Hiking the Wind River Range
Background:
The decision to hike the Wind River Range came to us one rainy Saturday in Little Rock. Like most of our decisions, it was kind of spur of the moment and probably not well conceived. We liked the idea of traveling out west to Colorado, Wyoming or Montana. So we started with the Tetons and Yosemite, but convinced ourselves that we wanted something more remote. So after some searching and googling, we came across a blog with some amazing photos of the Wind River Range. The Winds are part of the Continental Divide and are located in west central Wyoming. Although it is not a national park, it is a National Wilderness so that means no backcountry permits, smaller crowds, beautiful mountains and lakes teeming with trout. This trip may just have been over our experience level, with hiking at elevations over 10 000 ft, bears, possibility of snow, as well as lightning storms, but we convinced ourselves we were up for the challenge. So after buying a book and a map and some research we decided on a 5 day hike covering 40 miles in the southern range.
Planning:
Having never been to Wyoming, we didn't know what to expect. To plan the trip we used hiking maps produced by Earthwalk Press. They are highly recommended and really it was all we needed to plan the trip. There are two maps, one for the northern range and one for the southern. The southern map covers the Bridge Wilderness and Popo Agie Wilderness areas south of 43° Latitude. The northern is, well, north of 43° Latitude. The only down side of there maps is that there are no distances along the routes so you have to use the scale which can be a bit of a pain. Falcon Guide's Wind River Range guide book does a good job of describing numerous hiking routes including their difficulty and popularity and while it's good for planning the trip it's not needed once you get on the trail (and too heavy for backpacking). As far as places to get supplies get what you need in Colorado. We rented bear canisters at REI in Denver and bought whatever supplies we didn't bring there. (We found out you can rent bear canisters much cheaper from the Pinedale Ranger office if they have them). Denver and Ft. Collins have outdoor stores everywhere and should be no problem to find what you need there. Once you get to Wyoming, well it's a different story. There is a small store in Pinedale, but other than that we had to buy our "last" lunch from a gas station since there were not many other options. Keep in mind we were driving from the east through Cheyenne so can't say what you will find coming from other directions, but be prepared to not find much in Wyoming.
Getting There:
Our route took us from Rock Springs on I-80, north on US 191 and then onto some dirt roads for several miles to the trailhead at Big Sandy. More specific directions can be found here. The trail head is at just under 10 000 ft. and is located in an open meadow at the foot of the Winds.
Our Hike:
The total loop we decided on was just under 40 miles, and we planned to do that in 5 days of hiking.
The decision to hike the Wind River Range came to us one rainy Saturday in Little Rock. Like most of our decisions, it was kind of spur of the moment and probably not well conceived. We liked the idea of traveling out west to Colorado, Wyoming or Montana. So we started with the Tetons and Yosemite, but convinced ourselves that we wanted something more remote. So after some searching and googling, we came across a blog with some amazing photos of the Wind River Range. The Winds are part of the Continental Divide and are located in west central Wyoming. Although it is not a national park, it is a National Wilderness so that means no backcountry permits, smaller crowds, beautiful mountains and lakes teeming with trout. This trip may just have been over our experience level, with hiking at elevations over 10 000 ft, bears, possibility of snow, as well as lightning storms, but we convinced ourselves we were up for the challenge. So after buying a book and a map and some research we decided on a 5 day hike covering 40 miles in the southern range.
Planning:
Having never been to Wyoming, we didn't know what to expect. To plan the trip we used hiking maps produced by Earthwalk Press. They are highly recommended and really it was all we needed to plan the trip. There are two maps, one for the northern range and one for the southern. The southern map covers the Bridge Wilderness and Popo Agie Wilderness areas south of 43° Latitude. The northern is, well, north of 43° Latitude. The only down side of there maps is that there are no distances along the routes so you have to use the scale which can be a bit of a pain. Falcon Guide's Wind River Range guide book does a good job of describing numerous hiking routes including their difficulty and popularity and while it's good for planning the trip it's not needed once you get on the trail (and too heavy for backpacking). As far as places to get supplies get what you need in Colorado. We rented bear canisters at REI in Denver and bought whatever supplies we didn't bring there. (We found out you can rent bear canisters much cheaper from the Pinedale Ranger office if they have them). Denver and Ft. Collins have outdoor stores everywhere and should be no problem to find what you need there. Once you get to Wyoming, well it's a different story. There is a small store in Pinedale, but other than that we had to buy our "last" lunch from a gas station since there were not many other options. Keep in mind we were driving from the east through Cheyenne so can't say what you will find coming from other directions, but be prepared to not find much in Wyoming.
