Day 9: (Saturday October 14th) 17.3mi/27.8km

McLean Reservoir / US202 (126.2) to Mt Norwottock summit (143.5)

I had devised an elaborate plan to make the logistics for this section work out. There were two issues to contend with – the Connecticut River, which requires a driving detour; and the long distance between trailheads. I parked my car on the West side of the river, so I could drive the 10 road-miles to the East side trailhead. To get to my starting point today, I biked the 11 miles from my car to the trailhead, and then hid the bike in the woods.  It was a nice hourlong ride along an old rail-trail.

I arrived to my starting trailhead pretty quickly, and stashed the bike in the woods, to be retrieved Sunday night. This pond was a memorable landmark, and I also marked it on GPS.

There was lots of nice ridgewalking today, and the temperatures were perfect.

I’m not sure what the smokestacks in the distance are, and I was surprised how green the foliage was.

After two miles, I came upon a tower which was easily climbed. It wasn’t signed, and it doesn’t seem to show up on any maps, so I don’t know its name.

The trail was very exposed in this section, usually skirting the western edge of the ridge. I captured a short video for the full experience too.

As I approched the more popular tourist area, I saw some grafitti on the rocks. Stupid egotistical people.

Yes, this part of the trail was just as exposed as it looks. I wouldn’t want to hike this part in the dark!

I think this was communications or weather equipment, it looked bizarre!

After a brief descent to cross a road, the trail re-climbed so steeply up into the Mt. Tom State Reservation. I was only hiking at 1mph, but making good vertical progress.

These information kiosks were scattered throughout the Reservation (park).

You can tell the local trails were named by college kids, ha!

A rare eastern view, looking over the Connecticut River valley, and a huge bend in the river.

It was a hot, sweaty climb up to Mt. Tom!

A little sssnake! They were getting harder to see with more autumn leaves on the ground.

The last mile to the trailhead was on a beautiful smooth trail, and the crunchy leaves made it a perfect fall day hike.

The trail just ends at the Connecticut River, under a set of high-voltage power lines. I’m guessing there aren’t any plans to build a footbridge over such a large river.

The official route of the NET has a half-mile gap, with the trail picking up again on the opposite bank of the river. But, to get across the river, I drove 5 miles up the west side, crossed a bridge, and then drove 5 mile back down the east side. I was driving thru either Holyoke, and I noticed the car in front of me was a triple-crown hiker (AT, PCT, CDT). That’s a pretty rare person, and quite a coincidence!

I parked my car at the trailhead right next to this sign, and then started hiking. I had 7 more miles to go today.

It was a tough, steep climb up to Mt Holyoke, and I wasn’t making the progress I had hoped. But the setting sun was amazing from up there!

There was a huge white building on top of the summit, appropriately named Summit House, where tourists can drive up and visit in the summer. It looked like it was closed up for the winter, though.

With three miles to go, darkness forced me to get out my headlamp. This sign wasn’t exactly encouraging, either. Darkness, AND “confusing unmarked trails”…how can I lose?!

I passed this sign near Devils Garden trailhead, which meant I only had a half-mile to get to my campsite.

Finally at 9pm, I stopped walking and setup my tent on the summit of Mt. Norwottock. Since I had made dinner an hour earlier at a picnic table, I simply crawled into my tent and fell asleep.

 

Day 10: (Sunday October 15th) 28.6mi/46.0km

Mt Norwottock summit (143.5) to Lake Wyola (172.1)

I woke up at 6:30am to a dense fog on the summit, and it felt colder than yesterday.

I had planned to cover about 28 miles today, so I packed up quickly and departed the summit by 7am. Plus, the sooner I descended into the proection of the trees, the warmer it would be!

The first two miles were quite slow going and technical, with lots of rocks to squeeze though, around, and over. This specific spot was named Horse Caves.

At a trail junction near Long Mountain, I found a trail register! These are so rare on this trail compared to other long-distance trails.

For most of this section, the NET and the Robert Frost Trail share the same path.

In order to get down to a road crossing, there was rope to use as a handrail. It was the steepest grade that I’ve ever seen on an established trail, good thing it was only 30ft long. It should have steps or a switchback, but I think the private property owner prevented that improvement.

Most of the rest of the day was in dense hardwood forests, with the occasional roadwalk. The miles went by quickly and easily, which was good because I had a long way to go!

That log didn’t stand a chance.

There were many nice and overbuilt bridges in this section, usually donated by local hiking clubs or boy scout troops.

