Help! First Trip to the Winds.

What is the prettier section? (I know, i know. such a subjective question)

Dennis Lake to Upper Golden Lake,
or
Upper Golden Lake to Camp?

Just trying to figure out if it would be worth it to drop down and do the Angle Pass Trail instead of come over Tiny Glaicer.

Thanks!
 
I was originally going to say Upper Golden to Camp...but the view from high above Golden (Lower) looking north is pretty cool, too. =) What's the approx difference in mileage and elevation gain/loss ... Angel vs Tiny?

It's all good through that area. =)
 
Camp to Upper Golden....
 
My answer is "yes." Our hike took us down from Angel Pass down to Upper Golden, but that was an excellent hike. I really enjoyed Upper Golden to Camp Lake too. Thought Camp Lake was very nice with Douglas Peak being right beside you for a good chunk of that hike.

You're really not going to be disappointed either way. In planning our route I actually considered Tiny Glaceir pass heavily, and really wanted to spend some time up on the high plateau up there if possible, but that's just not the way we went. A little extra hiking would give you an amazing view of the Alpine Lakes area from up high.

Blake Merrell said:
What is the prettier section? (I know, i know. such a subjective question)

Dennis Lake to Upper Golden Lake,
or
Upper Golden Lake to Camp?

Just trying to figure out if it would be worth it to drop down and do the Angle Pass Trail instead of come over Tiny Glaicer.

Thanks!
Click to expand...
 
Thanks a ton for your advise and pics! Just makes me even more excited to get out there this summer.

So, seems like a lot of you head to Angel Pass and do the loop that way. any particularly reason why? I was planning on heading to Island Lake/ Titcomb basin and doing the loop that way.
 
Last edited:
Blake, Blake, Blake...don't worry, anywhere you go is gorgeous. You're going to the winds!!! I'll admit I haven't read all the posts to this thread carefully but the just of it all seems to be that you're not going to go wrong anywhere.

From what I gather you are wanting to maximize your time to see the most country possible. I'm a mountain goat mile cruncher as well. I've done big trips like you're planning through that section of the winds. On our first trip up there we amended our plans and decided to attempt Fremonte by scoping out the potential route from Island lake at 11pm by the full moon light. We didn't have any beta on the peak just what we could see as a best potential route from a long way away. Needless to say, we woke up at 5, hiked up through the Indian lakes basin, picked our route and summited. The mountain is a good, steep, talus ridden, scramble with views that are unparalleled. If you do it on a clear day you can see the teton range in the distance. It is tough and totally worth it. After reading a bunch of your TRs on Canyon Collective I would assume you're in good physical condition to be able to do it.

Anyway, that's my recommendation. Head towards Titcomb basin first, summit Fremonte, then return by passing Wall lake. Now that I'm thinking about it, if my summer wasn't already planned I'd beg you to let me come with you.

Salud!
 
TannerT said:
don't worry, anywhere you go is gorgeous. You're going to the winds!!!
Click to expand...

haha :) Good point. Very true!

I like the idea of summiting Fremont. I think it might be worth it to take it easy and enjoy the Titcomb basin for a day or so, and take the time to summit Freemont and such. AHH! Is it August yet?????
 
Blake Merrell said:
haha :) Good point. Very true!

I like the idea of summiting Fremont. I think it might be worth it to take it easy and enjoy the Titcomb basin for a day or so, and take the time to summit Freemont and such. AHH! Is it August yet?????
Click to expand...
What time in August are you going to be there?
We will be hiking into Titcomb Basin around the 24th.
Cheers
IRG
 
If you are exiting at Elkhart we might meet on the trail. We will be entering there on the 23rd.
We will be doing some sort of dog - leg loop. Into Titcomb, Island Lake, Upper Jean.
Knapsack Col would be awesome. Fremont Peak would be incredible.
We missed our chance last year to do it, due to 6+ inch of fresh snow a couple days before we started.
Sounds like have a pretty challenging trip planned.
Hope to hear about if we meet on trail.
Good luck planning.
Cheers
IRG
 
They are both awesome and you can't really go wrong either way, but if you made me choose, I'd have to go with Camp to Upper Golden. The fishing up there wasn't as good, but the views were better, IMO. Awesome area, either way.
 
