Gros Ventre Wilderness - June 2021

TheMountainRabbit

"The mountains don't care."
.
Joined
Feb 15, 2020
Messages
462
After returning from Idaho/Wyoming with the family after Memorial Day weekend, we passed through the Gros Ventre Wilderness and stopped for a picnic/playtime for the boys. It reminded me of a trip I'd planned for last year, but ended up replacing with a local option. I'd always intended it for an early season trip and I had a weekend available, so I decided I'd give it a shot this year. I posted a thread on the Meet Up forum and was fortunate to have @travel2walk join me. It's always a bit interesting meeting a hiking partner for the first time at the trailhead, but I thought it was a great fit and had a blast hiking with him. He has more/better pictures than me, so if he posts a trip report definitely check it out.

Being an early season trip, there were some associated challenges. There was a decent amount of snow at higher elevations, but - outside of the forested areas - it was high quality and easy to traverse. The far more significant challenge was the significant number of large blowdowns - compounded by persistent snow - throughout the northeastern side of our route. I'd known going in that at this time of year route-finding would be challenging in some places and was not disappointed on that account, though some areas proved easier and some proved more difficult than expected. We were fortunate to have phenomenal weather overall - my only complaint being that the sun was quite punishing during the exposed portions of the final day.

When I initially decided to take the trip and picked the dates I wasn't sure if conditions would cooperate to complete the loop, but based on weather and recent photos I was pretty optimistic by the time we set out. The planned route was ~32 miles over 3 days/2 nights.

Day 1: Granite Creek
The first day was a breeze - after meeting at the trailhead we made great time along the beautiful Granite Creek trail. We camped along Granite Creek just below the start of the following day's ascent. Weather was beautiful - as it would be throughout the trip.
20210611_110502.jpg
20210611_112344.jpg
We spotted a cow moose with a very young calf - she watched us for a minute and then shuttled her calf across the creek. The calf struggled for a few moments, but mom was able to help out. (Somewhat hard to make out in the below.)
20210611_125442.jpg

Day 2: Granite Creek to Crystal Creek
Our second day out was a mix of highs and lows. The early morning climb started slow, but picked up quickly as our legs "woke up". The initial ascent and crossing of the upper Flat Creek drainage was pretty, but not particularly notable.
20210612_073534.jpg
Even at almost 10,000', this side of the range was mostly snow-free - except in areas of persistent shade. (Based on satellite photos, this area was still predominantly covered in snow only a week prior.)
20210612_104131.jpgFrom our high point for the day (10,827') we could see into the Teton, Wind River, and Absaroka ranges simultaneously - it was quite spectacular. We also got our first look at the more snowy side of "our" range.20210612_121910.jpg
The remainder of the day was spent descending through the west fork of Crystal Creek. We passed some beautiful ponds/lakes, but spent a lot of time navigating through dense forest. It was definitely exhausting and we were very happy to make camp a little earlier than planned.
20210612_190305.jpg

Day 3: Crystal Creek to Swift Creek
After stopping a little short on our second day, this final day would be a long one. There were definitely some tough sections, but they were also incredibly rewarding - much more so than the prior day's bushwhacking. The day did start out a with bit "more of the same" in regards to the dense forest and large number of blowdowns, but quickly improved as we began our hike up the main fork of Crystal Creek. While not quite as smooth as the trail up Granite Creek, this trail was predominantly clear up until just beyond "The Meadows".
20210613_071335.jpg
As we entered "The Meadows" we were able to see a pretty large herd of elk grazing in the distance - as we approached they took notice and retreated to the nearby treeline. We waited patiently and watched as many of the cows had to retrieve their stashed calves before retreating themselves.
20210613_095239.jpg
As we got beyond the meadows, the trail again weakened and disappeared under snow and through densely grown vegetation - we elected to predominantly follow the drainage directly up to the basin. I'm not sure this was any easier, but it was a welcome change from bushwhacking and the route-finding was simple.

