BACK
WHERE IT ALL BEGAN
Christy
and I took our first trip together out west back in 1999. We met in February of that year, and did a
lot of camping and hiking together over the first few months of our
relationship. In September we joined our
friends Myron and Dorcas for our first adventure in the Rocky Mountains. They had already spent a week in Yellowstone
National Park by the time they picked us up at the airport in Jackson,
Wyoming. The beauty of the trip was its
simplicity. We drove to Lander and spent
the first night car camping at Sinks Canyon State Park to help us acclimate to
the altitude. We started our six day Wind River Range backpacking trip at Dickinson Park. We spent the first three days hiking up the
North Fork of the Popo Agie River to Lizard Head
Meadows and the Cirque of the Towers. We
then crossed the scenic Lizard Head Plateau and spent two nights at Valentine
Lake. Before we hiked out on the Bear's
Ear Trail, Christy and I visited Grave Lake and hiked to Hailey Pass.
After
that trip, we were hooked. We’ve taken
at least one hiking trip out west or somewhere else exotic every year
since. A big part of our 2018 trip was a
return to the Wind River Range. Our goal
was to explore some new territory and re-visit some of our favorite places from
that trip in 1999. Specifically, we
wanted to go back to Grave Lake, the Lizard Head Plateau, and the Cirque of the
Towers. The Cirque of the Towers is a
ring of dramatic peaks around the headwaters of the North Fork of the Popo Agie River. It is a
world-famous climbing destination. The
trail across the plateau features several miles of continuous open views of the
high peaks along the Continental Divide to the west. Grave Lake is a massive alpine beauty
featuring an expansive sandy beach.
We
also planned to visit some new areas. I
looked at a lot of options, fueled by “Beyond Trails in the Wind River
Mountains of Wyoming” by Nancy Pallister.
Her book describes 50 off-trail routes for advanced backpackers. Those routes vary in difficulty, from
following unofficial but established routes to class III-IV terrain. I analyzed some of her easier routes in the
southern part of the range. Ultimately we decided to include the route up the East Fork
River to the alpine lakes in its headwaters.
That’s an area I had looked at many times over the years, long before I
purchased the book. We would also visit
Pyramid Lake and Skull Lake, and do the full traverse over Hailey Pass. Our last day would also cover new territory,
from the Cirque of the Towers over Jackass Pass to Big Sandy Lake and back to
the Big Sandy Opening Trailhead.
I
also hoped to bag a few peaks along the way.
An attempt on Mount Hooker, north of Hailey Pass, was a centerpiece of
the route I planned. Mount Hooker has
the highest uninterrupted cliff face in the United States east of Yosemite
Valley in California. I also hoped to
add in a few additional peaks along the way, like Raid Peak, Pyramid Peak, and
Bollinger Peak.
I
was most excited though about the layover day I’d planned. We’d spend two nights at Grave Lake. On our day off, I intended to hike into the Wind
River Roadless Area (Indian Reservation).
I would hike to Onion Meadows, the alpine lakes at the headwaters of
Raft Creek, Teepee Pass, and on to the overlook of Trail Lake, Roberts Lake,
and Mount Roberts. Nancy Pallister
describes it as one of the best views in the entire Wind River Range. After looking at the topo map, I was inclined
to believe her.
Traveling
in the Wind River Roadless Area requires a permit. I purchased a $40 one day permit at the Great
Outdoor Shop in Pinedale, Wyoming. We
only bought one permit, as Christy decided to take a rest day at Grave
Lake. We were planning to climb Mount
Hooker the day before, so she felt like a rest day would be wise. The biggest concern I had about purchasing
the permit is that it was only good for one day. If we ended up behind schedule, or the
weather was terrible, it would be a waste of money. That was a chance I had to take to do this
hike though.
Here
is a summary of the route I planned:
Day
1 – Hike from the Big Sandy Opening Trailhead to the unnamed pass west of the
East Fork River on the Fremont Trail to camp.
Day
2 – Backtrack to the East Fork River and hike off-trail upstream to the lakes
in the river’s headwaters to camp. If
time and conditions allowed, explore the upper alpine basin and climb Raid
Peak.
