Northern Wind Rivers 8/16-22
Posted: Sun Sep 02, 2018 2:17 pm
Northern Wind Rivers: Green River Lakes to Torrey Creek Trailheads. 8/16-8/22
I have added a few panoramas 11/5/18 see several posts below
From our Whisky Grove campground, we drove the three-hour, 40-mile dirt road over Union Pass to drop my car off at Torrey Creek Trailhead, near Dubois Wyoming. Having driven a lot of long dirt roads, I had not anticipated that my husband would refused to return on that road! Granted, he had to eat my dust and his truck is much more bouncy than my passenger car. To make matters worse, once my car was dropped off, he got a flat tire on the Torrey Creek dirt road. With no cell coverage, our AAA service was useless. We changed the tire ourselves. After getting the tire fixed in Dubois, at 5:00 PM we drove 250 highway miles, all the way around the Wind Rivers, returning to our trailer in the dark at 9:30. We drove the slightly longer south route so if we got tired, we had friends in Lander to stay with. Lesson learned; agreeing to drive a long dirt road is different from actually doing it!
There are no photos of the first three days. When I get home I will put in some photos taken on previous trips, so you can get an idea of the scenery.
Day 1. Green River Lake TH to Clear Lake. (5.7 miles, +1150 feet)
Next morning I finished packing. I had hoped we could drive the 5 miles out to cell coverage so I could get a weather report, but my husband said absolutely NOT! He was not driving anymore dirt roads than needed, so he took me straight to Green River Lakes Trailhead on that 12-mile dirt road that actually was in very good shape compared to its usual washboard condition. Given no weather report, I went in via Clear Creek, a spectacular yet gnarly bushwhack. The Mill Creek route goes high over Osborn Mountain and avoids brush, but is not a route to be done in a storm. Although miserable, Clear Creek is safe in a storm. At the trailhead, I realized I left my watch in my car parked at Torrey Creek, so this trip would be on “sun time”. This last trip seemed to be jinxed from the very start.
I left the trailhead about 10AM and hiked down the Highline Trail to the Clear Creek junction. Clear Creek runs down a slot canyon with rapids and waterfalls. There is a trail up Clear Creek to the “Natural Bridge”, a limestone feature where the creek goes through an arch. Haze in the air made for poor photos.
The 1.7 miles continuing to Clear Lake is a nightmare. In addition to deadfall from an old fire, the last few years of bark beetle kill has added to the impenetrable maze of deadfall. I immediately got dead-ended and had to backtrack. That was the mode of travel the rest of the day. At one point I had to walk logs through a swamp of deadfall and ascend a hideously steep hillside only to be stuck again in deadfall to climb over. When I finally reached Clear Lake I was exhausted; this had been some of the most difficult travel I had ever done.
I gasped when I discovered that my camera was missing. I then remembered vividly exactly where it was; sitting on a rock near a small spring about a mile down from Clear Lake. Two fellows with dogs came by (I was amazed that the dogs got through) and they had not seen my camera and told me it was 4PM. I was in no shape to go back and try to find the camera. I set up camp, fished a bit and tried to rehydrate. After dinner I was plagued with severe muscle cramps. This was not a good way to start a trip!
All night I pondered if I should get up early and go back to look for my camera or simply call it a loss. What was my chance of actually finding it? Given the difficult travel, it would further stress my feet which were finally getting better. The main concern was the delay it would cause; I would have to cut out something to stay on schedule. If I failed to get over the Divide and had to return to Green River Lakes, logistics and costs of getting to my car would be enormous. Conditions were smoky so great photos were not likely. The camera was old and I had downloaded my previous trip’s photos. And I had my I-phone, although I did not want to run the power down too much. I left the decision to the next morning.
Day 2. Clear Lake to Crescent Lake with dayhikes (6.9 miles, +2690 feet)
I awoke early with all intentions of trying to find the camera. After breakfast I came to my senses. Although short in distance, today’s route was difficult. I did not want to sap my energy or risk injury or delay, with a futile hunt for the camera. I had been in these mountains plenty of time mid to late August when snow storms pinned me down. I really must “make hay when the sun shines” and get over the Divide before chance of snow.
Once the decision was made I was actually pretty calm about losing my camera. There is a faint use-trail to Faler Lake that I was able to follow for a while but soon lost it following rogue cairns in an adjacent talus cone. Hard to say if the talus route was better or worse than the old trail that skirted the edge, with the added deadfall of recent years. After a long tedious trek, I finally made it to Faler Lake where a large horse trail to Crescent Lake starts. The trail goes over a small pass and then drops to the outlet of Crescent Lake where I spotted several fish rising. I continued to the inlet, checking out campsites and settled on one at the outlet of the next lake upstream.
