Most Scenic Route to Traverse the Gros Ventre?

stretch

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This summer I'm planning to hike from Jackson, WY east across the Gros Ventre Wilderness. I was wondering if anybody had any tips on the best/most scenic route? Off-trail travel is fine (up to some minimal class 3 scrambling, though I would like to keep it to class 2 if possible). I've attached a GPX of the route as I currently have it planned out, but I would hate to miss any highlights of the wilderness there.

Thanks!
 

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  • Gros Ventre Traverse.gpx
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Get a hold of Scatman on here.... He planned and did a route.

You need to adjust your gox so we can see it without download.
 
Haven't done it, but check the FS's website re the Granite Highline Trail portion of your plan. Apparently it's in pretty rough shape in places.

I see you're planning to go thru a notch WSW of Brewster Lake. I'm pretty sure @seekinglost went thru that notch a few years back.
 
This summer I'm planning to hike from Jackson, WY east across the Gros Ventre Wilderness. I was wondering if anybody had any tips on the best/most scenic route? Off-trail travel is fine (up to some minimal class 3 scrambling, though I would like to keep it to class 2 if possible). I've attached a GPX of the route as I currently have it planned out, but I would hate to miss any highlights of the wilderness there.

Thanks!

Great backpacking choice - a very underappreciated area if you ask me. It has beautiful scenery throughout and when I did it, we saw very few people up until our exit at the Granite Hot Springs Trailhead.

I'd alter your route to hit some of the lakes ( Turquoise, Shoal, Brewster, Lunch, The Six Lakes, etc.) within the wilderness area if you have time. The views from all the lakes are tremendous. Of course , staying high on the ridge you've chosen, you'll get to see a couple of them down below. The hike up or down Granite Creek is worthwhile too in my opinion.

Here is some Gros Ventre eye candy for you to keep you psyched up. :) Have a great trip.


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Get a hold of Scatman on here.... He planned and did a route.

You need to adjust your gox so we can see it without download.
After a search I did find Scatman's trip report, with great maps and pictures as well. Thank you for the tip!
 
Great backpacking choice - a very underappreciated area if you ask me. It has beautiful scenery throughout and when I did it, we saw very few people up until our exit at the Granite Hot Springs Trailhead.

I'd alter your route to hit some of the lakes ( Turquoise, Shoal, Brewster, Lunch, The Six Lakes, etc.) within the wilderness area if you have time. The views from all the lakes are tremendous. Of course , staying high on the ridge you've chosen, you'll get to see a couple of them down below. The hike up or down Granite Creek is worthwhile too in my opinion.

Here is some Gros Ventre eye candy for you to keep you psyched up. :) Have a great trip.
I was just reading your trip report! Thanks for the reply. This is great info, and wow those are some beautiful pictures. I think I will alter my route to hit some of those lakes, and maybe even granite creek as well. I'm even more excited to get out there now, summer really can't get here quickly enough.
 
Haven't done it, but check the FS's website re the Granite Highline Trail portion of your plan. Apparently it's in pretty rough shape in places.

I see you're planning to go thru a notch WSW of Brewster Lake. I'm pretty sure @seekinglost went thru that notch a few years back.
Ah, that would explain why I couldn't find many (or any) trip reports about it online. Hard to pass up a trail named "granite highline"... But maybe I'll just take it as an excuse to detour and see some other parts of the wilderness.
 
Ah, that would explain why I couldn't find many (or any) trip reports about it online. Hard to pass up a trail named "granite highline"... But maybe I'll just take it as an excuse to detour and see some other parts of the wilderness.

@ramblinman man and I went over the notch near brewster. its not bad. TR here. Brewster is waaay worth a stopover.

 
just want to say I am very interested in the eventual answer here
Scatman's loop seems like probably the best way to get the highlights of the Gros Ventre. But, if like me, you need to traverse from West to East (or vice versa) in a semi-efficient way - the updated route I'm linking in this comment seems to be pretty good. It goes by turquoise lake, granite creek, and shoal lake, then an off-trail high route in the eastern portion. I'll try and remember to post some pics to this thread after I do the route this summer.Screen Shot 2021-02-19 at 7.22.54 PM.png
 

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  • 8-wilson-wy-to-green-river-snowmobile-trailhead-hwy-352.gpx
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@ramblinman man and I went over the notch near brewster. its not bad. TR here. Brewster is waaay worth a stopover.

