Wind River Backpacking Trip

[MassLiberal]

My GF and I are trying to plan a 7 to 10 day trip somewhere this summer, and were looking at the Wind River Range in WY. I was wondering if any of you maggots have any experience there, and would be willing to help out with some beta (ie best time of summer to go, trails to look at, yada yada yada). Any help would be appreciated.

[Wysplit_ride]

Gannett Peak...that is where I would head if I had 7-10 days of exploring in the Winds! Plus, you top out on Wyoming's Highest. Can leave from Dubois trailhead or Pinedale trailhead. Big mountains, etc. Later in August...july if you must...watch out for those pesky squeeter bugs...can get bad in July.

[MassLiberal]

Gannett Peak...that is where I would head if I had 7-10 days of exploring in the Winds! Plus, you top out on Wyoming's Highest. Can leave from Dubois trailhead or Pinedale trailhead. Big mountains, etc. Later in August...july if you must...watch out for those pesky squeeter bugs...can get bad in July.

Yes, that's exactly what we are after!! Definitely want to avoid the bugs, GF not a huge fan of being carried away by them.

[Stoysluttie1]

Mt. Nystrom and Wind River Peak! Also, Stough Creek Basin...skied on the 4th 2 years back. Can't remember trail beta but you head up Sinks Canyon out of Lander

[FrankZappa]

Agreed on bugs. Some of the thickest I remember. Go high & stay high. I went in mid/late June & still was lots of snow but zero people.

[Long Duck Dong]

Thats a perfect amount of time to go into the Cirque of the Towers and bag peaks. 3 years ago I went in for a week. Hauled a bunch of food back there; takes about a full day to get in from Big Sandy, and then set up a basecamp and climbed world class 1000 foot moderate granite routes all week. Even if you don't rock climb, its hard to find a prettier place to spend a week.

[Alek]

Whatever you do, MAKE SURE TO AVOID MOSQUITO SEASON!!!!

I mean it, it's worst than Alaska up there, they will eat you ALIVE! They are
so bad around dusk that they will drive you crazy just crawling around on your face, even if they don't have time to bite. You will have to eat in the tent, you will have to jog not hike to keep them from landing on your face. I know, I have been there.

So my suggestion is to avoid the place between memorial and labor day. You have to wait for the first fall frost before it's safe to go back there. You have been warned, disregard this notice at your onw peril!

[MassLiberal]

I'm definitely looking for:
1) not many bugs
2) even less people
3) Strenuous Hiking with good views.

Also, we were thinking of riding our bikes to the trailhead from Jackson, is this doable? or would it be suicide with all the 90 year olds driving RVs?

[Choucas]

Worst mosquitos ever! Some of the nicest mountains in North America.

[MassLiberal]

Whatever you do, MAKE SURE TO AVOID MOSQUITO SEASON!!!!

I mean it, it's worst than Alaska up there, they will eat you ALIVE! They are
so bad around dusk that they will drive you crazy just crawling around on your face, even if they don't have time to bite. You will have to eat in the tent, you will have to jog not hike to keep them from landing on your face. I know, I have been there.

So my suggestion is to avoid the place between memorial and labor day. You have to wait for the first fall frost before it's safe to go back there. You have been warned, disregard this notice at your onw peril!

I hear you man, I used to guide canoe trips up in Northern Canada, and the bugs in the Boreal forest had "mother" tattoos on their furry bodies.

The extremely loud "brrrrrrrrrrrrrrzzzz" of the mosquitos against the tent wall generally woke us up before the sun rose every day for the height of bug season.

On the plus side, you did get a lot more protein in your diet!

[Red Baron]

Good advice so far, we went in to Big Sandy on Labor Day weekend last year and it was (for a place literally in the middle of nowhere) pretty busy, but there wasn't a bug in sight. I've heard the mosquitoes there are so bad in summer time that they'll gang up on you and steal your stuff...

Edit: about the bike ride; if memory serves me the road we took in to Big Sandy from the main road is dirt, and washboard. You thinking road or mtb? Also the drive to Jackson is longer than the map makes it look, it took us over 3 hours with all the summer construction that goes on every year.

[Lone Star]

Would be a long ride to even the closest of the trailheads. The only paved trailhead access on the West side of the range is out of Pinedale at Elkhart park. TH is at 9500 ft so it's also a decent bit of a climb from town.

The Green River Lakes road (which takes you to the GRL trailhead) can get pretty bad it's also graded periodically. It's the closest to Jackson (on the W side of the range, anyway) and one of the lower elevation trailheads going into the Winds.

PM sent.

[MassLiberal]

Good advice so far, we went in to Big Sandy on Labor Day weekend last year and it was (for a place literally in the middle of nowhere) pretty busy, but there wasn't a bug in sight. I've heard the mosquitoes there are so bad in summer time that they'll gang up on you and steal your stuff...

