TrektheWorld
Mike
- Joined
- Mar 18, 2014
- Messages
- 103
Turning 40 this year has been great. I usually want birthdays to go by without much fanfare, but 40 seemed a bit bigger for some reason. I think it's the new "Over the Hill" seeing as I don't see myself getting too much out of life after 80. So in order for this to be a bigger production I would need to call in some old friends.
I phoned up some friends who had left the Rocky Mountain area to head to the midwest and greener pastures once they started having children. I understand the desire to have help for your little ones so that you can live like a normal human being from time to time. It's hard raising 2 little kids with nothing but teenage babysitters around to help our for a few hours. My wife and I rarely get a chance to hit the open road without them. So my friends from the midwest were happy to make things work and to get away for a Colorado adventure back on some familiar turf.
I'd always wanted to do a backpacking loop of the Weminuche wilderness in SW Colorado. My only information coming from a Lonely Planet Backpacking the Rockies book. The idea of taking the Silverton-Durango Narrow Gauge Railway and be dropped off in the wilderness, climb some high mountain passes, and hit up some 14ers at the end of a 5 or 6 day loop, toasting beers in the passenger car on the way out seemed like an amazing fantasy. We were all set to make that come true. However, this heavy (I do mean heavy) winter we got in Colorado made everything just a little more spicy than we had wanted it. It was time to call in plan B. We had gone over options for plan B and looked into various corners or Northern New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, and into Wyoming. Giving the Wind River Range a few moments of research and finally spreading out my newly purchased, but never opened, map of the area brought new excitement into my veins. I started mapping out amazing trip reports from this website that I had bookmarked for a future trip and writing down mileage and marking off campsites from these reports. I decided that after a few reports of clear routes and we would be heading to the Wind River Range.
It was 15 summers ago before I ever moved out west that I took a roadtrip in my Honda Element, spending 4 months living out of the thing and discovering the American West. My first major backpack was from the Big Sandy trailhead up to Jackass Pass to see the Cirque of the Towers (another hike from that same Lonely Planet book). This was the fuel to start my love of the west and now 15 years later I would be returning. I joked to my friends that the dust from the road to Big Sandy was still lingering in the cracks and crevices of my car. I never realized that it was wise to roll up your windows on a dirt road when passing another car at 40+ mph.
What a view! from 2004.
One thing is for sure. We were there in July of 2004 and again in July of 2019. The mosquitos had hatched their offspring and whatever parents or grandparents I had slapped dead those many years ago- their offspring were coming for me now. Revenge!
So we ate our meals each night with mosquito nets on and even tried to drink our water straight through them at some points. But nothing would take away from the incredible scenery of this loop. Here's our route with side trips included:
Big Sandy > Shadow Lake > Desolation Valley > Hailey Pass > Baptiste Lake > Lizard Head plateau > Papoose Lake > Cirque > Jackass Pass > Big Sandy.
5 days - something between 45-50 miles.
I carried 50-52 lbs with a huge bear vault (the weight sucks but when you want to drop a pack and stash food and hike up to a side lake it's amazingly efficient)
My friends carried less, but they were sharing weight of tents and food and such. We all had our burden to bare/bear.?
Our thoughts on this entire loop: We couldn't have chosen a better trip. I have now backpacked a ton around the American west and some in the Canadian Rockies and the day to day scenery that unfolded on this trip was hands down some of the best I've ever been in the presence of anywhere. I'll take a few mosquitoes as a trade. When they fly in your tea, well, that's just added protein!
Here are some photos:
fueling up - if you notice: I like high salt, high sugar foods when hiking. It gives me a chance to try things like Oatmeal Pies for the first time since being a kid!
heading up into solitude
Eden
first night's camp
small trout up desolation valley lakes
bliss
campsite night 2
heading up Hailey Pass
view going down
amazing scenery on the way up to Baptiste Lake
I'm not religious, but this is Heaven right???
Looking on - the small things are precious and should be admired
heading back to meet the group
Lots of this. Moose I'm assuming? No sightings of the real deal for us.
TrustFall: 4 friends cradle the fall of the big guy.
Scenery around each corner is anything but uneventful.
Grave Lake's massive size produces sandy beaches. Not bad for a land-locked state.
Ranger Park awesomeness. Night 3 camp.
Valentine Lake
Beautiful, but Desolate Plateau Walking
Papoose! How tranquil.
Small Fry
Not too shabby...
This shall be my tent site! - night 4
The only times I ever stay in 5 star accomodation - it has to be earned.
Much better view than 15 years ago.
A lot of photos did not upload. I guess with the 20MP cameras these days the file sizes are getting larger. But you don't need to see everything, just a little taste.
I hesitated in writing this trip report. I didn't remember from 15 years ago seeing that many cars at the trailhead. We talked about how with more of this, there is more of that. I don't subscribe to the instagrams, but I often lament their value on this world and how they seem to make everything overcrowded and permitted these days. The Winds are free, and unrelenting, if you can get past the storms and mosquitoes and creek crossings and whatever else they throw at you. We had a pretty good weather week. We were lucky. I share this with you so you can plan your own trip and make it your own. I wish my wife could have trekked in here with us. I wish we had midwestern parents who would move to our neighborhood and watch our kids at the drop of a hat so we could venture out together. I wish my kids could have made it out here. What am I saying? My whole family freaks out at the sight of a couple of mosquitoes, much less the consistent swarm we encountered. You have to be Zen, look past their little bodies, hear through their little wings buzzing. It's out there, it's surreal, it's all I ever hoped it would be.