Day
3 – Hike of-trail to Pyramid Lake.
Follow trails from there to Skull Lake, Hailey Pass, and Baptiste
Lake. Camp at Baptiste Lake. Climb Pyramid Peak from Hailey Pass if
conditions are favorable.
Day
4 – Backtrack to the base of Hailey Pass.
Climb Mount Hooker. Hike to Grave
Lake to camp.
Day
5 – Layover day, solo hike to the Roberts Lake viewpoint in the Wind River
Roadless Area.
Day
6 – Hike to Valentine Lake, then across the Lizard Head Plateau, down to Lizard
Head Meadows, and on to the Cirque of the Towers.
Day
7 – Layover day, explore the Cirque of the Towers, possibly hike to New York
Pass and climb Mount Bollinger.
Day
8 – Hike over Jackass Pass to Big Sandy Lake and the back to the Big Sandy
Opening Trailhead.
We
left Pinedale that evening and made the long, bumpy drive to the Big Sandy
Opening trailhead. This road was in much
better shape than I remembered. We
passed a number of possible campsites, but continued all the way to the end of
the road. We spent an hour driving that
dirt road, and during that time we saw only a couple of other vehicles. It was startling when we neared the
trailhead, as there were cars parked all along the shoulder. The trailhead parking area itself is a big
loop, and it was packed with cars. Big
Sandy Opening looks like a giant used car lot in the middle of the
wilderness. There is a small campground
here, and luckily there was a vacant site.
We could’ve driven back down the road to one of the spots we passed on
the way in, but this was much more convenient.
It was also a really nice site, with big shady trees that were perfect
for hammocking. The campground normally
costs $7, but the kiosk was out of envelopes.
So, I guess it was free.
We
spent the rest of the evening relaxing and organizing our gear. We slept in our hammocks that night, as it
was a clear evening with no mention of rain in the forecast. In fact, I was so confident in the weather
that I didn’t even bother with the tarp.
That backfired in spectacular fashion.
I woke around 3am to raindrops hitting my face. I woke Christy, and we grabbed our hammocks
and sleeping bags and ran for the car.
We attempted to sleep in the car, but couldn’t get comfortable. It rained steadily for about 30 minutes
before passing. After it stopped, I
looked out the window and saw a sky full of stars. We were a little leery, but sleeping in the
car wasn’t working. So
we set the hammocks back up and went back to sleep. Luckily the weather held off, and we woke to
a beautiful weather on Friday morning.
We
had a big breakfast, loaded our packs, and set the mouse traps in the back of
the car. Then we moved the car from our
campsite over to the giant parking lot.
I found a spot in the actual lot, so I didn’t have to drive back down
the road and look for a spot on the shoulder.
The spot was shadeless, so we didn’t have high
hopes for finding cold beer in the Yeti when we got back 8 days later.
We
started our hike along the Big Sandy River.
After a few minutes we reached a junction of two major thoroughfares –
the Fremont Trail and the Big Sandy Trail.
We planned to return on the Big Sandy Trail. We turned north, away from the river, onto
the Fremont Trail. The next few miles
were a steady climb through the woods.
This is a major trail, and it was busy!
We encountered several groups heading in, and even more on their way
out. We kept passing and being passed by
one group of four guys with fishing gear heading in. One of them noticed the wound on my leg – the
one I acquired when I got poked by a stick while dayhiking
in Yellowstone over a week earlier. The
area around the puncture was swollen, which was worrisome. He warned me that it might be infected, and
suggested I keep a close eye on it. That
ruined my normal strategy of ignoring these types of things until the go
away. I assured him that we would watch
it, and bail out early if the infection appeared to be spreading.
The
climb finally ended in a vast meadow at the unnamed pass near Divide Lake. This meadow provided us with the first views
of the trip. Jagged peaks pierced the
sky to the north. We were heading that
way, but it would take another day and a half to get there. We had lunch in the meadow before continuing
down into Fish Creek Park. From there we
hiked on past Mirror Lake to the expansive Dads Lake. Two more miles of hiking brought us to the
lovely Marms Lake.
