Wyoming Backpacking

Wandering_About

Wandering_About

Joined
Apr 25, 2007
Messages
3,422
Went to the Wind Rivers at the head of the Green River for a six-day backpacking trip this summer. We had a great time, but the terrain was pretty brutal. The trailhead was at 8,000 ft elevation and we made it up to 13,000 feet. The last day we walked out about 18 miles. The scenery was pretty amazing, very rugged country. Here are a few pictures from the trip:

Also got a new camera just before the trip, so the picture quality is a bit better than before. I'm pretty happy with the results.

Getting ready for the hike at the Green River trailhead.
625541159_MV24r-L.jpg


Looking across the Green River lakes up toward Squaretop Mountain.
625542998_vmeka-L.jpg


The view down the Green River, looking toward the Tetons to the Northwest.
625549431_xALGx-L.jpg


Dave bushwacking along at the outlet stream from Native Lake.
625579999_fggXx-L.jpg


Blair hiking around on the meadow just before Crescent Lake.
625590236_qErJY-L.jpg


Crescent Lake
625595554_7U5bF-L.jpg


Looking back toward Osborne Mountain
625606972_k3wKR-L.jpg


An unnamed and very icy tarn between Crescent and Bear.
625620389_j2aew-L.jpg


Just above Bear Lake, on the way to Rocking Horse
625623295_cbx5C-L.jpg


Bear Lake
625629782_LUw6A-L.jpg


To be continued...
 
Camp at Rocking Horse Lake
625636902_up9mX-L.jpg


The view across the lake
625637920_EoHgb-L.jpg


Headed UP!
625644711_L4Ntg-L.jpg


Rocking Horse as seen from the top of the Never-ending Boulder Field of Death
625657639_UFSFF-L.jpg


Grasshopper Glacier and lots of very, very tall peaks. Gannett (highest point in WY) is in this picture somewhere.
625667598_nTWF4-L.jpg


Connie Glacier
625679319_txG4p-L.jpg


Sourdough Glacier
625687251_mrfiU-L.jpg


Sourdough Glacier and the aptly-named Iceberg lake. We got stuck here for 2 nights due to bad weather, so we spend some time exploring the area and walked right up to the glacier.
625703761_7v68g-L.jpg


Some of the fog that kept us at Sourdough for an extra night.
625716023_s79XD-L.jpg


A valley of snowfields and unnamed lakes
625722414_BPwTw-L.jpg


To be continued, again...
 
Looks like a really nice trip. Nice pics, too: seems like the new camera is working just fine.
 
Last one, I promise...

This view is down the canyon to Slide Lake, then Green River lake and the trailhead.
625732667_pPcwx-L.jpg


Elbow Lake No. 2
625731544_YJY72-L.jpg


Elbow again, from the other side
625737777_YDySb-L.jpg


From Lost Eagle Peak, headed onward toward the trailhead.
625742600_VJxeG-L.jpg


Looking up the canyon toward Three Forks Park, etc.
625744283_Rzfj5-L.jpg


Slide Lake, close, but still so far away.
625746084_kKgMt-L.jpg


Didn't really take any pictures from here to the trailhead, as we were getting pretty tired and wanted to get from Slide to the trailhead as quickly as possible to beat the sunset.

It was a great trip, but very tough. Next time I'm going to plan something a bit more relaxing! Hope y'all enjoy the pictures.

For those interested, the full album of pictures is here: Lotsa Pictures
 
Sorry guys, no knife pr0n! I was, however, carrying an SAK Farmer and my Breeden light camp knife. Didn't use either very much, as most of our time was above treeline and the dehydrated food we ate didn't need much in the way of knives. The SAK did come in handy when we needed to cut some parachute cord to make guy lines for the tent one very windy evening.

As far as other gear is concerned, most of what we had was the same as previous trips and continued to work well. My pack is a Kelty Scheel's special, and it works just fine. Comfortable, decent pockets and organization, and good construction quality.

The tent we used was a Eureka Apex that my friend owns. It worked okay, but it's starting to show its age. Condensation inside was pretty bad on a couple occasions. It held up in the wind surprisingly well once we got some extra guy lines to tie it down. Still keeps the rain off pretty well, though.

Did have a few new items on this trip, though. First on the list is a pair of 5.11 nylon/cotton blend pants. I think they're a BDU style pant, but I'm not completely sure. In any case, they were very comfortable and definitely dried out much more quickly than my cotton blue jeans. I'll be getting another pair or two of these in the near future, they were great.

Another item I had that was new was a little MSR pot with a folding handle that locks the lid on. MSR Seagull maybe? It proved to be a handy little item. It's a pretty small one, 375 mL I think. It worked great for preparing meals for myself, you could cook two packets of Easy Mac in it great. It was also much nicer for boiling water for dehydrated foods than the cheapo mess kits the other guys brought along. It's a bit heavy for what it is, but it works very well and it's cheaper than some of the high-end titanium, etc. stuff on the market. This one is going to come with me on future trips, for sure.

The last item is the one I liked the most. Got a North Face Cat's Meow just before the trip. I've needed a new sleeping bag for quite a while. My old one was an off-brand 30-degree F rated bag. That rating was pretty optimistic when it was new, never mind after being stored in a compression sack for a few years (ignorance isn't bliss here). The bag did great, and I was warm every night, even when it got cold enough Blair's 2-liter hydration pack turned into slush at night. Not sure if it's the best 20-degree bag out there, but I'm sure happy with it.

That's all I've got for now, unless I think of something else.
 
Great pics! :thumbup: Looks like you had a good time and timed it well. You're lucky you didn't get snowed on, we've had a lot of snow up high this summer.
 
The pics are WOW I love the terrain you travel... how many mile did you do each day?? How cold was it and how much weight did each of you carry???

Sasha
 
Absolutely stunning photos. Some of them look like they were taken from a hang glider. That was quite the trek you went on! It makes me want to push myself more on my next trip.

Thanks for sharing!

- Mike
 
Great pics! I have always wanted to do some backpacking in the Wind River range. Exactly when was this? Looks like early summer.
 
sasha said:
The pics are WOW I love the terrain you travel... how many mile did you do each day?? How cold was it and how much weight did each of you carry???

Sasha
Click to expand...

We went about 5-8 miles each day, except for the last two days. One day we went nowhere due to rain and fog, and the last day we did a boatload of hiking.

Depending on the altitude, it was between 50 and 80 during the day. The first day when we took off it was very warm, and we were all sweating a lot. At night, the coldest it got was probably around 20 degrees.

I was carrying around 35-40 lbs. The heaviest pack of the bunch was around 50, but that particular guy always carries a whole bunch of extra stuff.
 
lambertiana said:
Great pics! I have always wanted to do some backpacking in the Wind River range. Exactly when was this? Looks like early summer.
Click to expand...

Late summer. Last full week in July. There was a LOT more snow than we expected. The creeks were all roaring from snowmelt.

I would highly reccomend the Wind Rivers for backpacking. Been there twice, and have yet to be disappointed.
 
Winds are great..this year has been very cool and wet all around the state..first mid 90's are expected this weekend. So snow pack and water levels are up all over WY, MT and CO. This is a good thing we needed it....if this is global warming, I'll take it!

I have hiked out of the Winds in earily Aug in 12" of new snow..be prepared for ANYTHING!
 
god brother i miss home so bad that is my refuge the winds are the sweetest place on earth to me.. did you guys get to do any fishing in those high mountain lakes?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top