I have no idea why there was a chair here, at least 3 miles from the nearest road, but I took it as a sign to sit down and eat. Nutella always tastes better in a proper chair!

The Quabbin Reservior is the public drinking supply for Boston and suburbs, almost 70 miles to the east. Four towns were evacuated and flooded in the 1940s to make the reservoir.

Just a nice autumn day, perfect for hiking.

At 5pm, I realized that I still had four miles to go, so I picked up the pace. Sunset was just after 6pm for this time of year. The dense forest was already starting to darken in the low angle of the sun.

Just before sunset, I hiked by an unnamed pond, and then emerged from the woods onto a small country road. I only had a mile to go, and it was on an easy to follow road.

I arrived to my finishing trailhead at Lake Wyola at 6:15pm, perfect timing! But, I had no phone service to call a taxi. So, I spent an hour exploring the town’s local highpoints in hopes of gaining a usable signal. That didn’t work, and it was getting cold. So, I started walking south on the main road, knowing that eventually I would get a signal. After 20 minutes of walking uphill, it worked! The driver was a little wary about picking up a passenger in the middle of nowhere in the dark, but after some explanation it was fine. She dropped me back at my car 30 minutes later, and then I drove back across the river to retrieve my bike. I returned home quite late, but it was worth it!

Day 7: (Saturday September 30th) 17.4mi/28.0km

Hartford Reservoir / US44 (90.2) to Windsor Locks Tentsite (107.6)

It rained in the morning, so I opted to start hiking right after lunch. The vegetation was still wet, but it was a well-marked and wide trail, so I had no problem staying dry.

It was like a wilderness highway!

After a couple miles of easy, flat hiking, the trail climbed back up to another ridge. I’m always amazed at how the rock here forms in such orthagonal shapes. In this section, it made a vertical cliff to the west!

After an captivating mile of ridge-walking, I came upon a tiny pavililion next to the trail, which contained quite a surprise…a Snapple machine! Wtf??

Of course, I put in $1 to have a nice cold drink (it was a warm 70F/21C). After I had hiked another minute, I came around a corner to find a giant tower. Well, that explains why there was a snapple machine way up here!

It was called Heublein Tower, and it stands 165ft/50m tall. It was built by a wealthy industrialist in 1914, who the owner of A1 steak sauce, and Smirnoff vodka. Fascinating.

I took a nice long break at the tower, and then hiked back into the woods. The trail kept undulating up and down the rock formations, and they were so geometrically fascinating. It kinda reminded me of Devil’s Postpile NM in California.

A mile later, I came upon a trail junction, which was probably the most well-marked spot on this entire trail. I counted at least 70 cairns!

Cairns had even sprouted in the surrounding trees, so strange.

I will admit, some of them were very creative.

This ridge was full of historic artifacts! This was the remains of Mr. Veeder’s family cabin, another wealthy industrialist from the early 1900’s.

I stopped for a break on a nice open rocky spot, and I could still see the Heublein tower, about 5 miles to the south.

This was another historic structure, but it didn’t have any information or plaques to describe it.

I was aiming for an established campsite tonight, which the map described as having tent platforms, picnic tables, and even a privy.  Even though the sun set at 6:30pm, I kept hiking for another hour, and I ended up hiking the last 20 minutes by headlamp.

Finally, home for the night! It was almost 8pm by the time I arrived at the Windsor Locks tentsite, and I almost missed this sign in the dark.

I setup away from the main area, as I could see a couple other tents here. After a well-earned dinner of spicy ramen with chicken, I decided to catch up some old favorites…

My tent ceiling has a mesh pocket, which perfectly fits my phone, and I laid in my sleeping bag and watched shows on Hulu! After a couple episodes, I checked the weather, tomorrow looks warm and sunny!

 

Day 8: (Sunday October 1st) 18.6mi/29.9km

Windsor Locks Tentsite (107.6) to McLean Reservoir / US202 (126.2)

Today was the first day of October, and the sunrise isn’t occuring until almost 7am. I was in no hurry to get moving, since it was also pretty cold (below 50F/10C). I was finally making northward progress by 8am, and it was a beautiful sunny morning!

The ridgeline had faded away, and for most of the morning, the trail traversed a warm, green valley. It must’ve been migration season, there were butterflies everywhere too!

A random trail marker in a sea of ferns.