Getting There:
Our route took us from Rock Springs on I-80, north on US 191 and then onto some dirt roads for several miles to the trailhead at Big Sandy. More specific directions can be found here. The trail head is at just under 10 000 ft. and is located in an open meadow at the foot of the Winds.
Our Hike:
The total loop we decided on was just under 40 miles, and we planned to do that in 5 days of hiking.
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| 38 Mile Loop |
Day 1:
We finally arrived at Big Sandy Trailhead after over 24 hours of driving at about 3 in the afternoon. We had heard this was one of the most popular trailheads and found it to be a little crowded with vehicles but not as bad as expected. Since it was early enough we figured we could get a start on our hike and set out to Meeks Lake just over 0.5 miles from the trailhead (also we didn't want to pay the $3 to camp at Big Sandy Trailhead). On the way to Meeks the trail to Big Sandy Lake takes off to the east about a quarter mile from the trailhead. The half mile with our backpacks on at that elevation was just about all we were good for the first day.
Day 2:
Our goal for this day was to at least make it to Skull Lake (8.7 miles) and if we felt good to go on to Mae's Lake (9.8 miles). From Meeks the trail heads out of the meadow to the west up into a forested area. Eventually the trail opens up into a long meadow and the views of the mountains really came into view.
The first lake we came across after Meeks was Mirror, it was still early in the morning but we decided to take a break. The lake lived up to its name.
The further north we went, the scenery just got more and more spectacular. Dads Lake was the next lake to the north. We learnt pretty quickly to just keep the camera outside of our backpack so we didn't have to keep stopping to pull it out. The trail goes to west of Dads lake and crosses a creek coming into the lake from the east. We stopped here and filled up our water bottles. From Dads the trail heads uphill through a small valley. Marms lake came into view after climbing up the hill from Dads. We stopped here for lunch and an extended break. The trail continued on the west side of Marms. Not too far after the end of the lake, the trail splits with the Continental Divide Trail continuing to the north and the Pyramid Lake Trail turns to the east and then north through another small valley and climbs uphill. At the top of the climb the views opened up again and you felt like you were in the really in the middle of the mountains with peaks all around. The trail crosses Washakie Creek and the views of the mountains here area really amazing. We stopped here to cool out feet off in the creek and get our energy back for the last stretch of hiking.
After more uphill we reached Skull Lake. After a hammock break at Skull Lake we felt like we could push on to Mae's Lake. We thought the closer we could get to Hailey's Pass the better. Other people had talked about high winds and freak thunderstorms up on the passes so we figured the earlier in the day we could get over the pass the better. It turned out Mae's was a perfect place to stay the night. The creek running off from the lake flows southwest from the lake and offer some great camping sites along the creek.
Day 3:
The plan for day 3 was to make it around Grave Lake and spend the night somewhere between Grave Lake and Valentine Lake. The hike to Hailey's Pass started straight away from Mae's Lake. It wasn't too far to the top, but it was pretty strenuous. Along the way up there are great views back down on Mae's, so we stopped to look at that often, also to catch our breath. Right before you get to the pass, you pass Twin Lakes again a good place to stop and admire the view. We also saw our first glacier of the trip up here. The weather was great no wind and no threat of thunderstorms, so we could take our time when we finally made it to the top.
The view of Mt. Hooker and the valley below was incredible. The further you get into the Winds the more and more amazing the scenery becomes. The hike back down was almost straight down the side of the pass, and the trail consisted of loose rocks. We were glad we we did the pass the direction we did because compared to the descent we were now on, the climb up seemed gradual. On the bright side you do get down the pass quickly that way. Once you make it down to the valley floor the trail crosses Baptiste Creek. It wasn't very deep but was pretty wide and we had to take our shoes off and wade across. The trail takes you back into a wooded area and soon you come across a great view of a waterfall as Baptiste Creek makes its was down into Grave Lake.