G

Always tough to tell from a computer screen whether an off-trail route will go, so I'm very glad to hear that you've already done it! Pics look really beautiful. I may try and time it so that I end up camping at Brewster too. Thanks for the good info.
 
Scatman's loop seems like probably the best way to get the highlights of the Gros Ventre. But, if like me, you need to traverse from West to East (or vice versa) in a semi-efficient way - the updated route I'm linking in this comment seems to be pretty good. It goes by turquoise lake, granite creek, and shoal lake, then an off-trail high route in the eastern portion. I'll try and remember to post some pics to this thread after I do the route this summer.
wow, thanks!!
 
Wonderful Wilderness One of the most stunning locations we've ever seen! It's well managed, teeming with species, and eerily silent. In the Jackson region, this is a necessity. It's much better if you do it with a horse! I had already explored the United States and had chosen to go much further. This year, I decided to travel to Europe in search of something unique in terms of history. Various points of interest, castles, and fortifications. I haven't made up my mind yet, but I'm going to start with Germany's most popular tourist destination. Everyone has a beautiful trip.
 
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Scatman's loop seems like probably the best way to get the highlights of the Gros Ventre. But, if like me, you need to traverse from West to East (or vice versa) in a semi-efficient way - the updated route I'm linking in this comment seems to be pretty good. It goes by turquoise lake, granite creek, and shoal lake, then an off-trail high route in the eastern portion. I'll try and remember to post some pics to this thread after I do the route this summer.View attachment 96330
I'm a little late to the game on this thread, but I hiked nearly this exact route in 2018 on my CDT thru hike. It's a pretty beautiful area. Tosi Creek offers some decent game trails/light foot trails to follow, but in the upper basin, these disappear as the terrain turns to rock. We took an off-trail pass, north of Hodges Peak, towards Doubletop Peak. Sharp rocks, some snow patches in August, slow going, but beautiful. West of Doubletop Peak, you'll come across a ridge with a steep wall on the west side that you'll be looking for a way down. I found the notch just west of peak 10750' to be our way down, about a 60ft climb. It's easier than it looks, but not class 2 by any means. Solid class 3. Very doable, just take your time. The slope below the climb itself was the "fun" part, we slid on our butts down, mostly. We continued off-trail towards Palmer Peak, staying east of the ridge. Again, really nice area. Lots of wildflowers, cool peaks and rock formations, and no trails. Pretty easy going for off-trail, though. North of Steamboat Peak, we dropped down to Shoal Lake. The Shoal Creek drainage is AWESOME. Really impressive views here. After being off trail, the trails here are pretty good. There is excellent camping opportunities in the Shoal Creek area. The hike from Deer Ridge to Granite Creek campground is not as interesting, but good trail, so it's fast hiking.

From the Granite Creek CG, you have two options.... the Granite Highline Trail or Granite Creek. Naturally, anything with "highline" in it sounds good. However, I have heard that this trail is not that great. There is practically no camp spots from what I have heard. Instead, we opted for Granite Creek to Cache Creek. Granite Creek is a pretty nice hike on it's own, and I doubt you will be that disappointed in skipping the Granite Highline Trail. Good trail here, easy to follow. Cache Creek, the upper parts are nice, but there is a lot more traffic the closer you get to Jackson. We camped in lower Cache Creek the night before walking through Jackson to resupply, but there were not many campsite options. If I could camp anywhere along this route, I would camp in upper Tosi Creek, Shoal Creek, and upper Granite Creek.

I have pictures and a write up on this route here, if you're interested: https://seekinglost.com/dubois-to-jackson-cdt-thru-hike-2018/

Hope this helps the next Gros Ventre hiker.
 
Years ago I did a two week hike across the Gros Ventre Range with walking out of Jackson to the east end then down the infant Gros Ventre River back to Jackson Hole. It was Great! Lots of country in here. One could actually spend all spring and summer in the Gros Ventres away from it all. Sooooo need to get back in here again. Places of places in here really away from it all.
 
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Looking back over this thread I'm getting serious Gros Ventre envy. I had intended to do a nice tough loop up there last summer but our dates ended up being pretty unsettled weather-wise so we snagged permits for TCT instead, which was very scenic but too many people and too much red tape for my taste. Maybe this summer it'll happen!
 
Looking back over this thread I'm getting serious Gros Ventre envy. I had intended to do a nice tough loop up there last summer but our dates ended up being pretty unsettled weather-wise so we snagged permits for TCT instead, which was very scenic but too many people and too much red tape for my taste. Maybe this summer it'll happen!
Permits for tct? Could have done it without easy enough
 
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