Around 11:30am, I had officially crossed into Massachusetts! 115 miles down, 90 to go. From here, the blazes suddenly changed from blue to white.

About a mile later, I crossed a road, and came to a beautiful new trail bridge, along with a dedication stone.

It was close enough to lunchtime, and the rock provided a flat spot to sit, so I stopped and enjoyed my leftover thai-chicken pizza. Yum.

After a nice long break, I continued across the bridge. The marsh was enjoyable to look at from the dry safety of the bridge. I was glad I didn’t hike this part in the spring, I imagine the bugs would be terrible.

I hiked along a ridge for an hour, and it was perfect weather. As the trail neared the next road crossing, it took some confusing turns through private property, which also happened to be the Agawam archery club. So, it was probably not the best place to be wandering through the woods! After I crossed the road, I hiked through an old abandoned quarry, and then steeply up to Provin Mountain. It had a firetower! I was able to walk up the stairs, but the hatch to the top was locked.

I hiked along for a couple of miles on the ridge, then dropped steeply down to the Westfield River. Much to my surprise, it was a large river, and it was unbridged. I investigated the layout for a couple minutes, determined it was only knee-deep, and then easily crossed. I wouldn’t want to have to do this crossing in springtime, or in cold weather!

After crossing the river, the trail climbed the opposite embankment, and I was instantly in a large parking lot. I managed to figure out where the trail went, and I sloshed across the parking lot and road with heavy shoes. After an hour, my shoes had mostly dried, and I took a break at a tunnel under the I-90 (masspike). Immediately after the tunnel was a super steep climb, up and up, until finally I was on this beautiful ridge.

I’ve noticed that the rock formations here always drop off steeply to the west, never to the east. So again, here is a nice view of the valley to the west, and I think the Barnes airstrip.

About a mile before my finish spot, I came to this mysterious junction. I was ahead of schedule, and tempted to investigate, but….the name wasn’t selling it. Moving on…

I arrived at the US202 highway trailhead, and I decided to end here for this segment. It was another 4.7miles/7.5km to the next road crossing, and it was already 5:30pm.

I summoned another Uber, and was dropped back at my car 30 minutes later. I’m planning to come back to the trail in two weeks for the next section, and then hike the final section in late October before it gets too cold!

Day 5: (Saturday August 5th) 4.8mi/7.7km

Hallmere Reservoir/Edgewood Rd (63.4) to Ragged Mountain (68.2)

I parked at the trailhead where I left off in June, and packed up as I ate the last of my leftover dinner burrito. The first 30 minutes were an uninspiring walk along a country road, but at least the weather was nice.

The trail left the road at a rather obscure point, and after 10 minutes of poking around the road shoulder, I found the overgrown trail junction. The next mile appeared to be seldom used, and rather narrow.

Then, the trail got really interesting. It appeared to aim straight for a cliff, as if to climb directly up it. Well, hmm.

After another 5 minutes of poking around the cliff base, I found the blue-blazed route, leading up through a steep gully in the cliff. Interesting.

This sign at the top of the gully was reassurance that yes, I was indeed on the NET. I’m sure the cliff section causes most hikers to have their doubts!

The next half-mile was a beautiful walk along the top of a completely exposed west-facing escarpment. The sunset was pretty awesome!

As soon as I re-entered the forest, the tree canopy blocked out most of the dwindling daylight. I was able to avoid headlamp hiking, since I only had to hike another half mile to get to a camping spot.

 

Day 6: (Sunday August 6th) 22.0mi/35.4km

Ragged Mountain (68.2) to Hartford Reservoir / US44 (90.2)

The early daylight meant that I was awake at 6:00am again, and hiking on the trail by 6:30am.  The trail stayed high on a ridge for an hour, and I had good views of the Wassel Reservoir.

The rock in this area was very interesting, filled with all these little raised lines. I think it’s called traprock.

As soon as I descended off the ridge, the damp valley was filled with these massive fungi!

A couple hours later, I had a small climb up and over Bradley Mountain (607ft/207m). The trail turned rocky again, and the snakes were loving the sunny warm boulders!

Hello, danger-noodle friend!

I saw probably 8-10 more snakes in the next hour, but I didn’t bother getting photos after I saw how common they were. The trail crossed under Interstate 84 along some old train tracks. At first I was worried about train traffic, but then I saw how OLD the tracks were!

I had lunch on the nice warm train tracks, and then made the hour-long climb up to Rattlesnake Cliffs.

