. So, we’ve been changing our strategies and techniques to compensate. Our latest project has been converting our existing printed books to Kindle e-books.

Due to Patches’ health, we stayed close to home this year. So that one of us could be home to care for her, most of our trips any longer than half a day were solo. Michelle went to see the lavender season peak in Sequim and made a few trips to Olympic National Park, including Lake Crescent. She also visited Seattle a few times to hear some of her favorite speakers. My trips have been mostly one-night backpacking excursions close to home, but I did get to the Cascades for a few two-night trips and even a three-night trip this Fall. Last winter I took up sewing and made several pieces of outdoor gear. My main projects were a pair of wind pants, a synthetic quilt, an inner net tent for my tarp and six different backpacks. Making the backpacks was really enjoyable – I actually sold three of them through our www.olympicUL.com website. Right now making backpacks is just a winter part-time hobby, but we’ll see what happens in the future.

In June we had the pleasure of visiting with our Colorado friends Steve and Lisa and her daughter Ellie. Boy, it’s been too long since we were back in CO to see everyone. Seeing Lisa and Steve makes us remember how much we miss our friends and family. CO is the first place we plan to visit as soon as we have more flexibility to travel, maybe as part of a longer drive through Arkansas, Pennsylvania and New York too.

On a sadder note, Michelle’s grandfather passed in June at the grand old age of 102! He was doing pretty well overall until early in the year, when a stubborn infection and his weakening strength finally were too much for him to recover from. He was a war hero who flew 30 missions over Europe in WWII as a B-17 bombardier in the Air Force. After the war he invented aircraft countermeasures that protected pilots from enemy missiles. He later retired from IBM after a long and successful career in Boulder, Colorado.

Below are 5 groups of photos from 2018 – we hope you enjoy! Keep scrolling down to see all 5 photo albums. You can flip through the photos by clicking the arrows – but they should advance on their own. Michelle and I wish you a very happy Christmas and New Year – wish we could be there to celebrate with you!
 
 

Album 1: Below are photos from Steve, Lisa and Ellie’s visit:

Album 2: Below are photos of early season backpacks in the Olympics:

Album 3: Below are images of peak summer hikes in the Olympics:

Album 4: Below are images from Fall hikes in the Cascade Range:

Album 5: Below are Michelle’s photos she took on some of her trips: