TR: Wind River 1 - Big Sandy Loop, Aug. 6-15, 2020
Posted: Sat Feb 20, 2021 11:52 am
In late November 2018, I posed a question on High Sierra Topix seeking trip advice for a September 2019 trip to the High Sierra. http://highsierratopix.com/community/vi ... hp?t=19048
I received lots of good feedback, and my spouse and I settled on a 12-day trip itinerary, entering at Onion Valley and exiting at Cottonwood Lakes. We planned to spend several days in the Upper Kern.
In early 2019 we reserved the necessary permit, made airline reservations, reserved a rental car and arranged a shuttle with East Side Sierra Shuttle. We trained for the trip by jogging, day hiking with packs and taking weekend backpacking trips in our nearby Appalachian Mountains.
Then, in early August 2019, I received a cancer diagnosis. Our September 2019 trip to the High Sierra was canceled. The cancer diagnosis was followed by surgery, chemotherapy and radiation therapy. About the time that I finished radiation therapy, the COVID-19 pandemic was upon us.
We started dreaming about doing a backpacking trip out west. We didn’t want to fly because of COVID-19. We had lots of vacation time. We starting thinking that we should drive somewhere and do a long trip. Then we started thinking, let’s do two trips. California was a drive too far from our home state of North Carolina. We had been reading Wandering Daisy’s trip reports about the Wind River Range for several years, and we had a copy of her book, Beyond Trails. We got approval from work to be gone for the whole month of August.
We started training again. We hiked and rode bikes. We jogged. My hair started to grow back, and I started feeling kind of like my old self. We poured over Beyond Trails and settled on two routes for our trips.
This is the trip report for our first trip, which we called Wind River Trip 1. It’s a combination of most of Route 16 in Beyond Trails with a loop up to Temple Lake added towards the end. The trip dates for Trip 1 were August 6, 2020 – August 15, 2020.
Day 1, August 6, 2020 – Big Sandy Trailhead to Marms Lake
We left Pinedale, Wyoming and arrived at the Big Sandy trailhead at 8:30 a.m. I had never seen so many cars at a trailhead. We parked at an overflow parking spot, hoisted our 30 lb. packs and hiked down the gravel road to the trailhead. The trail was surrounded by trees at first, but it wasn’t long before we were in Fish Creek Valley. The trail crossed an open, meadow area, and we had our first views of distant peaks. We hiked past Mirror Lake. The grade of the trail along this whole section was gentle. We passed Dads Lake, and the trail climbed a bit. We arrived at Marms Lake at around 2 p.m. and set up our tent. We don’t fish, so we enjoyed a leisurely afternoon admiring the view of distant Pyramid Peak and Mt. Hooker. We chatted with a couple of women from Denver who were on their first trip in the Winds. Dinner was Coconut Curry Chicken. We were in bed early and heard an elk bugling in the night.
Marms Lake
Day 2, August 7, 2020 – Marms Lake to East Fork Lake #7
We started the day with a breakfast of Vanilla Rice Pudding with raisins, almonds and chocolate chips. We hiked on the Freemont trail and rock hopped across Washakie Creek. Then we waded the East Fork and found the use trail to the Upper East Fork. We hiked along a beautiful, small gorge and then beside a flat, swampy meadow. A bald eagle flew overhead. We walked up hill along a dry gully to some ponds at around 10,100 feet. I was feeling pretty knackered by this point. We climbed a rise to East Fork Lake #5. The trail became fainter, and we were feeling tired. We climbed the outlet ramp to East Fork #7 and started encountering people. There was a group of nine people dispersed camping in the lake #7 valley. They were taking a leadership outdoor course with a couple of trip leaders. They said that the organization was based in Laramie. The group was well dispersed, so we only saw one of their tents.
We hustled to set up our tent as a thunderstorm rumbled. There was lots of wind along with small hail. We were hoping that our new tent (a Tarptent StratoSpire Li with solid interior) was up to it, and it was. After waiting out the storm in our tent, we ate a late dinner of Chicken Marbella. During the night, the sound of rockfall echoed across the lake. We were tired, but it didn’t really matter because our minds were blown by the beautiful East Fork valley!
East Fork and Mt. Hooker
East Fork Valley
I received lots of good feedback, and my spouse and I settled on a 12-day trip itinerary, entering at Onion Valley and exiting at Cottonwood Lakes. We planned to spend several days in the Upper Kern.
In early 2019 we reserved the necessary permit, made airline reservations, reserved a rental car and arranged a shuttle with East Side Sierra Shuttle. We trained for the trip by jogging, day hiking with packs and taking weekend backpacking trips in our nearby Appalachian Mountains.
Then, in early August 2019, I received a cancer diagnosis. Our September 2019 trip to the High Sierra was canceled. The cancer diagnosis was followed by surgery, chemotherapy and radiation therapy. About the time that I finished radiation therapy, the COVID-19 pandemic was upon us.
We started dreaming about doing a backpacking trip out west. We didn’t want to fly because of COVID-19. We had lots of vacation time. We starting thinking that we should drive somewhere and do a long trip. Then we started thinking, let’s do two trips. California was a drive too far from our home state of North Carolina. We had been reading Wandering Daisy’s trip reports about the Wind River Range for several years, and we had a copy of her book, Beyond Trails. We got approval from work to be gone for the whole month of August.
We started training again. We hiked and rode bikes. We jogged. My hair started to grow back, and I started feeling kind of like my old self. We poured over Beyond Trails and settled on two routes for our trips.
This is the trip report for our first trip, which we called Wind River Trip 1. It’s a combination of most of Route 16 in Beyond Trails with a loop up to Temple Lake added towards the end. The trip dates for Trip 1 were August 6, 2020 – August 15, 2020.
Day 1, August 6, 2020 – Big Sandy Trailhead to Marms Lake
We left Pinedale, Wyoming and arrived at the Big Sandy trailhead at 8:30 a.m. I had never seen so many cars at a trailhead. We parked at an overflow parking spot, hoisted our 30 lb. packs and hiked down the gravel road to the trailhead. The trail was surrounded by trees at first, but it wasn’t long before we were in Fish Creek Valley. The trail crossed an open, meadow area, and we had our first views of distant peaks. We hiked past Mirror Lake. The grade of the trail along this whole section was gentle. We passed Dads Lake, and the trail climbed a bit. We arrived at Marms Lake at around 2 p.m. and set up our tent. We don’t fish, so we enjoyed a leisurely afternoon admiring the view of distant Pyramid Peak and Mt. Hooker. We chatted with a couple of women from Denver who were on their first trip in the Winds. Dinner was Coconut Curry Chicken. We were in bed early and heard an elk bugling in the night.
Marms Lake
Day 2, August 7, 2020 – Marms Lake to East Fork Lake #7
We started the day with a breakfast of Vanilla Rice Pudding with raisins, almonds and chocolate chips. We hiked on the Freemont trail and rock hopped across Washakie Creek. Then we waded the East Fork and found the use trail to the Upper East Fork. We hiked along a beautiful, small gorge and then beside a flat, swampy meadow. A bald eagle flew overhead. We walked up hill along a dry gully to some ponds at around 10,100 feet. I was feeling pretty knackered by this point. We climbed a rise to East Fork Lake #5. The trail became fainter, and we were feeling tired. We climbed the outlet ramp to East Fork #7 and started encountering people. There was a group of nine people dispersed camping in the lake #7 valley. They were taking a leadership outdoor course with a couple of trip leaders. They said that the organization was based in Laramie. The group was well dispersed, so we only saw one of their tents.
We hustled to set up our tent as a thunderstorm rumbled. There was lots of wind along with small hail. We were hoping that our new tent (a Tarptent StratoSpire Li with solid interior) was up to it, and it was. After waiting out the storm in our tent, we ate a late dinner of Chicken Marbella. During the night, the sound of rockfall echoed across the lake. We were tired, but it didn’t really matter because our minds were blown by the beautiful East Fork valley!
East Fork and Mt. Hooker
East Fork Valley