There was a random trail register in the middle of the woods, miles from my previous road crossing. Weird. I signed it, and saw that it was mostly used by rock climbers for a nearby cliff.

A few minutes later, I did see several groups who were carrying ropes and helmets, so it must be a popular climbing area. I’ll have to come back to investigate!  After dropping down off Rattlesnake mountain, the trail traversed an extensive boggy area. The boardwalks were nice, thank you trail crews!

After a 22-mile day, I arrived at a road crossing at 4pm. I considered hiking to the next road crossing 4 miles away, but it was getting late on a Sunday, and I still had a 2 hour drive home. Plus, I was still tired from my trip to the Winds last week. So, I summoned an Uber, returned to my car by 5pm, and stopped for a nice Dibella’s sub on the drive back.

I have 90 miles down, 120 miles to go! I’m hoping that I can do it in three more sections of 40 miles each, we’ll see.

 

Monday 7/31/2017, 0mi/0km

We slept in late, and then walked around town, it felt so easy to walk without a pack on! A breakfast cafe caught my eye, and we went in and get some huge egg & chorizo burritos.

While we were walking around town, Quickham noticed that many of the shops were selling clothing and gear specifically for the upcoming total eclipse. How bizarre!

It’s a 5-hour drive back to the Salt Lake airport, so I said goodbye to Quickham, and hit the road after lunch. After an hour, I was at South Pass City, where the CDT crosses the highway. I decided to make a stop and stretch my legs. The hiker logbook was still there at South Pass City, and I was beyond fascinated to see who came thru behind me…

I grabbed an ice cream from the general store, and got back on the road. Soon enough, I’m crossing back into Utah.

I arrived to the airport an hour early, and grabbed another burrito before I headed to the TSA security lines. I fell asleep on the plane before the wheels were off the ground, and woke up back in Boston.

 

As for my thoughts on the Wind River High Route, I found it to be every bit as challenging as promised. I definitely recommend it to anyone who has long-distance hiking experience, and I’ll outline my planning process here.

Route choice

I followed Andrew Skurka’s version of the WRHR, as opposed to the original Dixon/Wilson route, which is shorter. The Dixon/Wilson route makes different route choices at the beginning and end, and I had already visited those spots, ie. Green River Lakes. The logistics for the Skurka route are potentially more complex, but we had two cars, so we just parked one at each trailhead. I thought the Skurka route followed a natural line through the mountains, it hit many of the area’s highlights (Wind River Peak, Cirque of the Towers, Europe Peak, Golden Lakes, Downs Mountain, Goat flats) without feeling contrived.

Purchases

After Quickham and I had decided on a route, we purchased Skurka’s mapset and databook ($25, well worth it), and a pair of Earthwalk press plastic maps. I also purchased a set of sneaker-compatible (flexible) crampons. I chose the Kahtoola KTS crampons, as they had a full 1inch spike. They are a perfect compromise between a traditional crampon (too rigid), and microspikes (not enough traction). I didn’t have to make any other purchases, as the rest of my gear was re-used from my 2016 CDT thru-hike, and there aren’t any permits required for the Winds.

Travel

I flew to Salt Lake City, rented a car, and drove the 4.5 hours to Lander, WY. Some people choose to fly into Denver, but the drive is an hour longer. I met up with Quickham, who also had a car locally, so we simply had to shuttle cars to the trailheads. Hitchhiking would be a reliable, but slow, option; both trailheads had a couple dozen cars when we were there. The city of Lander allows free camping for up to three days in the city park, and there are flush toilets and drinking water. We camped there the night after our hike, it was an ideal spot to relax and unpack all of our gear.

Resupply

We planned the WRHR as a 9-day trip, and neither of us wanted to carry 9 days worth of food. We hired a horse-packer to bring in food (and some extra gear) to Hay Pass, which we crossed on day 5…this was expensive. In hindsight, I would’ve detoured to Big Sandy Lodge on day 3, leaving us only 6 days of food to carry out from the Lodge. Alternatively, faster hikers would be able to complete the route in less than 9 days, or be willing to carry heavy food loads. We saw very few other hikers along the route, so the JMT strategy of yogi-ing food likely wouldn’t work.

Hiking

We covered an average of 12 miles per day. When hiking on a trail, our pace was similar to the CDT, about 2.5 miles per hour. The off-trail travel was generally much slower, and traversing a pass usually required stopping to add/remove crampons several times. We hiked in late July in a high snow year; hiking in August or in a lower snow year would likely be faster.