Finally we reached Grave Lake, and we weren't prepared for what we had to cross next. The trail follows the north shore of Grave Lake and pretty soon a boulder field from Pilot Knob blocks the route. The only was past is to try your best to follow some sort of trail and wind your way through the maze of boulders. We made it through in over and hour but had only gone less than a mile. Grave lake also is huge compared the the lakes we passed the day before so going around it seemed to take forever. Finally, we crossed the foot bridge at the east end of the lake.
It had already been a long day with the pass, the boulder field and the never ending Grave Lake, so we started thinking about finding a place to camp. Unfortunately, we had passed all the good places to camp at Grave lake and we kept of thinking there will be a better place up ahead.... surely. We did this for another 3 miles, until we couldn't go any more. We had made it into an open valley along the South Fork Little Wind River, we found a knoll just up above the trail that had some flat ground and called it good. From the dung and foot prints we could tell this area had a lot of animals around, but we were to tired to think too much of it. That is until we heard a rock rolling down the hill behind our campsite. We immediately looked in the direction of the noise and there was a large black bear staring back at us. My wife grabbed the bear spray and took of in the opposite direction while I just stood there trying to figure out what to do. The bear wasn't very interested in us and carried on his was, but suddenly we weren't tired anymore. Nothing eventful happened that night but the bear spray was kept within reach at all times.
Day 4:
We figured we were about 1 mile from Valentine Lake and we had a full day of hiking above the timberline over Bears Ears and Lizard Head Pass, but I had been carrying my fly pole the whole time and wanted to use it before getting to Lizard Head Meadow. A guy we passed told us South Forks Lakes would be the best and wasn't too far out of our way. Unfortunately there was no trail to the the lakes (or none we knew of.) To me this meant a great remote fishing spot with fish that would bite anything, but to my wife it meant at any moment we were going to run into a bear. We made it up, no bears and the fishing was great, but since we had a long day ahead, we didn't stay long and headed back to Pyramid lake.
The trail passes to the north of the Lake but quickly heads up hill for a long, long uphill hike the Bears Ears Trail. Shortly after leaving Valentine Lake you get above the timberline and the trails becomes more and more rocky. Up the trail you can see where the name of the trail comes from, as two mountain peak appear over the pass and it looks like... well some bears ears. The trail levels off at the top of the pass, and Lizard Head Trail takes off (up again) to the south. From up on the trail you can look back down into the valley were we had camped and could even see all the way back to Grave Lake. The trail levels off a little at the top but heads up hill again before reaching the pass.
Lizard Head Peak can be seen towering over Bear Lake and some other lake. This was were we planned to stay for the night. The climb down the pass seemed to take forever, maybe because we were ready to be done. It did get pretty steep towards the end and had switch backs to get down to the lake. We were glad to be done with that decent and found a meadow just below the Lake to camp. That night we heard a couple of animals running by the tent, we guessed one was a moose, because we had seen a young moose coming down the pass.
Day 5:
Although we could stay two more days and still make it home in time, we had read in the guide books that Big Sandy was frequented by bears. After the bear sighting two nights before and all the noises the previous night we weren't too keen on being harassed by bears. To make it back to the trailhead would make it our longest day and we still had Jackass Pass to go over. From our unnamed lake the trail descended a little more to Lizard Head Meadows. This area was quite different from what we had seen so far with a lot of vegetation and a tall trees. There also were a lot more people. Up till now, we had seen maybe 10 people, but within a few miles of hiking in the meadows we saw three groups of 10 or more people camping. There were large tents, coolers, and alpacas that had to carry all the stuff over the passes. This gave us more motivation to hike out as we imagined Big Sandy Lake being even more crowded.