I phoned up some friends who had left the Rocky Mountain area to head to the midwest and greener pastures once they started having children. I understand the desire to have help for your little ones so that you can live like a normal human being from time to time. It's hard raising 2 little kids with nothing but teenage babysitters around to help our for a few hours. My wife and I rarely get a chance to hit the open road without them. So my friends from the midwest were happy to make things work and to get away for a Colorado adventure back on some familiar turf.
I'd always wanted to do a backpacking loop of the Weminuche wilderness in SW Colorado. My only information coming from a Lonely Planet Backpacking the Rockies book. The idea of taking the Silverton-Durango Narrow Gauge Railway and be dropped off in the wilderness, climb some high mountain passes, and hit up some 14ers at the end of a 5 or 6 day loop, toasting beers in the passenger car on the way out seemed like an amazing fantasy. We were all set to make that come true. However, this heavy (I do mean heavy) winter we got in Colorado made everything just a little more spicy than we had wanted it. It was time to call in plan B. We had gone over options for plan B and looked into various corners or Northern New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, and into Wyoming. Giving the Wind River Range a few moments of research and finally spreading out my newly purchased, but never opened, map of the area brought new excitement into my veins. I started mapping out amazing trip reports from this website that I had bookmarked for a future trip and writing down mileage and marking off campsites from these reports. I decided that after a few reports of clear routes and we would be heading to the Wind River Range.
It was 15 summers ago before I ever moved out west that I took a roadtrip in my Honda Element, spending 4 months living out of the thing and discovering the American West. My first major backpack was from the Big Sandy trailhead up to Jackass Pass to see the Cirque of the Towers (another hike from that same Lonely Planet book). This was the fuel to start my love of the west and now 15 years later I would be returning. I joked to my friends that the dust from the road to Big Sandy was still lingering in the cracks and crevices of my car. I never realized that it was wise to roll up your windows on a dirt road when passing another car at 40+ mph.
What a view! from 2004.
One thing is for sure. We were there in July of 2004 and again in July of 2019. The mosquitos had hatched their offspring and whatever parents or grandparents I had slapped dead those many years ago- their offspring were coming for me now. Revenge!
So we ate our meals each night with mosquito nets on and even tried to drink our water straight through them at some points. But nothing would take away from the incredible scenery of this loop. Here's our route with side trips included:
Big Sandy > Shadow Lake > Desolation Valley > Hailey Pass > Baptiste Lake > Lizard Head plateau > Papoose Lake > Cirque > Jackass Pass > Big Sandy.
5 days - something between 45-50 miles.
I carried 50-52 lbs with a huge bear vault (the weight sucks but when you want to drop a pack and stash food and hike up to a side lake it's amazingly efficient)
My friends carried less, but they were sharing weight of tents and food and such. We all had our burden to bare/bear.?
Our thoughts on this entire loop: We couldn't have chosen a better trip. I have now backpacked a ton around the American west and some in the Canadian Rockies and the day to day scenery that unfolded on this trip was hands down some of the best I've ever been in the presence of anywhere. I'll take a few mosquitoes as a trade. When they fly in your tea, well, that's just added protein!
Here are some photos:
fueling up - if you notice: I like high salt, high sugar foods when hiking. It gives me a chance to try things like Oatmeal Pies for the first time since being a kid!
heading up into solitude
Eden
first night's camp
small trout up desolation valley lakes
bliss
campsite night 2
heading up Hailey Pass
view going down
amazing scenery on the way up to Baptiste Lake
I'm not religious, but this is Heaven right???
Looking on - the small things are precious and should be admired
heading back to meet the group
Lots of this. Moose I'm assuming? No sightings of the real deal for us.
TrustFall: 4 friends cradle the fall of the big guy.
Scenery around each corner is anything but uneventful.
Grave Lake's massive size produces sandy beaches. Not bad for a land-locked state.
Ranger Park awesomeness. Night 3 camp.
Valentine Lake
Beautiful, but Desolate Plateau Walking
Papoose! How tranquil.
Small Fry
Not too shabby...
This shall be my tent site! - night 4
The only times I ever stay in 5 star accomodation - it has to be earned.
Much better view than 15 years ago.
A lot of photos did not upload. I guess with the 20MP cameras these days the file sizes are getting larger. But you don't need to see everything, just a little taste.
I hesitated in writing this trip report. I didn't remember from 15 years ago seeing that many cars at the trailhead. We talked about how with more of this, there is more of that. I don't subscribe to the instagrams, but I often lament their value on this world and how they seem to make everything overcrowded and permitted these days. The Winds are free, and unrelenting, if you can get past the storms and mosquitoes and creek crossings and whatever else they throw at you. We had a pretty good weather week. We were lucky. I share this with you so you can plan your own trip and make it your own. I wish my wife could have trekked in here with us. I wish we had midwestern parents who would move to our neighborhood and watch our kids at the drop of a hat so we could venture out together. I wish my kids could have made it out here. What am I saying? My whole family freaks out at the sight of a couple of mosquitoes, much less the consistent swarm we encountered. You have to be Zen, look past their little bodies, hear through their little wings buzzing. It's out there, it's surreal, it's all I ever hoped it would be.
