Sorta highish in the Wind Rivers

[Dave]

Hey there. Long time, no post.



Just back from a long walkabout in the Winds with my brother. Green River Lakes to Big Sandy via a sorta highish route.



Around 75 miles. Roughly 14,000 feet of vert. Millions of boulders.



About half and half, on-trail versus not.



Skipped Titcomb (didn't want to deal with Knapsack Col) and Cirque of the Towers (socked in with weather), but having visited both previously this wasn't an issue.



Rather than the typical high route over Indian Pass and across Alpine Lakes Basin, we went over the less-traveled Angel Pass.



Highlight of the route was the stretch between Middle and East Forks via Bonneville Basin.



Spent a lot of time thinking about how critical these mountains are as headwaters for millions of Americans, yet how relatively unknown they are.



Spent as much time wondering how our land management policies might differ if the people elected to make those decisions were forced to actually sweat and suffer across these passes on their own their flabby, phlebitic limbs. Maybe it would clear the cholesterol from our body politic.

 

[b.stark]

Looks like a fantastic trip. Angel Pass is really neat, would like to revisit it someday.

 

[RyanP]

Awesome photos and report! (although I know many good and smart people with flabby, phlebitic limbs and high cholesterol, so while I agree with the overall concluding sentiment, that language may be a little strong). I have a few questions:

1. How hard was Angel Pass compared to the other parts of the route?
2. When did you do this trip? It looks like the air quality was pretty decent.
3. How crowded was it?

Thanks for sharing!

 

[Jackson]

Love to see a new post from you here, Dave! I had wondered what route you had done from the bits I saw on Instagram. Agreed wholeheartedly with your closing thoughts.

 

[Dave]

1. How hard was Angel Pass compared to the other parts of the route?
2. When did you do this trip? It looks like the air quality was pretty decent.
3. How crowded was it?

Taking the answers out of order...
2. Did this over 7 days at the end of August. Bracketed between storms. The storm at the end was forecast to bring snow levels down to 11,000 feet in the northern Winds. It also brought widespread precip across the entire range, which is why we cut off Cirque and bailed out from Washakie Creek. The active weather kept skies clear in the days between storms.
3. Busy at the expected spots: GRL, Island Lake/Titcomb vicinity, anything close to Big Sandy. Our mid-route nights were isolated and quiet. Didn't pass anyone else on the non-trail passes.
1. Nothing beyond class 3 via the most obvious way up. Lots of boulder-hopping on the east side. I thought Angel looked intimidating from the west but was pleasantly surprised that the way up seemed straightforward. There wasn't much beta online when I was researching the route so I'm being intentionally vague to maintain that.

 

[RyanP]

Thanks; that's good info