This outing was planned ~2 months ago. A lollipop loop of ~50 miles backpack + 10-20 miles day hikes. 1/3 off trail (I drew straight lines on the map). I didn't plan anything, which is a relief. 4 people. I only knew M, who did the planning (he did a one way hike from the southern half to the north ~5 years ago). It turns out the other two didn't know each other either. M is a cartographer at USFS, so has a lot of info and detailed maps. He emailed us daily contour maps as well as estimation of elevation and distance. This would be my longest backpack trip, and I did train for it: the main hurdle is carrying the weight for 7 nights + a bear can which weights 2.5lb empty. The 4 of us had a zoom call 2 weeks before the trip, and exchanged multiple emails.
8/14. Friday. I was picked up by M at 5:35am, after only sleeping for barely an hour (too much to do at the last minute. Still forgot my sandwiches in the fridge!). Met J & D at J's house ~6am. Loaded to D' truck. First stop is a McDonald's drive-through by J's house where the 3 of them ordered breakfast. Another McDonald's drive through ~10:30, and refueled and change of drivers. ~3pm, 2nd fuel / restroom stop.
I-84 all the way to Idaho Falls (1 hour ahead of Pacific Time). Scenery is boring east of the Gorge. Scenery improves once on hwy-26. I was catching up my sleep, even though the back seat of the truck is quite uncomfortable. At the long shore of Palisade Reservoir, many dirt paths to the shallow waterfront, where RVs and tents were settled. We reserved ahead of time at
Alpine campground at ID/WY border, a bit higher in the woods. Campground was full. Temperature was pleasant, not too warm. Maybe at 5640'. Clean vault toilet. Many drinking water taps (maybe at each site). Spacious sites.
After pitching the tents, the 3 guys drove to the town of Alpine for dinner. I didn't know that they would stop so many times for food, so brought extra food for the road. I stayed behind watching over our stuff. The jovial camp host stopped by in a golf cart while I was eating directly out of a can. She offered to heat my food. Very kind of her. Of course I have my own stove. Sun was setting. Mosquitoes. I got a bite on my face while setting up my tent. 3 more bites on my legs. I sprayed a bit on my long pants and neck. I was wearing a fleece jacket. The 3 guys are all in short sleeves and short pants. After dinner, I walked a few minutes of dusty trail to the shore. More mosquitoes. Too late for sunset. Prepared for the night. At 9pm (8 PDT), no more mosquitoes. Quite pleasant, even with road noise and kids playing noise. Many campfires. The guys returned ~ 9:30, already dark.
8/15, Day 1 on trail. Saturday. Woke up by 6am. Slept well, didn't wake up at night. Missed the chance of seeing Perseid. Got out at 6:30. Chilly. No mosquitoes. Packed up slowly. I ate 2 cliff bars and seaweed for breakfast. We did a drive through in Alpine getting their coffee. I guess we were chatting too much, and missed the turn. Ended up an extra hour detour. Now that I was more awake than yesterday, I could participate the chat.
At Pinedale, the last town before the trailhead, they looked for a lunch place. We parked at the visitor center. I stayed and watched over our bags, since our packs are out in the truck bed. I did escape my duty for a few minutes to use the restroom in the visitor center and topped my water bottle. The lady there was very friendly, told me to look at the brochures which contain coupons for the town. She said there are more bikers (the Great Divide Trail) than hikers (CDT) who come by this town. I clipped the one for the
Aquatic Center, where we planned to go after the hike.
The trailhead parking lot was quite full at Elkhart Park (~9280') - one of the main access points (the closest to us) to
Wind River Range. More cars overflow along the road. I was quite disappointed to see this many people. We started by 1pm on
Pole Creek Trail.
I was hard at breathing right from the start. Haven't been this high in a few years. The trail is very dusty. That made me almost feeling suffocated, at times, especially when letting horses or runners go by (saw ~15). Saw 3 lamas and a few dogs. I was the slowest. My lungs were not ready. Photographer's Point is disappointing. Not much snow left on the distant peaks. Already 10K'.
The highest today is 10400'. We dropped down to 9800' to camp by Pole Creek Lake. Along the way, many lakes/ponds. Aster, arnica, yarrow. A few paintbrush & lupine. Very dry. My nostrils were filled with dust. When we crossed the creek, D lost balance, because he was wearing flip-flops. I was fine in sandals. It's only 5pm. I washed and then set my tent higher on the rocks, so I could see the lake. The boys camped in the trees closer to the creek. There were at least 2 more groups camping here.