Safety

The Winds are home to glaciers, grizzly bears, rushing streams, and almost-daily afternoon thunderstorms. We traveled away from glacial crevasses, properly stored our food from bears, and planned to cross larger streams in the morning. Quickham carried an InReach device, which was handy for weather/communicating text messages, and would’ve been essential if we experienced a non-ambulatory injury. There was no phone signal (verizon), and we saw other people less than daily.

Overall

After hiking several established National Scenic Trails, the WRHR seemed like my logical next step. The route is very remote, and requires high self-sufficiency, wilderness judgement, and complex route planning and logistics. There are no white blazes, phone apps, trail angels, or cell service. And it was perfect! Aside from a scary sliding fall and some fractured ribs, I had a great time!

See you on a trail

-Recon

Sunday 7/30/2017, 13.0mi/20.9km

Tarn below Downs Mountain (83.8/12,220ft) – Trail Lakes Trailhead (96.8/7,610ft) (WY)

We slept in and woke up at 6:30am instead. There were no storms last night! I slept really well. We packed up, and our fellow camper is already gone – we saw him in the distance climbing Downs Mountain. We left camp, and attempted to contour over to No Mans’ Pass, but some cliffs prevented that. So after a tiny climb, we dropped down into the pass. It was a nice looking camp area, but no water…our spot was better.

We climbed a little up to Goat Flats. Quickham went left of a small ridge, and when it ended, he was a few hundred yards away! I stayed higher to avoid making a PUD. Then, the terrain flattened out, and I saw why it’s named Goat Flats.

Eventually, our paths diverged enough to make communication almost impossible, and I stopped and refilled my water.

Quickham and I re-merged, and then aimed for the left side of Goat Flats, while we slowly descended towards a trail in the distance. On the way down, we saw goats! Yup, aptly named.

Goats in action!

The rocks diminished as we descended, and we contoured over to the trail/saddle. We reached trail around 10:30am, after only 3 hours of cross-country on easy flat terrain.

The trail cruised downhill, and the newly-built trail to Bomber Falls was nice and maintained.

We kept descending, and the greenery and flowers came back!

After the first switchback, we crossed a creek and had an early lunch, and dried our bags/tents one last time (condensation). When the clouds increased, we hit the trail again.

It was such a nice trail, with many new switchbacks, all the way down to the East Torrey Creek.

After the trail merged with the river trail, we saw a few dayhikers. It was weird seeing, and smelling, clean humans.

We pound out the last hour to the trailhead under threatening clouds, passing a small waterfall along the way.

As we left the forest, I took some photos of the signs for the hikers entering. I like collecting pictures of the Wilderness signs!

We arrived back to my car at 2:30pm.  First order of business: bathroom. Then we piled all our gear into my car, changed into some non-offensive clothes, and drove to nearby Dubois for a celebratory beer and meal.

We grabbed a Coors at the Rustic Tavern, and then went next door for food at Cowboy Cafe. It was delicious, and more filling than last year! Afterward, we drove the 90 minutes back to Lander and retrieved Quickham’s car, and then showered at the local gym for $4.

We picked up some groceries, and made dinner at the city park, where they also allow you to camp for free! We reminisced over some photos, and I was asleep by 10pm.

The Wind River High Route was amazing! It beat me up quite a bit, but I thought it had the perfect level of challenge, difficult but still attainable. And the solitude was unparalleled! Now I’m more comfortable in planning another “high route” that is on my list – the Sierra High Route, which is twice as long (195 miles). Watch for updates on this page for my other planned adventures.

-Recon

Saturday 7/29/2017, 12.0mi/19.3km

Glacier Trail Jct (71.8/10,730ft) – Tarn below Downs Mountain (83.8/12,220ft) (WY)

As usual, we woke up at 6am. I didn’t sleep well last night, with all the thunderstorms. The first one came thru at 11pm, then another at 2am, and then again at 4:30am. We packed up wet tents, and started our way toward West Sentinel Pass. The trail disappeared quickly, and we had to pick our way thru medium- and large-sized talus. Annoying. The climb up to West Sentinel Pass was easy, small scree and a herd path.

The terrain soon became snow-covered, and we put on crampons. I traversed too high around a melt pond, and with the steep terrain and frozen snow, it was slow going kicking steps. Quickham lead the last part of the ascent, which was very steep on snow.