After a short break at Lonesome Lake admiring the views of the Cirque of the Towers, we started up over Jackass Pass, the trail was hard to follow going up and later we found out we had gone the old way over. Unfortunately the old way included more boulder fields to get around Arrowhead Lake. This again took us a while to navigate and we eventually joined back on the correct trail. From the opposite direction the trail we had just come from was clearly blocked off. At Arrowhead Lake, we kept on hearing voices but couldn't figure out where there were coming from. Finally we looked up and could barely see people climbing up the side of Warbonnet Peak. They looked tiny on the huge rock face. From here the trail started downhill to North Lake and soon we were passing steady stream of people heading the other way coming from Big Sandy Lake. At North Lake the trail goes along the east side over which involves a little bit of climbing over boulders but wasn't too bad. The trail descends again to Big Sandy Lake. Finally the trail leveled out at the lake, and after a break, we were able to make good time. The trail got flatter and sandier, and the vegetation got drier. We were definitely leaving the mountains. Eventually the trail, follows Big Sandy River and provides for some nice scenery. Before long we were back at the intersection where the trail splits to head to Meeks Lake, were it all began. We got back to the car about 3 in the afternoon and headed into Pinedale to find some food, shower and a bed in that order. All legendary backpacking trips end with a legendary meal and we found an awesome place in Pinedale called Wind River Brewery. There was a nice patio, the weather was perfect, and they served sweet potato fries with bacon and blue cheese. It was a perfect end to one of the greatest trips we'd been on.
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| Meadow north of Mae's Lake |
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| Mirror Lake in the Morning |
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| Looking up Washakie Creek to the backside of the Cirque |
After more uphill we reached Skull Lake. After a hammock break at Skull Lake we felt like we could push on to Mae's Lake. We thought the closer we could get to Hailey's Pass the better. Other people had talked about high winds and freak thunderstorms up on the passes so we figured the earlier in the day we could get over the pass the better. It turned out Mae's was a perfect place to stay the night. The creek running off from the lake flows southwest from the lake and offer some great camping sites along the creek.
Day 3:
The plan for day 3 was to make it around Grave Lake and spend the night somewhere between Grave Lake and Valentine Lake. The hike to Hailey's Pass started straight away from Mae's Lake. It wasn't too far to the top, but it was pretty strenuous. Along the way up there are great views back down on Mae's, so we stopped to look at that often, also to catch our breath. Right before you get to the pass, you pass Twin Lakes again a good place to stop and admire the view. We also saw our first glacier of the trip up here. The weather was great no wind and no threat of thunderstorms, so we could take our time when we finally made it to the top.
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| View from Hailey Pass |
The view of Mt. Hooker and the valley below was incredible. The further you get into the Winds the more and more amazing the scenery becomes. The hike back down was almost straight down the side of the pass, and the trail consisted of loose rocks. We were glad we we did the pass the direction we did because compared to the descent we were now on, the climb up seemed gradual. On the bright side you do get down the pass quickly that way. Once you make it down to the valley floor the trail crosses Baptiste Creek. It wasn't very deep but was pretty wide and we had to take our shoes off and wade across. The trail takes you back into a wooded area and soon you come across a great view of a waterfall as Baptiste Creek makes its was down into Grave Lake.
 |
| Waterfall on Baptiste Creek |
Finally we reached Grave Lake, and we weren't prepared for what we had to cross next. The trail follows the north shore of Grave Lake and pretty soon a boulder field from Pilot Knob blocks the route. The only was past is to try your best to follow some sort of trail and wind your way through the maze of boulders. We made it through in over and hour but had only gone less than a mile. Grave lake also is huge compared the the lakes we passed the day before so going around it seemed to take forever. Finally, we crossed the foot bridge at the east end of the lake.
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| Grave Lake |
It had already been a long day with the pass, the boulder field and the never ending Grave Lake, so we started thinking about finding a place to camp. Unfortunately, we had passed all the good places to camp at Grave lake and we kept of thinking there will be a better place up ahead.... surely. We did this for another 3 miles, until we couldn't go any more. We had made it into an open valley along the South Fork Little Wind River, we found a knoll just up above the trail that had some flat ground and called it good. From the dung and foot prints we could tell this area had a lot of animals around, but we were to tired to think too much of it. That is until we heard a rock rolling down the hill behind our campsite. We immediately looked in the direction of the noise and there was a large black bear staring back at us. My wife grabbed the bear spray and took of in the opposite direction while I just stood there trying to figure out what to do. The bear wasn't very interested in us and carried on his was, but suddenly we weren't tired anymore. Nothing eventful happened that night but the bear spray was kept within reach at all times.