Forgot to count steps.
I didn't set up the rain fly. Watching the star-studded night sky. Saw 1 bright shooting star. Woke up at 2am a bit chilled. Managed to fall back to sleep until morning light shined upon me.
8/16, Day 2. Sunday. A lazy morning.
We hit the tail at 8:30 as planned. Saw two girls on our way out. Quite a few forested lakes. Made one stop to adjust layers and had some snacks. Later, I realized that I forgot my water bottle. Went back looking for it, couldn't find it. Met 4 hikers. One of them called back to me and offered his bottle to me, as they were hiking out. At the next pond, I filtered some water, but didn't use this new bottle yet, because it looked quite dirty.
Once we hit Timico Lake trail, the view opens up. From then on, it's grand, and no people. I started to enjoy the hike, despite that my lungs were still not acclimatized. Had lunch by Timico Lake, hiding behind a clump of trees.
Now is cross-country. No trail. Rocks and grass. Finally saw some leftover snow. We took the east fork of Falls Creek, passing 2 more lakes, and over a pass of ~11300'.
Dropped down to a gorgeous lake basin. No name. Buggy. Must be marshy a couple of weeks ago. Washed everything except for my hiking pants. Don't have another to wear while waiting for them to dry. At 11100", the Sun is brutal here. My laundry, including thick wool socks dried in a couple of hours. Wore rain jacket and mosquito net. Got a few bites on my butt, neck and legs.
This lake basin is flattish, but not really flat. J and I walked back and forth along the lake, and couldn't find an ideal tent site. I decided to camp closer to the lake outlet, for easy access to water. They camped together in the middle.
34K steps.
Night was calm. Milky way. Warmer than last night.
8/17, Day 3. Monday. My 2nd favorite day. Very relaxing. Day hiked upper basin for a few more lakes. Absolutely beautiful. Lots of flowers. No bugs until afternoon. No people.
I started out shortly after 7:30am. Walked by the boys' camp. They were fixing coffee and breakfast. I didn't wait for them and headed out alone.
I followed the ridge north up to a basin of 3 lakes. On the way saw 2 small lakes in the middle of rocks. Here on the photo above you can see these two lakes as well as the big lake11125 where we camped.
Many flowers at the three lakes basin. Saw a new species for me: Parry's Primrose. They bloom in the rocky creek bed. Deep red. Most common is fleebane and paintbrush.
It was still early, so I scrambled up further to visit 2 more small lakes, and a knob above. There, I was able to look down to the Middle Fork Bull Lake. View is expansive.
On the way back, I stopped at the last upper lake, and washed my hiking pants and shirts. Sitting on the rock (under my umbrella) in my underwear and waiting for my clothes to dry. In ~half an hour, my pants were dry enough to wear. I walked back to my tent ~2:30pm, passing the boys' camp. They came back for lunch after their short morning excursion. D was at the lake (got really sun-burned), and J was also waiting for his pants to dry.
M was still out alone at Round Top Mountain. Too hot for me to hike more. I washed today's socks and hiding behind a rock and read my Kindle. The temperature inside my bear canister was way above 100F. All my chocolate had melted. Took some effort to scoop up the goo and eat it: warmer than my tongue. Mosquitoes were not out yet. A blissful day.
Storm was brewing to the south (our direction) and east towards late afternoon. Clouds thickened.
17.5K steps.
The night was warm.
8/18, Day 4. Tuesday. Increasing clouds. To Alpine Lake basin. A lot of rock scrambling after leaving Hay Pass Trail.
Heading out ~7:30am, following the drainage to the north, passing two large lakes, and dropped down to Upper Golden Lake, where we rejoined a normal trail: Hay Pass Trail. Some rock scrambling. Saw a few white columbine amidst the rocks.
The long gentle pass is a very beautiful stretch. We (more because of me) were overtaken by two hikers. After 3 nights in high elevation, my lungs were still not ready.
At the end of the pass, is a deep blue lake at 10787'. A short snow stretch. Filtered water here. We crisscrossed with the couple again, and met a solo hiker going the opposite direction.
After yet another rocky, but longer lake, we dropped down to Camp Lake (10163), where we had lunch at its north shore. There, I dropped my phone and cracked its screen.
Here we could still find trees and shade.
Once left Camp Lake, it's all scrambling and route finding. Progress was slow. But I rather enjoyed today, even though we were all exhausted at the end of the day. We didn't see anyone else after those 3 hikers on Hay Pass Trail.