We plunge-stepped for the descent the other side, staying near the rocks (snow is usually softer near the edge). We came out into the sun, and onto the enormous Gannett Glacier. Whoa.

Gannett Glacier panorama looking uphill.

It was getting hot, and I didn’t want to get (even more) sunburned, so we quickly crossed almost a mile of mushy glacier.

After crossing some rock fields, we re-climbed up to 12,000ft on a snowfield. It was a nice steady climb across the slope.

At the top, it transitioned back to rocks, and we removed our crampons for the first time today.

The walk was flat and easy for awhile, then we skirted a glacial lake, and climbed up the Grasshopper Glacier. (the lake is covered by ice, center of photo).

It was hot and sunny, and the glacially reflected sun made it feel even warmer. We stopped for lunch (early) in a rockfield, got water, and dried our tents. We tried not to wait too long, as it tends to get very cloudy by 1pm. This was presumably our last lunch on trail, so I ate all my cheese and salami. The clouds were gathering, so we packed up, and hiked along the ridge for awhile.

The descent into Iceberg Lakes Pass was quite steep, and we tried to stick to snowfields to use our crampons (better than wet slabs). I ended up switchbacking twice to lessen the steepness. We got down to the pass and took a break, which was ended prematurely by light rain.

The ascent back up to the ridge felt harder than it should – but it had been a long day. We skirted Yukon Peak to the east, and crossed paths with two other hikers. They were older guys, and they were moving fast. We chatted for 5 minutes, then we split off.

The sun came back out briefly, as we traversed the “moonscape” on the ridge. We could see Downs Mountain right ahead, and it didn’t look too bad. It was our last big climb of the hike!

It proved to be slow going though, as the talus became huge and required some 5^th class moves.

We got to the summit at 5:30pm, and sat down for a well-deserved a break.

View from the summit of Downs Mountain, elevation 13,355ft/4071m.

Our break was cut short by the approaching thunder clouds are in the distance. So, we rallied and cruised down the east side of Downs Mountain, mostly on snowfields. 

We dropped 1000ft in 30 minutes, and arrived to our camp spot at 6:15pm. Incredibly, there was another person camped here! We set up our tents thoroughly for the expected wind/rain, ate our last dinner, and watched the last half of the movie. What a tiring day!

Friday 7/28/2017, 10.1mi/16.3km

Lake below Fortress Mountain (61.7/10,990ft) – Glacier Trail Jct (71.8/10,730ft) (WY)

I woke at 6am, and I was moving slowly, so Quickham was finished packing up before I even got my tent cleaned out! It was kinda windy and cold, so I tried to move fast once I got out of the tent. Guthook and Hikerbox Special cooked breakfast, and I sat with the group after I finished packing, and ate my cold breakfast bars.  We got on trail around 7:30am, and I found myself with a renewed energy in the larger group.

We scrambled over the rocky lakeshore, and then chose the high route around the cliff. It involved some 4^th-class scrambling, some wet slab, a snow-filled chimney, and some awkward mantling with crampons on.

The 4 of us got to the top, and then descended the snowfield on the other side. Descending the steep snowfield was so much more enjoyable with an ice axe!

At the bottom, I crossed a snow bridge over a creek, and I held my breath and treaded lightly as. Guthook and Hikerbox Special stopped there to get water, and the 4 of us met at the base of Alpine Lakes Pass. After a brief break, we started climbing the actual pass, at almost 9:30am. Today has been slow terrain! The actual pass wasn’t too steep, and with the nice firm morning snow, we cruised to the top by 10am.

After we all arrived, we took a well-deserved break at the top, and I devoured the rest of my Reese’s pieces…oops.

The descent was fast and fun, as it’s all snow. Toward the bottom we glissaded a bit, and arrived down at the creek crossing in less than an hour. Fun descent video!

I got down ahead of most of the group, and was able to capture a fun video of Quickham’s glissade.

The creek was flowing fast, but it was very shallow, so the crossing was uneventful.

Soon after we stopped at an amazing lunch spot, it had rocks and shade! My faves. It was also a good spot to dry my feet, which have been moist or wet every day.

We finished lunch, and picked our line up the next climb, trying to avoid the willows.

Hikerbox picked a good route on some rocks, and we came through the climb easily. After the descent, we arrived at a large stream, which was milky glacial in appearance. It was my most “exciting” crossing yet. Guthook threw me his poles for the last deep part – thanks! We skirted on over to the base of Blaurock Pass, thru the “Sound of Music” setting, it was very green and flowery. Blaurock was a huge climb, and we cut left to avoid an undermined snowfield, which added some distance. The upper half was as steep as anything we’ve done, but it went fast as Quickham took the lead breaking trail. Also, it’s amazing how much faster I moved with the confidence of an ice ax!

