Wind Rivers Conditions 2012

[Nick]

Just got back from a few days in The Wind Rivers. Full trip report to come but I wanted to post a quick note on conditions for anyone planning trips. We went in at Elkhart Park on July 5th 2012, up through Pole Creek Lakes to Cook Lakes, then over Lester Pass, down to the Seneca Lake Trail and back to Elkhart Park from there, 32 miles total.

The mosquitoes are out in force but from what I was told, they were actually lighter than average for this time of year in The Winds. I would give them a 7 on the scale of 1 being none and 10 being so damn many that I'm going home because of them. Don't screw around on the deet, bring the big aerosol can of 40%. We did the small aerosol of 25% and pretty much killed it by the 3rd day between two of us. I don't mess around with the 100% tiny bottles when they're going to be really bad.

There was a lot more snow than I expected to see. Mostly just random patches in the trees here and there that was not problematic. At the top of Lester Pass at 11,100 feet, there was still a very large drift which we were able to kick through. It was 100-150 yards and the thinnest point. See pic below.

Crowds were way lighter than I expected. The Pole Creek Trail parking lot at Elkhart Park was maybe 15-20% full and only saw a handful of people the rest of the time, one of which was Dan Ransom who just happened to setup camp a few hundred yards from us at Upper Cook Lake.

EDIT: Trip report is up, http://backcountrypost.com/forum/index.php?threads/cook-lakes-loop-wind-rivers.1042/

Here's a pic of my awesome wife audraiam crossing the snow on Lester Pass on 7/7/12



And a view looking up at Lester Pass from below as we came out of the Pole Creek drainage.

 

[HomerJ]

Can't wait for the TR!

 

[lostlandscapes]

Awesome. Can't wait to get up there in a few weeks. Was there at least a little relief from the mosquitoes up on the passes?

 

[Deadeye008]

I was up there this last weekend also but down in the southeast end. We camped at a lake at 10,700ft and there were a few snow fields on one end of the lake(see picture below). We saw 3 other parties on the way to the lake but nobody up where we were camping. We got sprinkled on a couple of days and poured on Friday night.


IMG_6081__.jpg by Deadeye008, on Flickr

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[uintahiker]

Looking forward to both trip reports!

 

[Nick]

Wind River Range Campsite

Your Flickr pic isn't loading, Justin.

 

[Deadeye008]

Your Flickr pic isn't loading, Justin.

Fixed it. Thanks for the heads up.

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[HomerJ]

I was up there this last weekend also but down in the southeast end. We camped at a lake at 10,700ft and there were a few snow fields on one end of the lake(see picture below). We saw 3 other parties on the way to the lake but nobody up where we were camping. We got sprinkled on a couple of days and poured on Friday night.

Did you find any gold?!!!

 

[Dan]

Awesome. Can't wait to get up there in a few weeks. Was there at least a little relief from the mosquitoes up on the passes?

Bugs are hit or miss. Some places they were unbearable, some places they were nearly nonexistent. I took a tarp and a headnet, and largely escaped. Definitely not as bad as I've seen them in the winds, but I'd say they are "heavy" right now...

 

[Deadeye008]

Did you find any gold?!!!

I can't let everything out of the bag all at once. I'll post a TR later tonight with some pics... In the meantime, if you look at my Flickr pics you should get your answer.

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[HomerJ]

I can't let everything out of the bag all at once. I'll post a TR later tonight with some pics... In the meantime, if you look at my Flickr pics you should get your answer.

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So Awesome!!! Congrats!!!

That is some very pink fish! I bet it tasted great!

 

[Deadeye008]

So Awesome!!! Congrats!!!

That is some very pink fish! I bet it tasted great!

Thanks. It was the brightest meat I've ever seen. They must be eating a lot of scuds/shrimp. Very delicious indeed.

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[Nick]

I thought the pink meat was because of spawning?

 

[Deadeye008]

I thought the pink meat was because of spawning?

No, meat color is based on diet. A diet of mostly crustaceans/scuds produces a pink/red/orange colored meat because of the astaxanthin that is a naturally occuring pigment in crustaceans. Think about what color the shell of a shrimp, lobster, or crab turns when you cook it. A diet of mostly bugs/larva or other food will produce a lighter colored meat. A month or so ago in the Uintas I caught a bunch of Brookies in the same lake and to my surprise some of them had pink meat and some of them had white meat.

"In addition to different forms, trout farmers offer fish in different colors. In the wild or on the farm, the color of a trout's flesh depends on its food supply. A naturally occurring pigment called astaxanthin, found in many crustaceans, accumulates in the flesh of salmon and trout that eat them, and this pigment is the source of the orange-red color typical of salmon. Wild rainbow trout in fresh water eat a mixture of insects and small crustaceans, which gives the meat a light pink color. Their seagoing cousins, salmon and steelhead (the latter a rainbow trout that has migrated to the ocean), eat a higher proportion of crustaceans, mainly small shrimp and their smaller relatives called krill, and have resultingly darker orange meat."