Camp at middle Alpine Lake, on one of the few small peninsulars. It was already 7pm. The grass here is dry and hard. I put my seating pad under my tent. Probably still punctured my air pad, and probably the floor of my tent. My pad, since, leaks very slowly. Still functions, but requires a resupply of air in the middle of the night. There's a small pond that feeds into the lake. It's easy to fetch water at this outlet. However, it's shallow and full of green algae / moss. Not good to wash clothes. My shirt grabbed on many green threads.
33K steps.
8/19, Day 5. Wednesday. The highlight. Alpine Pass to Indian Pass. This is what I came here for.
In anticipation of a difficult journey, we started out at 7:30am. All rocks to Upper Alpine Lake. Going along the west shore of Upper Alpine Lake is not straightforward. Too steep. We ended up scrambling higher up. Then it rained. But not for long. There, at a tarn, we met a couple with a black dog, who came from Alpine Pass. We inquired about the condition. They told us don't drop all the way down to the lake.
There's one treturous but short snow stretch (with icy edges). We put on micro-spikes. D didn't bring any traction device. Thankfully he's a skier, so fairly comfortable on snow. He was able to use the steps I created to cross. The other two are not good with snow, but they had spikes, and were able to follow after D made it.
From then on, there were a few easy but bigger snow fields, or you could skirt it on rocks. I chose snow, since it's more direct. The boys took to the rocks. Looking back, if we stayed higher, we could avoid that steep snow stretch.
Finally we reached the Alpine Pass. A pika in the rocks right in the middle of the pass. Great view looking down to the Knife Point Glacier, even though the bottom of the valley is entirely of rocks now, unlike what the map suggests. Here we met another young couple heading the opposite direction. They claimed that they are indestrutable!
Going down the scree (not too steep) to the bottom of the glacier carved valley, we were hit with the full frontal view of the enormous glacier tongue, now dripping and partially covered with black ash. A bit icy, but not steep. It turned out that it was fairly easy to walk across.
At the bottom of the valley, by the 2 small glacier color lakes, we saw this big horn sheep. He was heading to the water, but hopped away because of our approach. He didn't leave, just watched us from afar. What a treat. This view is worth the 15 hour drive! Just splendid.
I changed to my sandles to cross the outlet of one lake. Now, going up cross the melting glacier. We took to the gully to the right side of the glacier. Fairly steep and loose, but manageable. I stayed on snow as much as possible. I prefer snow to loose rocks.
Finally, at 4:15pm, we made it to Indian Pass. There's a dead tree trunk marking the pass (not sure how it got here). Don't know when, I lost one glove during this traverse.
Going down Indian Pass now is a treat. Now all on established trail. But still there's no one in sight (until the lower basin where all the tents are). Tons of flowers, running creek and ponds. Many jagged peaks around. I was taking so many photos, started lagging behind. Lost the other glove in the meantime.
In Indian Basin, we started to see tents at the first lake, more and more tents and people. We were exhausted. Didn't push on to Titcomb Basin as planned, and camped at the southern most lake. About a dozen tents here. ~11000'. Already 7pm. I was feeling faint. Probably didn't eat enough during the day.
24.4K steps.
8/20, Day 6, Thursday. Optional day hikes. I got up early (hoping for a good sunrise - never saw a good sunrise/sunset here), and washed my shirt and socks, laid them on my tent and rocks to dry. Then, it rained briefly while I was cooking breakfast.
We had a late start (~9am). Busy trail. By the time we reached Titcomb Basin, already encountered 30+ people on trail. We were only 13-14 miles from TH. First we go down ~1 mile to the trail junction to Titcomb Basin. The trail got confusion around the creek(s) and willow bushes. I cut it short hopping rocks over the creek bed. Saw quite a few anglers.
At the beginning of the upper Titcomb Lake, we splitted. D and J went to Mistake Lake. M and I continued towards Knapsack Col. M's original plan was a big loop over Knapsack Col, turn west to Peak Lake and down Highline Trail via Fremont Creek and Island Lake. It's ~17 miles. Too ambitious. But I'm curious to see Twin Glacier and Stroud Glacier.
Trail ends at the north end of the lake. Upper Titcomb Basin was very wet and almost swampy, braids of glacier melted water running through rocks. Quite pretty. Lots of Parry's Primrose here. Saw more tents by climbers. They carry ice axes and ropes.
Refilled water, and had a snack break. Felt better afterwards. Scrambled up the rock pile north of the main creek. Then started a long slog over endless rocks, next to Twin Glacier, slowly gaining elevation. Met a group of 6 coming from Knapsack Col. The first guy had bad scratches over one arm and one leg. He said he did 3 sumersauts after a big boulder he was holding on rolled down. That's really discouraging. He said, west of the Col is easy.