We got to the top of Blaurock Pass at 4pm, and we all hung out for almost an hour enjoying the views and our rapidly diminishing food.

The descent was quick – first on scree (yay!), then smooth snow that we butt-slid down.

When we got to Dinwoody creek and the glacier trail, Guthook and Hikerbox Special split off to exit the woods. Goodbye new friends!

Quickham and I hiked a few more minutes, to a camp spot among rocks. I could tell we were close by the Marmot population, always seeking food.

By 6:30pm we were set up, and then we made dinner and watched the first half of the movie Wayne’s World! Then, it was time to watch the sunset, and Gannett Peak (behind us) allowed just enough sunlight through. So cool. Darkness descended quickly, and by 9pm I was asleep.

 

Thursday 7/27/2017, 13.4mi/21.6km

Hay Pass Trail jct (55.8/10,850ft) – Lake below Fortress Mountain (61.7/10,990ft) (WY) + 5.5mi Hay Pass resupply + 2.0mi Camp Lake alt

We woke up extra-early at 4:30am, packed up quietly as to not disturb the group, and were on trail with headlamps by 5:15am. We hiked quickly up the trail, reaching a lake after an hour, and re-gaining the top of Hay Pass by 7:05am. Five bonus miles, done!

The view from the top of Hay Pass.

We continued down the trail, past Dennis Lake, and re-joined the primary route.

We hiked all the way down to Golden Lakes. The trail faded in/out in spots, but we made good time. We passed a NOLS group camped by Upper Golden Lake, and we stopped for an early lunch at the other end of Golden Lake.

We had a massive yard sale (unfortunately no photos) to dry out all our gear (tents, sleeping bags). We listened to music, and even a Britney song, haha.

After an hour break, we climbed up the 600ft hill, to reach the lake at the base of Douglas Peak Pass. We debated for a while whether to go over the pass, as it may be very snowy on the north side. We started to head up to the pass, then Quickham saw a snow cornice on a neighboring mountain, which meant there’s probably one blocking our pass too. So, we decided to detour around the pass, and hike the Camp Lake alternate, which added 2 miles.

It took us 20 minutes to get back down to the trail, and as soon as we are on it we meet two guys and their dog. They gave us info about the trail descent, and we executed their instructions to switchback down a talus field, then traverse the slick snowfield. We got down to Camp Lake without incident, then immediately started climbing back up the other side. The first 200ft was easy, and we passed by a couple small lakes. The rest of the climb was a puzzle – we eventually decided to climb some dry slabs to the south of the river. It was mostly easy climbing, but there were a few steep and thin parts. Eventually I found a way through to the top. Quickham is fast on slab, and he had good shoes!

We took a break at the top by a lake and eat.

We decided that the lakeshores are too steep and snowy to traverse, so we hiked behind/around a hill on the south shore, and it dropped us back onto the main route.

We continued on along the lake, and then it started raining. Hard. We backtracked a quarter mile, to hide under an huge overhanging boulder, and plan our options. The sun came out after an hour, and we saw two other hikers go by below us!

We made an effort to catch duo, and they introducted themselves as Guthook and Hikerbox special. We hiked another half mile, and found a flat dry camp spot. The four of us setup camp together, ate dinner, and went to bed before 9pm.

Wednesday 7/26/2017, 12.9mi/20.8km

Tarn before Europe Peak (48.4/10,550ft) – Hay Pass Trail jct (55.8/10,850ft)(WY) + 5.5mi Hay Pass resupply (WY)

I woke up at 6am, and there’s not a cloud in the sky! We ate our usual breakfast, packed up our wet tents (from condensation), and hit the trail at 6:45am.

Getting out of camp was…tricky. We made a few turns to correct our direction, and finally we were heading uphill and on route.

The climb to the top of the ridge was almost entirely rock/grass, and we cramponed the last 100ft up a snowfield to the top. After a break, we rock-hopped and grass-walked across the dry ridge to the saddle below Europe Peak. The ridge was a huge alpine meadow, with lots of these little flowers.