After I set up I fished and immediately caught a nice fat 12-inch Rainbow Trout. I then had several other bites but never could land another fish. I cleaned the fish and walked up to a snow patch to pack it in snow. I gave up on fishing and hiked up the drainage through a slot valley to the upper Roaring Fork. I had never been here so it was interesting to see that it was very scenic and there were many places to camp. Being a higher elevation, there were many small residual snow patches. When I returned I bathed and washed clothes. Then I fished again and caught a small fish. It was getting late as I cooked dinner, finishing just in time before it started raining. It rained lightly off and on all night.
Day 3. Crescent Lake to Clear Creek above Bear Lake Inlet. (6.2 miles,+ 1895 feet)
Although a short distance, the off-trail travel was slow and weather unsettled. The night’s rain had left vegetation wet and rocks slick. Skies were mostly clear in the morning as I climbed up to a small pass. The route then traverses a high bench above Faler Lake, through very complex terrain where one orients by jumping from small lake to lake. Going was slow but it was a delightful walk among grassy stringers, wildflowers and rocky benches. Although the small lakes were barren, they were quite pretty.
All was going well until “Faler Bench Lake #4”. Then I slipped on a slab ending up face down, black eye (more bruises to be found later) with glasses broken and one lens never to be found. Surprisingly it did not hurt much and little blood, only a lingering headache. But it did slow me down to a very cautious pace.
Once above Bear Lake, I decided to traverse the shores of Daphne Lake, with hopes of fishing near the inlet. Getting around the lake proved to be trickier than I had anticipated, removing my hiking pants at one point and wade around a rock buttress nearly waist deep! Storm clouds were brewing so I gave up on the idea of fishing and ascended 300 feet to drop into Bear Basin. By the time I reached a small lake the storm was imminent. I quickly set up the tent in wind and hail and jumped in. After the storm blew past I decided to pack up and move on. When I reached the outlet of Hourglass Lake, I hid behind a huge rock for nearly half an hour to avoid horizontally blown hail and grapple that stung my face. Predictably, rocks were now wet and slippery as I slithered slowly over two more rock ribs to reach the lovely grass-filled valley 500 feet above the inlet to Bear Lake on Clear Creek. Miraculously, the skies cleared while I found a perfect, scenic campsite. I cooked dinner finishing just as another quick little storm passed.
I have added a few panoramas 11/5/18 see several posts below
From our Whisky Grove campground, we drove the three-hour, 40-mile dirt road over Union Pass to drop my car off at Torrey Creek Trailhead, near Dubois Wyoming. Having driven a lot of long dirt roads, I had not anticipated that my husband would refused to return on that road! Granted, he had to eat my dust and his truck is much more bouncy than my passenger car. To make matters worse, once my car was dropped off, he got a flat tire on the Torrey Creek dirt road. With no cell coverage, our AAA service was useless. We changed the tire ourselves. After getting the tire fixed in Dubois, at 5:00 PM we drove 250 highway miles, all the way around the Wind Rivers, returning to our trailer in the dark at 9:30. We drove the slightly longer south route so if we got tired, we had friends in Lander to stay with. Lesson learned; agreeing to drive a long dirt road is different from actually doing it!
There are no photos of the first three days. When I get home I will put in some photos taken on previous trips, so you can get an idea of the scenery.
Day 1. Green River Lake TH to Clear Lake. (5.7 miles, +1150 feet)
Next morning I finished packing. I had hoped we could drive the 5 miles out to cell coverage so I could get a weather report, but my husband said absolutely NOT! He was not driving anymore dirt roads than needed, so he took me straight to Green River Lakes Trailhead on that 12-mile dirt road that actually was in very good shape compared to its usual washboard condition. Given no weather report, I went in via Clear Creek, a spectacular yet gnarly bushwhack. The Mill Creek route goes high over Osborn Mountain and avoids brush, but is not a route to be done in a storm. Although miserable, Clear Creek is safe in a storm. At the trailhead, I realized I left my watch in my car parked at Torrey Creek, so this trip would be on “sun time”. This last trip seemed to be jinxed from the very start.
I left the trailhead about 10AM and hiked down the Highline Trail to the Clear Creek junction. Clear Creek runs down a slot canyon with rapids and waterfalls. There is a trail up Clear Creek to the “Natural Bridge”, a limestone feature where the creek goes through an arch. Haze in the air made for poor photos.
