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.
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