Our first look at the basin revealed less snow than anticipated and a magnificent view of the 11,204' peak.
20210613_122718.jpg
On the opposing side of the basin was the also impressive 11,414' Antoinette Peak - our original target was the far western portion of the saddle (left on the picture below), but we pretty quickly determined that this summer route was not the best option for us. We would instead target the ~10,800' high point between the unnamed peak and Antoinette and work our way down the ridge.
20210613_123720.jpg
20210613_132029.jpg
On the other side - along Swift Creek - the views were also spectacular, but I didn't grab too many photos. I'm bad about taking pictures to begin with and at that point I had visions of bacon cheeseburgers dancing in my head.
20210613_162039.jpg
This area burned pretty extensively in 2016, so after spending much of the day exposed we didn't get much reprieve from the afternoon sun down here either.
20210613_173026.jpg

Altogether it was a fantastic trip and a great experience meeting @travel2walk. I hope we're able to meet for more trips in the future. This was a pretty challenging early season trip, but later in the year I imagine it would be much milder - especially if the Forest Service is able to clear the more significant sections of blowdowns.

Click here to view on CalTopo
 
Last edited:
Great report. Looks like fun. What satellite photos are you looking at to determine recent conditions?

Sent from my Pixel 4a using Tapatalk
 
Nice trip. Thanks for posting it. Timely info for me as I’m headed off there today.
 
Last edited:
I hiked to the awesome falls on Swift Creek just a couple of weeks ago and did the crest path offf the Granite Hi-Line the week before that! I don't do much backpacking anymore so your report ignited some wonderful memories of backpacking and horse packing in what later became the Gros Ventre Wilderness. Many thanks for the great trip down those magnificent lanes.
 
Beautiful early season trip. Love that it was a little BCP meetup as well!

Been saying I need to go see the Gros Ventres for about the past 6 years and I still haven't!
 
It was a really great trip, especially as I look back at it now. I think you are underselling the bushwack/snowed forest section in your report though, lol. I don't think my morale has ever been that low.

Thanks @TheMountainRabbit for the invite and look forward to future hikes with you! I'll pull some images off my sd card today on my laptop to add to here later. I'm not going to put an eta on the short video of the trip cause it might be a year from now lol.
 
Last edited:
I think you are underselling the bushwack/snowed forest section in your report though, lol. I don't think my moral has ever been that low.
Yeah, probably. It's hard to put into words how bad of a mess that section along the west fork was. I certainly didn't think to take any pictures, but I wish I had now - did you get any?
 
Yeah, probably. It's hard to put into words how bad of a mess that section along the west fork was. I certainly didn't think to take any pictures, but I wish I had now - did you get any?
I think I have a few there, but I think my brain has blocked out as much of that as possible. lol. Will take a look on the SD card tonight. I do have nice picture of our route on the 3rd day that I'll try to get on here with any others that I think will complement your report.
 
Yeah, probably. It's hard to put into words how bad of a mess that section along the west fork was. I certainly didn't think to take any pictures, but I wish I had now - did you get any?

Alright, here are a few pictures (pulling preprocessed straight from the raws since I'm only on my travel laptop) to fill out the rest of the story. Eventually when I have the video edited, I'll post it here again... maybe by next year this time.

day 2 - start of our descent, snow was actually good to start
grosventre-100.jpg
day 2 - really cool patterns worn into the rock slabs, pretty unique as I haven't seen much of these patterns before
grosventre-101.jpg
day 2 - through the forest with plenty of snow and downfall
grosventre-102.jpg
day 3 - more downfall, at least there was no snow
grosventre-103.jpg
day 3 - well, let's just hike up this stream instead since it's easier than trying to follow the trail through the snow
grosventre-104.jpg
day 3 - view down swift creek on the otherside of the pass and toward the summer pass
grosventre-105.jpg
grosventre-106.jpg
day 3 - where @TheMountainRabbit actually tried to kill me, all in good fun
grosventre-107.jpg
 