We continued on for awhile, until we can see the Col. I parted ways with M. I told him I'd wait here to make sure either he went over the Col, or returned. Not really a good place to wait amidst piles of rocks. I scrambled up a knob for a better view to the north and down. Certainly excellent views from there. I found a good spot to sit, put on all my clothes, and sat on my sandles for better cushion. There, I rested. However, I couldn't find M any more.
At 3:30pm, I abandoned my post, and headed back out. I could see 2 people on top of the cornice at the Col, looking for a way to get down. Yes, it's easier to go up from this side. Not until at the lake, I realized that I forgot my sandals! Getting hazy. My phone died before I finished Titcomb Lakes. Saw a guy with a 6' selfie stick.
The last mile going up to the camp really tired me out. All along wondering what to tell my comrades about M's disappearance. Finally I dragged my feet to camp ~7:30pm. There, sat all three of them. What a relief! M turned around sooner than I thought, probably before I reached the knob.
35.6K steps before my phone died. Bloody sun.
8/21, Day 7, Friday. More smokey. J messaged the owner of his borrowed InReach asking about any nearby forest fire. Yes, it's NE of us, so not on our way out.
Hiking out. Very busy. M claims this view above Island Lake is his favorite in the entire USA (of course on a clear day). Soon after, we met the same couple with the black dog (above Upper Alpine Lake). What an odds!
Very dusty and busy trail. Most of the views are like this (under 10K'), quite boring. Met a large group with many kids. The youngest (who answered my question) is 6.5 year-old. After many lakes, we camped near the trail junction on the NE side of Barbara Lake.
It was still early afternoon. After setting up the tents, we setup a bonfire to burn trash, with a litre of water in hand, just in case. D finally burned his remaining flip-flop. They had more trash than I did. J picked up what couldn't burn completely. A relaxing afternoon. I did more washing, and reading. Waiting for the sun to set.
26.6K steps. There was a neighboring group, pretty loud.
8/22, Day 8, Saturday. Hiking out at 8:00. Arrived at the TH at 10:10. During this time, we encountered 52 hikers (10 are day hikers) + 2 runners + 12 horses + 4 riders + ~10 dogs! My right hand was swollen:( Not sure why.
First stop after the hike is the Aquatic Center. $7 (there's a $2 coupon in the visitor's guidebook). Closed on Sundays. Hot tub, Olympic size race pools, a large relaxing pool with a water slide. Very nice. I was well prepared, brought my own soap, shampoo and towel. They have dispensable liquid soap. For a small town of ~2000, this is a huge facility. I heard it's funded by natural gas. My right hand returned to normal.
Now donned with clean clothes, we lunched at Wind River Brewery. Had a beer and burger with fries. Not bad for a small town. Service was excellent. We sat outdoor on the deck with large umbrella. Upper 80°F's.
After lunch, the guys wanted an hour to check out the town and go shopping! I walked to the park by Pine Creek, sat in the shelter reading, while my swimsuit and towel were drying on the trees.
On the drive out, the boys decided to checkout
Jackson. Some traffic going there due to road work. They spent another hour, ate ice cream! Quite a lot of tourists here. I felt sorry for them because of the smoke. So close, but no view of Teton at all.
6pm, arrived at Falls Campground. On the way, there's a very pretty cascade down to Snake River (photo from M). After setting up the tent, the guys went out for dinner, returned ~8:30pm, brought me some pizza. Nice of them. But I already ate and ready to pass out. I still had food left in my bear can.
23.5K steps.
8/23, Sunday. Headed out at 7am. Regained 1 hour going back to Oregon. Stopped at Boise for lunch. Again, I had brought enough food, so stayed in the truck watching over our packs. This way, they could hurry up with their lunch. Arrive at J's house ~6:30pm. I was dropped off near my officer ~7pm. Cleaned up my tent, pack, and boots and laid out to dry. Browsed through my photos on my office monitor - it's big.
Summary- Trail: too dusty, too crowded. The best scenery (less people) is off trail, even though many books described these overland routes, they are for experienced hikers who are good at route finding and scrambling. If you stay on maintained trails, you can find better options closer to home.
- Group size: 4 is a good size. In case of surprises, can separate to 2x2. We made a good team.
- Elevation: 10K' and above. Throughout the week, I had trouble going uphill, even at a small incline. My sea-level heart and lungs are not fit for hiking here. My rest heart beat is 10% higher than at home.