Day 4:
We figured we were about 1 mile from Valentine Lake and we had a full day of hiking above the timberline over Bears Ears and Lizard Head Pass, but I had been carrying my fly pole the whole time and wanted to use it before getting to Lizard Head Meadow. A guy we passed told us South Forks Lakes would be the best and wasn't too far out of our way. Unfortunately there was no trail to the the lakes (or none we knew of.) To me this meant a great remote fishing spot with fish that would bite anything, but to my wife it meant at any moment we were going to run into a bear. We made it up, no bears and the fishing was great, but since we had a long day ahead, we didn't stay long and headed back to Pyramid lake.
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| Fishing at South Forks Lakes |
The trail passes to the north of the Lake but quickly heads up hill for a long, long uphill hike the Bears Ears Trail. Shortly after leaving Valentine Lake you get above the timberline and the trails becomes more and more rocky. Up the trail you can see where the name of the trail comes from, as two mountain peak appear over the pass and it looks like... well some bears ears. The trail levels off at the top of the pass, and Lizard Head Trail takes off (up again) to the south. From up on the trail you can look back down into the valley were we had camped and could even see all the way back to Grave Lake. The trail levels off a little at the top but heads up hill again before reaching the pass.
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| Looking into Lizard Head Meadows from Lizard Head Pass |
Lizard Head Peak can be seen towering over Bear Lake and some other lake. This was were we planned to stay for the night. The climb down the pass seemed to take forever, maybe because we were ready to be done. It did get pretty steep towards the end and had switch backs to get down to the lake. We were glad to be done with that decent and found a meadow just below the Lake to camp. That night we heard a couple of animals running by the tent, we guessed one was a moose, because we had seen a young moose coming down the pass.
Day 5:
Although we could stay two more days and still make it home in time, we had read in the guide books that Big Sandy was frequented by bears. After the bear sighting two nights before and all the noises the previous night we weren't too keen on being harassed by bears. To make it back to the trailhead would make it our longest day and we still had Jackass Pass to go over. From our unnamed lake the trail descended a little more to Lizard Head Meadows. This area was quite different from what we had seen so far with a lot of vegetation and a tall trees. There also were a lot more people. Up till now, we had seen maybe 10 people, but within a few miles of hiking in the meadows we saw three groups of 10 or more people camping. There were large tents, coolers, and alpacas that had to carry all the stuff over the passes. This gave us more motivation to hike out as we imagined Big Sandy Lake being even more crowded.
 |
| Cirque of the Towers |
After a short break at Lonesome Lake admiring the views of the Cirque of the Towers, we started up over Jackass Pass, the trail was hard to follow going up and later we found out we had gone the old way over. Unfortunately the old way included more boulder fields to get around Arrowhead Lake. This again took us a while to navigate and we eventually joined back on the correct trail. From the opposite direction the trail we had just come from was clearly blocked off. At Arrowhead Lake, we kept on hearing voices but couldn't figure out where there were coming from. Finally we looked up and could barely see people climbing up the side of Warbonnet Peak. They looked tiny on the huge rock face. From here the trail started downhill to North Lake and soon we were passing steady stream of people heading the other way coming from Big Sandy Lake. At North Lake the trail goes along the east side over which involves a little bit of climbing over boulders but wasn't too bad. The trail descends again to Big Sandy Lake. Finally the trail leveled out at the lake, and after a break, we were able to make good time. The trail got flatter and sandier, and the vegetation got drier. We were definitely leaving the mountains. Eventually the trail, follows Big Sandy River and provides for some nice scenery. Before long we were back at the intersection where the trail splits to head to Meeks Lake, were it all began. We got back to the car about 3 in the afternoon and headed into Pinedale to find some food, shower and a bed in that order. All legendary backpacking trips end with a legendary meal and we found an awesome place in Pinedale called Wind River Brewery. There was a nice patio, the weather was perfect, and they served sweet potato fries with bacon and blue cheese. It was a perfect end to one of the greatest trips we'd been on.
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