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Post by buckaroo on May 27, 2020 12:19:23 GMT -8
I established the forum name of buckaroo but didn't like it so I changed to nextridgeover. When I started this thread, I had accidentally signed in as buckaroo, which is why there is one post from him, this one. When you see nextridgeover reply as if it's buckaroo, it is. Sorry for the confusion.
I can't believe it's finally gonna happen. Myself and my buddy Patrick have been talking about this for a long time and is on both our bucket lists. 12 nights and 13 days in the Winds. This forum has been extremely influential in helping Patrick and I have some great trips together. Ya'll have helped us with information for our trips to The Beartooths, Colorado, Olympics, North Cascades, etc.. Well I thought I had a general idea of where we wanted to go and then I started reading some posts with some hints of Indian Basin, Shangrila and such. I knew I should have turned here first.
I do have some specific criteria and would appreciate some help with route planning. Trip dates aren't final but will be in August, hopefully the later part. All 4 of us are from Houston so we are perfectly accustomed to high altitudes and mountainous terrain daily, Yea Right. We plan to stay in Pinedale the night before we start but with 13 days of food and little acclimatization, a gradual up hill day one is needed with the flexibility to take a day hike day on day two if needed. Fishing and scenery are the keys. Big mileage grueling days are not what we are after but not opposed to it either to get to someplace we can explore, fish and day hike. Out of the 13 days, I'd love to have 4-5 days of day hiking. I would love to see Titcombe, Lizard Head Plateau and the Cirque. I have a feeling I would miss the "out of the way pristine places" by trying to do it all. While I don't need a reason to want to return, having one doesn't hurt either.
I know planning is starting early but it's in the fine details that can take a trip from fantastic to epic. It's in finding the gems in a thread or video here or there. "3/4 oz silver cast master is fantastic for that lake", " beautiful camp site on the eastern side on a bluff by the creek". On top of that, I could sure use something to look forward to at the moment.
Happy trails,
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Post by absarokanaut on May 28, 2020 10:38:51 GMT -8
Hoping Trekkerman and Swims With Trout weigh in here soon. If they don't I'll message them on Facebook for you. You might also make a post at backcountrypost.com if you haven't already.
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Post by nextridgeover on May 28, 2020 13:24:04 GMT -8
Thanks for info. I'll do that.
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Post by cweston on May 29, 2020 6:45:58 GMT -8
If your trip will involve any off-trail travel, I can't recommend this book highly enough... Nancy Pallister, Beyond the Trails in the Wind River Mountains of WyomingFor almost any route in the book, there is probably at least one poster here who has done it. I visited Knifepoint Glacier, Shangri La, the headwaters of N Fork Bull Lake Cr and Blaurock Pass last summer. Staggeringly spectacular terrain, but not easy to get to.
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Post by trinity on May 30, 2020 8:05:07 GMT -8
I spent 13 days in the Winds back in 2015, you can read the TR here. Sorry about the photos, they looked good before Photobucket changed their "free" hosting policy. Some days were rough, but generally I just wandered around, and had a number of off days, where I just fished and lounged around camp. If I could do it again, I would only spend one day at Mary's Lake, and give myself time to loop around to the west from Titcomb, around past Elbow, Trail, Long, and back out to Elkhart. Spruce, Northfork, and Baldy Lakes are all incredible. With 13 days, your possibilities are endless.
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Post by offtrail on Jun 11, 2020 11:52:28 GMT -8
I've hiked the Winds from just north of the Cirque to Green River Lakes. Multiple 12 day trips exploring many out of the way locations. I agree with cweston, the Pallister book is outstanding when it comes to offtrail travel in the Winds. I have hiked a number of the routes she describes and they are accurate. Some of my favorite places include, East Fork Valley, Bonneville Lakes Basin, Bewmark Lake, Europe Canyon, Brown Cliff Lake area, Alpine Lakes, Shangri-La, Titcomb Basin (Beautiful but crowded), Indian Basin, Peak Lake.
Gannett is an outstanding Peak to climb but if you're not up for that, Fremont gives you and awesome view and it's a walk up from Indian Basin.
So much to see in one trip, I would recommend a certain area and then you'll have a few "off" days to explore.
offtrail
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Post by swimswithtrout on Jun 12, 2020 19:12:05 GMT -8
Out of the 13 days, I'd love to have 4-5 days of day hiking. I would love to see Titcombe, Lizard Head Plateau and the Cirque. Sorry, late to the party...I haven't visited "Destinations" since they all got shut down several months ago. Trying see "The Cirque"...and Titcomb Basin might leave you 2 days for dayhiking....if any... depending on your route...The Cirque is not all that great, and unless you take the entirely off trail routes to go between the Cirque/Titcomb, the scenery is lackluster... I'd concentrate on the Northern end...and a Jean Lk/Summit Lk/Knapsack Col/Titcomb Basin/ Wall Lk/ Baldy Basin/Chain Lks loop.... Spectacular scenery and equally spectacular fishing..13 days would be a perfect time frame with base camps for fishing ops.
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Post by cweston on Jun 13, 2020 6:41:45 GMT -8
I'm not a fisherman...I'm curious about this.
When packing for a 13-day trip with fishing, do you carry 13 days worth of meals, or do you assume that you'll catch fish to supplement what you carry?