- Weather: high ~70°F, low ~40°F. I use a 20°F sleeping bag, a little too warm. Very dry. Bring lotion and sun protection. I carried an umbrella, and used aloe gel, lip balm. Even so, my finger tips were cracked in the middle of the week. Short afternoon lightening and storm is supposed to be common, but we never encountered one. We all brought rain jacket and pack cover.
- Fuel: I took a full 1/2 lb fuel can. Used ~1/2 . I cooked 7 dinners and 4 breakfasts. The last 2 days, I even cooked water to wash my pot after eating the content.
- Food: to fit 7 days' food in a bear canister, I removed all original packaging. Group them in zip-lock bags. I took close to 11 lb food, had at last at least 1 day of food left. I took ~14 servings of Beef Strognoff by Mountain House (10 is enough), 1 lb of dried mixed vegetables (not a good idea, took longer time to cook), which I ate ~1/3. Should bring freeze-dried instead. I only ate half of the nuts I brought. A package of sun-dried tomatoes (good idea). 6oz beef jerky. 6oz chocolate. Dried cranberry, current and raisin. 1 pack of seaweed. 2 packs of energy chew. I find my stomach wasn't very happy at this elevation, and my taste buds were dull. I added salt and pepper to my meal. Overall, I brought too much fat/protein, not enough carbs. Should bring more sweet dried fruits, fruit peels, quick oat for breakfast. Need easily digestible food with stronger flavor.
- Clothes: loose fitting long sleeves, long pants, hat with drapes for bug and sun protection. Head net (for bugs at dinner time). Gloves for bouldering. Sandals/Crocs for creeks. I didn't bring any sunscreen nor bug spray on the trail. So many lakes. Able to wash (more accurately rinse) and dry clothes and socks almost every day. Only need to bring one extra for change. At the end of the week, I still had a whole set of clean clothes untouched. I also wore a pair of knee braces.
- Trekking Pole: 1.
- Tent: I didn't bring footprint. Took 4 stakes, 2 guy-lines. Use rocks to help anchor the tent. There was never s shortage of rock.
- Battery: I took 2 phones, a 10Kmah power bank and 2 extra batteries. Need to make sure everything is 100% before the hike.
- Bear spray: totally unnecessary. 2 of my group carried one. In the rocky higher elevation, no food source for bears. Lower country, too crowded to worry about bear.
- Animal: no large animal (very lucky to see a sheep. During M's 8-day one way hike here, they didn't see a single large animal). I didn't even see a marmot! Pica, squirrel, chipmunk, many birds.
- Weight: my pack starts ~35 lb (the lightest in my group). I lost ~3 lb after the week, but gained all back quickly.
Going slowly uphill in the woods for ~20 minutes until an open slope with good view. Then the dusty trail goes back in the woods, soon passing the branch to Lake Ann to your left. Keep straight, you'll start zigzag going up over a flowering slope and soon you'll see the lake below you. The flowers were mostly dead now, still some aster and fireweed in bloom.
Take the one going to the right and up, over the flat pass. Here you can see Black Peak. Go down over a long talus field to Lewis Lake. Various cairns pointing to different directions. It has a beautiful glacier blue. A group of people lounging on the rocks at the lake shore. The lake shore is somewhat steep - couldn't find a good campsite.
Continue on, the trail goes along the right side of the lake, then it goes up and up for about a mile until Wing Lake - no glacier color. Chilly. Again the trail goes along the right side of the lake. ~A dozen tents here scattered around. A lot of larches. Probably should come a month later. Pitched the tent, and after dinner, moved to a great spot (but farther from the lake). Beautiful sunset. No bugs.
8/30, Sunday. Sunny in the morning. The trail on my map indicates the ascent via the left ridge. However, looking at the terrain, the right one seems to be easier. The left side is too steep and loose. We did follow where everyone else was going, the left side. It's all rock, and then scree to the saddle. The scree is very loose and steep, especially closer to the saddle - I think this is the most dangerous part. The view from the saddle is already amazing.
From the saddle, it has a trail going along the ridge for awhile, then it's rock scramble. The very top 10-20 feet requires hands to pull you up. I actually went up one way and came down a different side, both risky. The view is stupendous - well worth the effort. Unfortunately, my phone's battery was at its end. I snapped a few shots without seeing on the display. Had to cut the top and stitch them together to form a panorama. If you don't want to risk the last short scramble, there's a flat spot (or false summit) that makes an excellent destination. The view is equally good.