We took a long break there, and considered camping. Marms is an
unusually pretty lake, and we were taking our break in a nice campsite. Ultimately though, I wasn’t ready to give up
on our original plan. We followed the
Fremont Trail down through woods and meadows to the East Fork River. We waded across, and then assessed our
options. The sky was clouding up, and
the forecast did include a chance of storms that evening. The pass on the ridge above is a huge, open
meadow that would be severely exposed.
Also, hiking up there would require an extra 800’ climb in a little over
a mile. If we camped up there, we’d have
to backtrack the next morning before starting our hike up the East Fork River.
Christy
waited with the packs by the river while I did some scouting. I climbed up to a bench just above the river
and found a nice campsite south of the trail.
The site featured a mixture of open forest, rock outcrops, and grassy
meadows, and it offered nice views to the north. There was a horse camp down by the river,
well below us, but they were out of sight.
We decided to take it.
We
set up camp and made dinner. Then I made
the hike up to the pass where I’d originally planned to camp. We weren’t camping there, but I still wanted
to visit the pass and hopefully catch a sunset.
The climb up there was pretty tough, even without carrying a heavy
pack. On the way up
I spooked a small herd of elk that were congregating around the trail. All were female, and they bolted before I
could get my camera out.
When
I reached the pass I realized that sunset was a
bust. Thick clouds covered the western
horizon. Still, the view back to the
east to the Cirque of the Towers was fantastic.
I hung out a bit and took a few photos before heading back down.
HEADWATERS
We
started our Saturday with coffee and Christy’s oatmeal. Then we broke camp and headed up the East
Fork River. There is no official trail,
but we found a faint beaten path on the bench above the river where we had
camped. The first part of the hike was
easy. We followed the river past a long,
narrow lake. A bit farther on we
followed a minor tributary up through a meadow to a saddle before dropping back
down to the river. The willow thickets
here were our first challenge. We needed
to cross the river anyway, so we got into one of the braided channels and
walked upstream a short distance until we found a good spot to get across. We had lunch on the east bank before
continuing upstream.
We
approached a prominent knob, but stayed to its left to continue following the
river. The scenery along here was
fantastic. The cliffs of Mount Geikie
soared above us. It wasn’t long before we reached the boulder
field. It was vast, and apparently
unavoidable. It stretched from the base
of the cliffs on the far side of the river to the top of the hillside above
us. It went on for quite a way,
too! This was more than just a talus
field. Many of those boulders were
truck-sized! We eventually made it
through and continued on to Lake 10,566’.
Our guidebook suggested that there are good campsites here, but we
couldn’t find them. The area is well
above treeline and quite exposed. We eventually found a marginal spot at the
base of a huge boulder. It provided a
little shelter. At least the view was
great. We were looking directly at Raid
Peak above Lake 10,566’.
It
was mid-afternoon when we set up camp. Originally I’d planned to climb Raid Peak that afternoon if
the weather cooperated. The weather
wasn’t cooperating. We’d started out
with a nice morning, but the sky was now completely overcast. I decided to attempt a shorter hike, to the
alpine lakes in the headwaters of the East Fork River. I rock hopped the river and followed a ridge
as it climbed high above Lake 10,566.
Eventually I was rewarded with a view back to the next highest lake. I continued on, now well above treeline. Eventually
I reached a spot where I had a view of the first lake, at the base of Mount
Bonneville. Continuing up from here
would’ve required climbing through another boulder field to the informally
named Pain in the Ass Pass. From there
it is possible to follow the ridge south to the summit of Raid Peak.
That’s
when the first storm hit. There was cold
rain and sleet, but luckily no lightning.
I hiked back quickly, but it was really raining and sleeting hard when I
reached camp. I joined Christy in the
tent, and promptly took a two hour nap. The rain stopped that evening in time for
dinner, but then the wind cranked up. I
didn’t sleep well that night due to the cramped spot where we camped and the
howling wind flapping the tent all night.
We were lucky that the giant rock we were camped next to blocked some of
the wind.
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