Similar threads
Thread starter Title Forum Replies Date
travel2walk Gros Ventre Wilderness: Granite Creek, West Fork Crystal Creek, Crystal Creek, & Swift Creek - June 2021 Backpacking 8
TheMountainRabbit Invite Gros Ventre Wilderness, June 11th-13th Meet Up (Members Only) 5
D Recommendations in the Gros Ventre and Washakie Wilderness Areas Trip Planning 10
J Gros Ventre Wilderness Backpacking 5
scatman The Gros Ventre Wilderness - August 31, 2015 Backpacking 33
Aldaron Tosi Creek, Gros Ventre Wilderness, WY Backpacking 5
stretch Most Scenic Route to Traverse the Gros Ventre? Trip Planning 17
ramblinman Gros Ventre Loop July 2016 Backpacking 10
Aldaron Gros Ventre and such Off Road 1
Bob Teton Wilderness July 2024 Trip Planning 38
TractorDoc Yellowstone's Thorofare and the Teton Wilderness 08/09/2023 - 08/18/2023 Part Nine / Day Nine + Ten! Backpacking 20
Mikjik86 Backpacking Indian Peaks Wilderness - King Lake - August, 2023 Backpacking 0
TractorDoc Yellowstone's Thorofare and the Teton Wilderness 08/09/2023 - 08/18/2023 Part Eight / Day Eight Backpacking 14
shredhiker Ansel Adams Wilderness October 2023 Backpacking 12
TractorDoc Yellowstone's Thorofare and the Teton Wilderness 08/09/2023 - 08/18/2023 Part Seven / Day Seven Backpacking 13
randakag Rawah Wilderness "Lollipop" Loop - September 2023 Backpacking 7
TractorDoc Yellowstone's Thorofare and the Teton Wilderness 08/09/2023 - 08/18/2023 Part Six / Day Six Backpacking 28
TractorDoc Yellowstone's Thorofare and the Teton Wilderness 08/09/2023 - 08/18/2023 Part Five / Day Five Backpacking 16
TractorDoc Yellowstone's Thorofare and the Teton Wilderness 08/09/2023 - 08/18/2023 Part Four / Day Four Backpacking 15
TractorDoc Yellowstone's Thorofare and the Teton Wilderness 08/09/2023 - 08/18/2023 Part Three / Day Three Backpacking 10
TractorDoc Yellowstone's Thorofare and the Teton Wilderness 08/09/2023 - 08/18/2023 -- Part Two / Day Two Backpacking 6
TractorDoc Yellowstone's Thorofare and the Teton Wilderness 08/09/2023 - 08/18/2023 --Part One / Day One Backpacking 10
TheMountainRabbit Bob Marshall Wilderness - September 2023 Backpacking 8
marquiri Uncompahgre Wilderness Trip Planning 13
TheMountainRabbit Dana Meadows to Twin Lakes via the High Route (Yosemite/Hoover Wilderness) - August 2023 Backpacking 8
TheMountainRabbit Invite Bob Marshall Wilderness, September 2023 Meet Up (Members Only) 0
TheMountainRabbit Silas Canyon (Popo Agie Wilderness) - August 2023 Backpacking 3
C What's a good insurance company for Wilderness Trip Outfitters Trip Planning 1
RockyMntCol Cloud Peak Wilderness Loop Trip Planning 1
TheMountainRabbit Southern Absaroka & Thorofare Mountain (Teton/Washakie Wilderness) - July 2023 Backpacking 23
J Pacific Creek or North Buffalo Fork? Teton Wilderness, Thorofare ,etc. Trip Planning 10
Bob Teton Wilderness Trip Planning 2
shredhiker Eagles Nest Wilderness June 30 2023 Backpacking 7
W Paper map for Teton Wilderness (Younts Peak) Gear 4
forest dweller The story of a frustrated middle aged suburban wilderness lover! General Discussion 35
wabenho Big Pine Lakes – John Muir Wilderness Backpacking 6
canadug Jarbidge Wilderness General Discussion 12
C Teton Wilderness Early July Trip Planning 16
F 12 days in Wyoming's Teton Wilderness, part 9 of 9, 7-29 & 30, /2022 Backpacking 5
F 12 days in Wyoming's Teton Wilderness, part 8 of 9, 7/28/2022 Backpacking 5
F 12 days in Wyoming's Teton Wilderness, part 7 of 9, July 26-27, 2022 Backpacking 13
F 12 days in Wyoming's Teton Wilderness, part 6, 7/25/2022 Backpacking 17
F 12 days in Wyoming's Teton Wilderness, part 5 of 9, 7/23-24, 2022 Backpacking 10
F 12 days in Wyoming's Teton Wilderness, part 4 of 9, 7/22, 2022 Backpacking 4
F 12 days in Wyoming's Teton Wilderness, part 3 of 9, 7/20-21, 2022 Backpacking 2
F 12 days in Wyoming's Teton Wilderness, part 2, 7/19/2022 Backpacking 4
F 12 days in Wyoming's Teton Wilderness, part 1, 7/15-18, 2022 Backpacking 13
kwc Round Lake, north central Adirondacks, in the Round Lake Wilderness On The Water 2
scatman Pacific Creek, Moss Lake and Gravel Lake - Teton Wilderness - October 7, 2022 Backpacking 32
balzaccom These guys had quite the wilderness experience... General Discussion 0

Similar threads

Back
Top