South Winds Advice...

[Aries_Ranger]

GREAT FORUM......with tons of great recommendations........

Planning a Late July 2017 trip, with my son, and part will be a South Winds 4-5 day Hike in/Fish Loop.

2 options i'm tossing around are;

(1) A Big Sandy Trailhead loop around the Cirques.....but im questioning the Big Sandy North to Shadow Lake leg......need feedback on Difficulty.

(2) Or (On the east Side from Leander) a 4 day into Strough Creek Lakes. With day hikes out of a spike camp.

Scenery and fishing are my "Must Have's" , small crowds would be nice...... but being a low lander from the Mid West i don't want to kill myself getting them.

Advice?

 

[Kyle P]

Stough Creek Lakes would definitely meet your criteria of scenery and fishing. I have the same goals when hiking and my first trip into the Wind Rivers was to the Stough Creek area. We hiked off-trail to Leg Lake the first day, which I definitely intend on going back to one day. It is an awesome lake with some good fishing around it but is not easy getting there off trail. So take that into consideration.

On the actual Stough Creek lakes, we caught as many Brookies as we could handle. That was my first time fly fishing in the mountains, so I'd like to go back there one day now that I have more experience and go after some of the Cutts in the lakes.

Let me know if you have any other questions on the lakes. I have some materials around here somewhere that could help you out.

 

[Aries_Ranger]

Your trip report is what got me interested in Leg lake.

 

[LarryBoy]

(1) A Big Sandy Trailhead loop around the Cirques.....but im questioning the Big Sandy North to Shadow Lake leg......need feedback on Difficulty.

What do you mean by this? A route over Jackass and Texas passes? Or a lowland route around the west side? The former isn't really that bad to be honest. Texas Pass is technically off-trail, but there are some pretty clear use trails, especially on the north side.

Difficulty is notoriously difficult to contextualize as everybody's standards are different.

 

[Artemus]

x2 on what Larry said about hard to tell if Texas pass is difficult. But you may not be asking that part anyway. More details please. The walk back from Shadow Lake to the west to Big Sandy Opening is not at all technical or difficult and is trailed. Course there is that difficulty concept again. Texas pass is easy IF there is no snow on the north side especially and IF you are comfortable semi-trailless and steep-ish loose footing and have an adventurous soul....