The ridge looked impossibly steep. But, off we went! The initial climb was fast and easy, and we gained the knife edge quickly. There was also a “class 3” move at the top, but it wasn’t exposed and had plenty of big handholds and footholds. Halfway up the knife edge:

Looking up the knife edge, at Europe Peak:

We walked a few hundred more yards, dropped our packs, and walked up the last 200ft to the summit. It was nice and warm on Europe Peak.

Quickham is thinking about baptizing a baby lion.

Europe Peak is 12,259 ft (3737m) high, with some spectacular views.

After 15 minutes, we returned to our packs and our scattered stuff, which was still drying out. We packed up at 11:30am, and began the walk down, and across the divide. It was nice and flat and wide, and easy walking.

We cruised along the divide, stopping for lunch as we joined a river.

As soon as lunch was over, it started lightly raining. We descended down to 10,600ft, almost to a lake. Then we cut across a creek, and climbed the short 300ft up to Hay Pass.

There was a trail from the top of Hay pass all the way down to a pond at 10,000ft, where we were meeting our resupply horse. It’s 5.5 miles out of the way, but we needed our food and climbing gear! It kept threatening to rain, so we kept our breaks short, and apparently I only remembered to take photos during our breaks. Flowers!

We arrived to camp at 4pm. Another group was already camped there, and they were super friendly. Harvey talked to us for an hour about his 40-year canyoneering career. The other five people in his group were less extroverted, but all very friendly. The horsepacker showed up at 5:30pm with our food, and we began to unpack and organize. We setup our tents, and joined the group for dinner. It was a fun night, being with a larger group of people. We passed around a bottle of whiskey and swapped stories about type-2 fun. After the group dispersed, we chatted with the horsepacker about his adventures in the Winds, including ice skating on Lonesome Lake in November! We cleaned up, filled up our water, and got to bed by 9:30pm.

Tuesday 7/25/2017, 12.9mi/20.8km

Lake below Raid Peak Pass (37.0/10,650ft) – Tarn before Europe Peak (48.4/10,550ft) (WY) +1.5mi detour

I woke up at 6am again, and getting packed up in the wind (which just started at 6:15) was a bit tricky. We ate our usual cold breakfast, said goodbye to our resident marmot and duck friends, and hit the trail at 6:45am.

We cruised up the “sublime ramp” and then angled across a low-angle snowfield, then up the last 100ft to the top of the Raid Peak Pass. The snow was steep for the last 20ft, and it was scary without an ice axe.

At the top of Raid Peak Pass, we got some trail magic! Someone had dropped a bagel.

It must’ve happened recently too, the bagel was still soft and edible. Food always tastes better when you didn’t have to carry it yourself, ha!

We descended the talus on the other side, and then paused at the top of a very steep snowfield. Without axes, we had to choose a longer, less steep detour.

The detour added 1.5 miles/600ft, but it was much safer. After an hour, we were back on the route, and ascended to Sentry Pass.

It was tricky to squeeze between the bergschrund and the rocks.

Sentry pass was so friendly, with almost no snow and with grassy ledges!

The north side was still covered in snow, so we rode a talus ridge most of the way down.

More bergschrund shenanigans were had on the descent, as well.

The lakes at the bottom were long, and we stayed 500ft above the first lake, to avoid a bushwhack thru thick willows. The clouds started to sprinkle as we descended to the lakeshore, and soon we picked up a nice elk trail.

At Middle Lake, we met a couple hiking with two llamas!

The hikers had trail names of Cirque and Soft, and were on their annual butterfly trip.

We chatted for 15 minutes, then left Middle Fork Lake, and hiked up the 400ft hill to Benchmark lake.

It was steep, with tricky routefinding to avoid willow and krummholz. At the top, it was very snowy, and the trail to Photo Pass was mostly buried.

The climb up Photo Pass was mostly on snow, and we went slowly to avoid slipping.

We got to the top of Photo Pass at 4pm, and had a nice break. I accidentally ate all my Nutella, oops! We easily descended the talus down the other side of the pass.

The valley bottom was nice, and we cruised through open forest on elk trails, and we saw elk!

We crossed a fast-moving knee-deep river, and then hiked uphill for the final mile. There was some bushwhacking, and it started sprinkling rain.

We arrived to our campsite at 6:30pm, next to a tarn below Europe Peak. We set up our tents quickly in case the rain came back. I made a double dinner of Knorrs pasta and Idahoan mashed potatoes, and then lounged around until 9pm. I wrote my usual journal, and after taking ibuprofen for my ribs, I finally fell asleep by 9:30pm.