Wind River Blowdown

[Diane Greer]

Planning a backpacking trip in the Winds. Has anyone been back to the Bonneville Lakes, Europe Canyon or the Cook/Wall Lakes area? Wondering if the blowdown last Sept has impacted these areas and made travel difficult. Any information would be sincerely appreciated.
Thank you.

 

[OldBill]

We went in at Scab Creek 2 days after the storm. Based at Dream L. Day hike past Rainbow L to the pass, so in between Europe Canyon and Bonneville. We had to crawl over or around several trees on the way in. Nothing like what we did at Big Sandy the day before (we were the first to go in). There was no issue at Rainbow, though we took the West side of the lake. Winds, 2020

It's probably no worse accessing Bonneville or Europe starting from Scab Ck now, even if they haven't done any clearing. Cooks has more trees so may be different. You can easily access Wall by going in at Island and using the off trail route even if the route up Pole Ck is blocked. I'd be surprised if it's not accessible from Pole Ck trail. Too many outfitters use it to Cook Lakes. They may detour via Monument Ck and have cleared a path that way. Great Outdoor Shop would be a good source of updated info.

 

[Diane Greer]

We went in at Scab Creek 2 days after the storm. Based at Dream L. Day hike past Rainbow L to the pass, so in between Europe Canyon and Bonneville. We had to crawl over or around several trees on the way in. Nothing like what we did at Big Sandy the day before (we were the first to go in). There was no issue at Rainbow, though we took the West side of the lake. Winds, 2020

It's probably no worse accessing Bonneville or Europe starting from Scab Ck now, even if they haven't done any clearing. Cooks has more trees so may be different. You can easily access Wall by going in at Island and using the off trail route even if the route up Pole Ck is blocked. I'd be surprised if it's not accessible from Pole Ck trail. Too many outfitters use it to Cook Lakes. They may detour via Monument Ck and have cleared a path that way. Great Outdoor Shop would be a good source of updated info.

Thank you for the informtion. Very helpful. Prior to this post I spoke to the folks at the Great Outdoor Shop in Pinedale. They indicated that outfitters were clearing some of the trails they use. Hoping to get an update on conditions from some of the folks who might have done a Wind River backpack in July 2021.