Because 13 days means some pretty darn heavy packs, of course...
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Post by trinity on Jun 13, 2020 17:36:53 GMT -8
I almost never eat what I catch, too much work. Also, when I made my long trip to the Winds, I was a bit paranoid about cooking fish in Grizzly country. Yes, 13 days of food was pretty heavy, but it was definitely doable. As I recall, swimswithtrout has taken month-long trips, made possible by eating a whole lot of fish. I'd like to do that some day.
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Post by swimswithtrout on Jun 14, 2020 17:44:01 GMT -8
The Wind's are so amazing, that outside of a few blitz 4 day weekend rockclimbing trips to the Deep Lake Cirque, which only takes 2-3 f hours to reach, I've never gone in for less than 14 days.....my normal routine is to head in on a Thursday, to avoid the "weekend" trailhead rush, and then come out, 2 Sundays later...18 days
My only 14 day trip, was when I had my 4yr old daughter along on her first time to the Wind's....
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Post by nextridgeover on Jun 26, 2020 3:53:43 GMT -8
[article] My only 14 day trip, was when I had my 4yr old daughter along on her first time to the Wind's.... [/article] |
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Now that I'm completely emasculated...... Until I started reading Pallister's book, I had no idea about the Winds. There is just so much in a contained area it's incredible. It will take a bit more research than I initially thought. So far, I'm sure I want to get over Indian Pass into the North Fork area, Upper and Lower Panorama. I wouldn't mind waking up here one morning to watch the sun rise or be close enough to hike to in the early hours. I would love to see these glaciers while I have the time and am able. How we get there and back is where I'm working up different approaches. One of our guys has to leave on day 6 so out of 13 days, our 6th needs to be no more than 10 miles away from a trail head. We'll have two vehicles so our early departer can exit any where we can leave his car. Planning for trips and the research involved is just as much fun as being there watching it all unfold around you.
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Post by nextridgeover on Jun 26, 2020 4:05:39 GMT -8
I'm not a fisherman...I'm curious about this. When packing for a 13-day trip with fishing, do you carry 13 days worth of meals, or do you assume that you'll catch fish to supplement what you carry? Because 13 days means some pretty darn heavy packs, of course... We plan to eat fish twice. And yes, I carry 2 less meals. It's a great pick me up meal after several days in the woods. It would not surprise me if my pack came in at 45-48lbs.
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Post by oldbill on Jun 26, 2020 7:33:07 GMT -8
One of our guys has to leave on day 6 so out of 13 days, our 6th needs to be no more than 10 miles away from a trail head. That may be too stringent a criteria. I've hiked 20 miles to a TH in the Winds at least 3 times. The last included 2 11,000' passes with intermittent thunder-hail. I was 58. Shouldn't be a problem for the younger and/or stronger hikers. Had my 27 year old nephew with me on that one. He's a competitive tough-mudder and cross-fit athlete. We were both beat, including all the next day, but it's completely possible. That said, still don't think I have the skills/desire yet to do more than 5-6 days out. Admire those that do. I split my routes and recover a day or two fishing the Green, or Wind R before heading back out. HYOH
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Post by nextridgeover on Jun 26, 2020 9:09:48 GMT -8
That said, still don't think I have the skills/desire yet to do more than 5-6 days out. Admire those that do. I split my routes and recover a day or two fishing the Green, or Wind R before heading back out. HYOH That may be too stringent a criteria. I've hiked 20 miles to a TH in the Winds at least 3 times. The last included 2 11,000' passes with intermittent thunder-hail. I was 58. Shouldn't be a problem for the younger and/or stronger hikers. Had my 27 year old nephew with me on that one. He's a competitive tough-mudder and cross-fit athlete. We were both beat, including all the next day, but it's completely possible. That said, still don't think I have the skills/desire yet to do more than 5-6 days out. Admire those that do. I split my routes and recover a day or two fishing the Green, or Wind R before heading back out. HYOH That's good to know about the mileage. If you can go 5 days you have the skills for as long as you want. Fishing between outings for a break isn't much different than base camping a couple days. My base camp days are meant for fishing, napping, and trout filet crusted with ritz crackers and pistachios. I love me some base camp!
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Post by nextridgeover on Jul 12, 2021 14:35:58 GMT -8
How would you feel about the trip in reverse? Day 1 to chain lakes or realistically short of there. Day 2 to Cook Lake. Day 3 is a day hike and fishing at Spider lake. Day 4 I need some help. I thought the highline trail to Island or go up and around Wall Lake then off trail to Indian Basin or something in that area. Day hike the next day. Day five is up and over Knapsack to somewhere. Then spend the rest of the time in the Northern end fishing and day hiking. The reason for this approach is it allows some of the group to bail from Indian basin and spend two days packing to the trailhead. While someone could do it in a day, once at the trailhead they have a drive back to Salt Lake. Hence making the day out of the woods a fairly easy day before the drive. Most of the lures I have been thinking about are 1/8th-1/4oz in line spinners. Also have 1/8th and 1/4oz acme Kastmaster spoons. Patterns are brown, cuthroat and rainbow trout, firetiger and gold. Most of my alpine fishing has been on the smaller end of trout and have had great success with 4lb test. Any need to upsize to 6? We leave in 33 days. Any mosquito reports or anything else anyone has to offer, I'm all ears
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