I had a trip a while back where I went into the Cook Lakes area, then went over Lester Pass to Island, Summited Fremont, then back out to Elkhart Park. I did the Elkhart Park to Cook Lakes in a day and Island Lake back to Elkhart Park in a day. There are some serious ups and downs from Photographers point into Island Lake - it is a very tough trail to quickly put the miles past. Total trip was 4 days - not anywhere near enough time. If I summit Fremont peak again, I would take the extra time to just go up to Titcomb and summit Fremont - spend some time exploring the Indian Lakes and Upper Titcomb a bit. It seemed that I was always in a hurry. The only bad thing about the area is the people and the pesky marmots - they will get into anything and everything if left out. The Winds are huge and solitude is easy to be found, but in this area you have to work a little for it.

I found this area to be very different than hiking in the Uintas, or even Big Sandy openings in that the terrain is rough and the ups and downs are relentless. I can usually pound the miles out, but this area absolutely wore me out. I will never do Elkhart Park to Island Lake in a day again.
 
I've done Island Lake to Elkhart Park in a day twice. Seems to end up around 7.5ish hours for me. The ups and downs from Island Lake to Big Seneca don't bother me that much, the scenery is nice and it's usually not too crowded at that point. Seems once you hit Big Seneca you hit the crowd. From Big Seneca to about Eklund still has plenty of ups and downs, not as bad, but you get down into the trees without much for views. It's not the most boring trail ever, but it's not my favorite.

The stretch of trail from Photographer's Point to Elkhart Park is what I have dubbed my most hated stretch of trail ever. Not because it's the worst trail to hike, but because it is SO BORING compared to the scenery you are coming from or headed to, and on the way back in it's about 6 miles of bland, boring trail between you and your car. It seems no matter what, my Winds trips always involve this trail and I've hiked that stretch many times and it just never fails to cause some kind of anguish in me. I even wrote a song about it:

This is the trail that never ends
it just goes on and on my friends
you know we started hiking it not knowing what it was
and we just kept on hiking it forever just because
this is the trail that never ends
(and so on)
 
b.stark said:
The stretch of trail from Photographer's Point to Elkhart Park is what I have dubbed my most hated stretch of trail ever. Not because it's the worst trail to hike, but because it is SO BORING compared to the scenery you are coming from or headed to, and on the way back in it's about 6 miles of bland, boring trail between you and your car.
Click to expand...

I'd have to agree that it's a mentally tough section of trail! And generally when you hike it you've already put in some miles that day and have turned your thoughts toward a celebratory post-hike burger and keep wondering if the parking lot is around the next bend. Or the next. Or the next. The lack of landmarks just makes the miles go by slowly.
 
b.stark said:
I've done Island Lake to Elkhart Park in a day twice. Seems to end up around 7.5ish hours for me. The ups and downs from Island Lake to Big Seneca don't bother me that much, the scenery is nice and it's usually not too crowded at that point. Seems once you hit Big Seneca you hit the crowd. From Big Seneca to about Eklund still has plenty of ups and downs, not as bad, but you get down into the trees without much for views. It's not the most boring trail ever, but it's not my favorite.

The stretch of trail from Photographer's Point to Elkhart Park is what I have dubbed my most hated stretch of trail ever. Not because it's the worst trail to hike, but because it is SO BORING compared to the scenery you are coming from or headed to, and on the way back in it's about 6 miles of bland, boring trail between you and your car. It seems no matter what, my Winds trips always involve this trail and I've hiked that stretch many times and it just never fails to cause some kind of anguish in me. I even wrote a song about it:

This is the trail that never ends
it just goes on and on my friends
you know we started hiking it not knowing what it was
and we just kept on hiking it forever just because
this is the trail that never ends
(and so on)
Click to expand...

Good to know! we are hoping to get at least as far as Island Lake on day one... I'm afraid that might be the easiest section of our trip though....eek what have I gotten myself into?! lol SO EXCITED!
 
Blake Merrell said:
Good to know! we are hoping to get at least as far as Island Lake on day one... I'm afraid that might be the easiest section of our trip though....eek what have I gotten myself into?! lol SO EXCITED!
Click to expand...

Just make sure you're in shape before you go! On my first backpacking trip ever, we tackled the Winds out of Elkhart park. Our route, of course, was to take the perfectly reasonable trail which goes down to a beautiful camp at Fremont Lake the first night, and the next day to climb up out of Pine Creek canyon to Trapper Lake via an "unmaintained" trail. I'm not sure I've ever felt so bad as I did that afternoon at Trapper Lake, but turning back didn't seem like a reasonable option... There's much more physical training involved before trips now!
 
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