Wind River offtrail route questions

[Balsam]

Hello Diane. This post is of interest to me because we're planning something similar for an 8 day trip beginning Aug 24. What are your proposed dates? What do you - and other members here - think of snow conditions this year?

Seems a lot of snow still on the ground out there and with the cool conditions, snowmelt seems slow. I realize much depends on weather in the next few weeks, but I'm wondering if July 24 is too early this year to go that high.

We'd be following a chunk of Nancy Pallister's Central Winds Scenic Tour (#30). General area of Hay Pass, Golden Lakes, Milky Lakes, Europe Pass, Halls Lk, Middle Fork Lake, perhaps Bonneville Basin area. It's a little loose right now. Time to sort this out!

Thanks for any thoughts!

 

[TheMountainRabbit]

Hello Diane. This post is of interest to me because we're planning something similar for an 8 day trip beginning Aug 24. What are your proposed dates? What do you - and other members here - think of snow conditions this year?

Seems a lot of snow still on the ground out there and with the cool conditions, snowmelt seems slow. I realize much depends on weather in the next few weeks, but I'm wondering if July 24 is too early this year to go that high.

We'd be following a chunk of Nancy Pallister's Central Winds Scenic Tour (#30). General area of Hay Pass, Golden Lakes, Milky Lakes, Europe Pass, Halls Lk, Middle Fork Lake, perhaps Bonneville Basin area. It's a little loose right now. Time to sort this out!

Thanks for any thoughts!

I've got a buddy making an attempt on Gannett as we speak - I'll get a current report from him and put it here in a few days.

I'd expect lots of bugs July 24th-ish, but otherwise decent conditions. The remaining snow should be fairly easy to traverse - maybe just be strategic about hitting it AM or PM.

August 24th should be pretty ideal.

 

[Balsam]

I've got a buddy making an attempt on Gannett as we speak - I'll get a current report from him and put it here in a few days.

I'd expect lots of bugs July 24th-ish, but otherwise decent conditions. The remaining snow should be fairly easy to traverse - maybe just be strategic about hitting it AM or PM.

August 24th should be pretty ideal.

Thanks Rabbit!

 

[Diane Greer]

Hello Diane. This post is of interest to me because we're planning something similar for an 8 day trip beginning Aug 24. What are your proposed dates? What do you - and other members here - think of snow conditions this year?

Seems a lot of snow still on the ground out there and with the cool conditions, snowmelt seems slow. I realize much depends on weather in the next few weeks, but I'm wondering if July 24 is too early this year to go that high.

We'd be following a chunk of Nancy Pallister's Central Winds Scenic Tour (#30). General area of Hay Pass, Golden Lakes, Milky Lakes, Europe Pass, Halls Lk, Middle Fork Lake, perhaps Bonneville Basin area. It's a little loose right now. Time to sort this out!

Thanks for any thoughts!

Hi-

We are planning two 8 day backpacks during the second half of August (before Labor Day). Our plans are still up in the air. One option is to go in Elkhart park to the Cook Lakes and Wall Lake. Spend a day exploring the area to the north of Wall Lake and then cross Wall pass to the the drainage just south of Hay Pass. From there traveling along the north side of Long Lake to Europe Canyon, head up to Halls Lake and then down to Middle Fork Lake. From Middle Fork go to the Bonneville Lakes before exiting via Scab Creek.

Anther option is to go in and out of Elkhart. We would go up to Wall Lake, cross Wall Pass and then Hay Pass to the Golden Lakes. The next stop would be Camp Lake (or beyond). Here were would setup a base camp to explore the Alpine Lakes. We would then retrace our steps to the Golden Lakes, cross Fall Creek Pass and the descend to the Chain Lakes to exit via Elkhart.

With regard to snow, we drove through Pinedale on July 3rd. The rivers are very high and there is still a lot of snow in the high country (per the locals we spoke to on a lunch stop). Yesterday we hiked up to Lake Solitude in the Tetons. The area around the lake is still mostly snow covered and most of the lake is still frozen. Due to all the moisture there are tons of mosquitoes. I believe that you will be eaten alive on a July 24th backpack in the winds. I would wait if your schedule permits.

We have thought about dropping from Europe Pass to the Milky Lakes on prior trips but decided we did not want to spend the money and deal with the hassle of getting permits for the Wind River Indian Reservation. Maybe other who have done this can chime in on how the worked for them.

I have been to most o the places on your lists (except for the Milky Lakes). Let me know if you have more specific question.

Happy trip planning!

 

[Diane Greer]

Here is a photo of Lake Solitude in the Tetons from July 6th.