The 1.7 miles continuing to Clear Lake is a nightmare. In addition to deadfall from an old fire, the last few years of bark beetle kill has added to the impenetrable maze of deadfall. I immediately got dead-ended and had to backtrack. That was the mode of travel the rest of the day. At one point I had to walk logs through a swamp of deadfall and ascend a hideously steep hillside only to be stuck again in deadfall to climb over. When I finally reached Clear Lake I was exhausted; this had been some of the most difficult travel I had ever done.
I gasped when I discovered that my camera was missing. I then remembered vividly exactly where it was; sitting on a rock near a small spring about a mile down from Clear Lake. Two fellows with dogs came by (I was amazed that the dogs got through) and they had not seen my camera and told me it was 4PM. I was in no shape to go back and try to find the camera. I set up camp, fished a bit and tried to rehydrate. After dinner I was plagued with severe muscle cramps. This was not a good way to start a trip!
All night I pondered if I should get up early and go back to look for my camera or simply call it a loss. What was my chance of actually finding it? Given the difficult travel, it would further stress my feet which were finally getting better. The main concern was the delay it would cause; I would have to cut out something to stay on schedule. If I failed to get over the Divide and had to return to Green River Lakes, logistics and costs of getting to my car would be enormous. Conditions were smoky so great photos were not likely. The camera was old and I had downloaded my previous trip’s photos. And I had my I-phone, although I did not want to run the power down too much. I left the decision to the next morning.
Day 2. Clear Lake to Crescent Lake with dayhikes (6.9 miles, +2690 feet)
I awoke early with all intentions of trying to find the camera. After breakfast I came to my senses. Although short in distance, today’s route was difficult. I did not want to sap my energy or risk injury or delay, with a futile hunt for the camera. I had been in these mountains plenty of time mid to late August when snow storms pinned me down. I really must “make hay when the sun shines” and get over the Divide before chance of snow.
Once the decision was made I was actually pretty calm about losing my camera. There is a faint use-trail to Faler Lake that I was able to follow for a while but soon lost it following rogue cairns in an adjacent talus cone. Hard to say if the talus route was better or worse than the old trail that skirted the edge, with the added deadfall of recent years. After a long tedious trek, I finally made it to Faler Lake where a large horse trail to Crescent Lake starts. The trail goes over a small pass and then drops to the outlet of Crescent Lake where I spotted several fish rising. I continued to the inlet, checking out campsites and settled on one at the outlet of the next lake upstream.
After I set up I fished and immediately caught a nice fat 12-inch Rainbow Trout. I then had several other bites but never could land another fish. I cleaned the fish and walked up to a snow patch to pack it in snow. I gave up on fishing and hiked up the drainage through a slot valley to the upper Roaring Fork. I had never been here so it was interesting to see that it was very scenic and there were many places to camp. Being a higher elevation, there were many small residual snow patches. When I returned I bathed and washed clothes. Then I fished again and caught a small fish. It was getting late as I cooked dinner, finishing just in time before it started raining. It rained lightly off and on all night.
Day 3. Crescent Lake to Clear Creek above Bear Lake Inlet. (6.2 miles,+ 1895 feet)
Although a short distance, the off-trail travel was slow and weather unsettled. The night’s rain had left vegetation wet and rocks slick. Skies were mostly clear in the morning as I climbed up to a small pass. The route then traverses a high bench above Faler Lake, through very complex terrain where one orients by jumping from small lake to lake. Going was slow but it was a delightful walk among grassy stringers, wildflowers and rocky benches. Although the small lakes were barren, they were quite pretty.
All was going well until “Faler Bench Lake #4”. Then I slipped on a slab ending up face down, black eye (more bruises to be found later) with glasses broken and one lens never to be found. Surprisingly it did not hurt much and little blood, only a lingering headache. But it did slow me down to a very cautious pace.
Once above Bear Lake, I decided to traverse the shores of Daphne Lake, with hopes of fishing near the inlet. Getting around the lake proved to be trickier than I had anticipated, removing my hiking pants at one point and wade around a rock buttress nearly waist deep! Storm clouds were brewing so I gave up on the idea of fishing and ascended 300 feet to drop into Bear Basin. By the time I reached a small lake the storm was imminent. I quickly set up the tent in wind and hail and jumped in. After the storm blew past I decided to pack up and move on. When I reached the outlet of Hourglass Lake, I hid behind a huge rock for nearly half an hour to avoid horizontally blown hail and grapple that stung my face. Predictably, rocks were now wet and slippery as I slithered slowly over two more rock ribs to reach the lovely grass-filled valley 500 feet above the inlet to Bear Lake on Clear Creek. Miraculously, the skies cleared while I found a perfect, scenic campsite. I cooked dinner finishing just as another quick little storm passed.