Edit: about the bike ride; if memory serves me the road we took in to Big Sandy from the main road is dirt, and washboard. You thinking road or mtb? Also the drive to Jackson is longer than the map makes it look, it took us over 3 hours with all the summer construction that goes on every year.

Thinking about using a cross bike w/ trailers, but that idea completely depends if I can get 2 weeks off.

[skiing-in-jackson]

Our summers are pretty busy, but i'd be happy to help with a shuttle if you needed on for your car- say hike in at Dubois- Hike out at Pindale...

This Winds are sooo big...rather the distances covered are sooo long, that you really need a shuttle and loops back to the same point don't work well.

[sar13]

As others have said, the later the better to avoid the bugs. It doesn't sound like you are plannig on skiing so having less snow will be a good thing. Also, many trails in the Winds have creek crossings and they are a lot more friendly once the creeks have come down a bit.

On biking from Jackson: That might be a whole separate adventure. It is a long way to any of the trailheads and ususally on dirt roads with pretty good elevation gain. By long way I mean potentially multiple days by bike and then you have to find a place to stay in between. It might also limit you to the closer trailheads and the ones are on the east side are very nice too. Also, even though the trailheads aren't that busy I wouldn't want to leave a bike at any of them. Rent a car, beg a ride or hitch hike.

[skiHOG]

Did Gannet Peak 3 years ago via the Elkhart Park to Titcomb Basin route. Titcomb Basin is probably one of my most favorite places on earth next to NZ. The bugs are going to be bad so just accept it and prepare for it. If you're wanting to ski some peaks then you should go in June.

[MassLiberal]

I'm not too worried about skiing since I'm planning on going to ski Skillet in mid May (tentative, might hit holy cross in CO), and since my GF isn't accomplished as a BC skier, I think I would probably get in trouble if I said 'adios' and skied down a couloir and waited for her to walk down.

Also, the bike aspect of the trip was just an idea, it seems that it has pretty much been shot down.

Skiing-in-jackson, thank you so much for your offer, I'll definitely let you know when I'll be in town in May, we'll talk.

[Pow4Brains]

I did a loop from Shadow Lake in to the Cirque the week before Labor Day weekend. Was some of the best scenery I’ve ever seen! Tincomb (SP) Basin and Pyramid Lake are really sweet too if you want head up that direction. No bugs or people, but have had up to 8” of snow that time of year. Fish on’ is frickin’ great so take a rod.

[powdherb]

Last year, alto and I went and did Fremont Peak for my birthday, August 22nd. There wasn't that many people, very few bugs, and some foul weather. Fremont is less climbed, however it is still the 2nd highest in the winds and 3rd highest in wyoming. The views from the top were absolutely spectacular, comparable if not better than gannett. I highly recommend it. Its about a 12 miles to get to titcomb basin, then another 3-4 to get to the summit. Alto and I decided to make it an extended overnight trip, which wasn't the best idea however, doable if you go ultralight. Lightning will fucking kill you. The summit ridge is exposed but not that exposed, a good 13er for the woman.

[LaramieSkiBum]

Lightning will fucking kill you.

x2 start early, get down early, as in before 2pm or so

and filter your water

And account for the altitude when planning your pace, what are you at now? MA -> ~500'? At 9,000' to 11,000' your looking at 75% to 65% of sea level O2

IMHO, 8 to 12 miles in a day is max with 7-10 days of supplies, and still stopping to fish and such.

[MassLiberal]

^^

Yeah, I'm not planning on doing the 25 mile days that I did on the long trail. PLus, though GF moves pretty well on the trail, I'd prefer that she enjoys everything along the way.

Plus, you're giving MA way to much credit there, more like 25'

[rideit]

Last summer, upper green lakes, squaretop.


We hiked in to the end of the first lake and camped for the night. Randomly ended up running into my neighbors, who had canoes...went to the very south end of the second lake and had a wonderful time. Most excellent, no skeeters in August to speak of. Do it!

[LaramieSkiBum]

early aug. = no sequitos

[adipose]

Early September=no skeeters & no people. No matter where you go it will be a great hike. Remember that the northern end has more than a few grizzlies, you will want some bear spray and/or a 12 gauge.

[Cornelius]

I went to the Cirque of the Towers for a week in the third or fourth week of August in 2004. We entered from the East side on a trailhead (the name escapes me) north of Lander, WY and were the only car in the parking lot. We saw maybe three people on the 11 mile hike in to where we basecamped for the week. There were a decent amount of people in the Cirque but almost all of them came from Big sandy via jackass pass. We had a lot of weather roll through with rain, hail, and snow and it was cold and wet more often than not. The bugs weren't even noticeable. It's a really cool mountain range but the weather was pretty unpredictable. PM for more beta.