 

[OldBill]

We would go up to Wall Lake, cross Wall Pass and then Hay Pass to the Golden Lakes

Think you mean "Hay Pass Trail"? Can drop down directly to Upper Golden from Wall Pass. Intersects the trail. Or, continue off trail towards Camp L. Hope to be on a similar route mid-Sept.

thought about dropping from Europe Pass to the Milky Lakes

Had similar thoughts, but there appears to be an off trail route that doesn't cross Reservation north of Long Lake. Might be able to reach Milky Lakes off trail starting near Golden L staying high to avoid the marshes/willows. I looked at it briefly last time I was there. Definitely tough slog along the creek.

Great trip plans, whatever you decide to do!

 

[Balsam]

Hi Diane - and others! Thanks for your response -- and apologies for my delay in saying so! We're heading out on July 25 and likely travelling from S to N. After we cross Hay Pass, we'll either cross back at Angel Pass (harder on the W) or Wall Pass (harder on the E).

- Do you have a sense of the relative difficulty of Wall and Angel Passes given the direction we'll be travelling (S to N)?
- Do you have any more specific info on the route between Golden Lakes and Wall Pass? I've read Nancy Pallister's book and the route sounds somewhat complicated (but its hard to tell). She does give a pretty specific route over Wall Pass though and I wonder if its worth following.
- Any tips for going westward over Angel Pass?
- Any sense of how difficult (class 2?) the climb is from Europe Pass to Europe Peak is with packs?

Have you found any particular trip reports on any of the above that might be particularly useful?

Thank you!

 

[Diane Greer]

Hi Diane - and others! Thanks for your response -- and apologies for my delay in saying so! We're heading out on July 25 and likely travelling from S to N. After we cross Hay Pass, we'll either cross back at Angel Pass (harder on the W) or Wall Pass (harder on the E).

- Do you have a sense of the relative difficulty of Wall and Angel Passes given the direction we'll be travelling (S to N)?
- Do you have any more specific info on the route between Golden Lakes and Wall Pass? I've read Nancy Pallister's book and the route sounds somewhat complicated (but its hard to tell). She does give a pretty specific route over Wall Pass though and I wonder if its worth following.
- Any tips for going westward over Angel Pass?
- Any sense of how difficult (class 2?) the climb is from Europe Pass to Europe Peak is with packs?

Have you found any particular trip reports on any of the above that might be particularly useful?

Thank you!

Here are two links describing the climb from Europe Pass to Europe Peak.

NWHikers.net - View topic - Wind River High Traverse - 8/16-24-2019

wind river indian reservation – Rocky Mountain Fly-Fishing Adventures

Posts about wind river indian reservation written by mijcor

rockymountainflyfishingadventures.wordpress.com

The route is outside of my comfort zone with a backpack.

I have only done the route from the Golden Lakes to Fall Creek Pass:

Hay Pass, the Golden Lakes and Fall Creek Pass

Hay Pass, the Golden Lakes and Fall Creek Pass - The side trip visits Lake Victor and then ascends the beautiful North Fork Boulder Creek Valley to scenic Hay Pass, overlooking Dennis Lake. The pass enjoys great views of the North Fork Canyon and the high peaks towering above the Middle Fork...

hikingwalking.com

If you look at the map (zoom in) -https://hikingwalking.com/destinations/wy/wy_ww/big_sandy/bp_bs_ep/hay_pass/hay_pass_fullpagemap you can see that my route up to Fall Creek pass could easily be modified to go over Angel Pass by taking a different route around Lake 11125 . (The route up from the south end of Upper Golden Lakes was very straight forward).

Hope this helps a little bit...

 

[b.stark]

Hi Diane - and others! Thanks for your response -- and apologies for my delay in saying so! We're heading out on July 25 and likely travelling from S to N. After we cross Hay Pass, we'll either cross back at Angel Pass (harder on the W) or Wall Pass (harder on the E).

- Do you have a sense of the relative difficulty of Wall and Angel Passes given the direction we'll be travelling (S to N)?
- Do you have any more specific info on the route between Golden Lakes and Wall Pass? I've read Nancy Pallister's book and the route sounds somewhat complicated (but its hard to tell). She does give a pretty specific route over Wall Pass though and I wonder if its worth following.
- Any tips for going westward over Angel Pass?
- Any sense of how difficult (class 2?) the climb is from Europe Pass to Europe Peak is with packs?

Have you found any particular trip reports on any of the above that might be particularly useful?

Thank you!

Here's a good thread on Angel Pass: https://backcountrypost.com/threads/wind-river-range-angel-pass.10616/