Wind River Dreaming | Summer 2012 trip 3 July 22 - August 8 | part two

Dreamer

off route
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Ok, so it’s about time I follow through and finish this adventure. You can find the first half posted in July.

After meeting up with my friend above Boulder Creek for another nine days of food, I headed up to Middle Fork Lake. The lake is large, has a good trail, established sites and attracts plenty of horse packers.

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I spent the night at a lesser used site tucked into the trees along the north shore. The spot was not out of the way enough to avoid having a couple horse guys decide to ride through the middle of my camp while I was eating dinner. Slept well and got an early start. The next destination was Bonneville Basin. The route I took went around to the east of Middle Fork, over to Rainbow Lake then cut off trail through the woods. I did get a little off track in the thick timber, but managed to pull it together with a bit of head scratching and the trusty quad. Before heading towards Rainbow I took a detour up to Noel Lake, which sits about 20ft below the Divide.

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There is a route down the other side from Noel, but that is for climbers. The wind was so strong coming over the notch in the Divide that I had to get on my hands and knees to get the view over to the west face of Roberts Mountain. I ate my lunch by the lake.

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The next day I took Raid/Bonneville Col into the East Fork. The area even back in 2012 was popular but when I went through there this year I saw over 40. I camped near Pyramid Lake. Two hikers followed me up the pass where the caught me relaxing. One said he liked to make a cup of tea at the crest of passes and offered me one. I sat with them enjoying the moment and watched a habituated pika zipping back and forth gathering grass. I’ve adopted the tea tradition and have relished many a cup on high.

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I went over Hailey Pass via the side door first thing the next morning and visited Baptiste Lake before dropping to the west end of Grave Lake for the night. Got a little of the bear heebie jebbies after finding a really fresh print in the mud a short distance from where I could find a flat spot. Still slept in the open, as is my want, but did a quality hang for the food.

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Went cross country over to Macon Lake where I grabbed the trail to Washakie Pass, after which I again left the trail to drop towards Shadow Lake for my second to last camp.

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The final night was spent in the trees by Mud Lake not far from the trailhead. The parking lot is always a shock. After this I headed on up to the Tetons for a loop along the crest.

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Some of this same route including Rainbow was on the list this year, but that trip was canceled.
Glad to see more of the Winds.
I like the view from Washakie.
 
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