TR Southern Winds 9-8-22 to 9-15-22

[robertseeburger]

My friends Mike and Gary and I made a trip to the winds. ( 3 66 year olds)
The plan was 12 days. The actual was 8 days.
The reason for the delta? rain, rain, and more rain...and more projected rain.
Scenery was great as expected ( when we could see the mountains).
Fishing was ...not too much and and not very good...with one exception.

This was my 6th annual trip to the winds in 8 years. I dont do any through hikes..just try to see an area more intimately. ( combination of strategy and old age). But now I have touched a good portion of the range. Enough to know what I dont know.

We started out at Fiddlers Lake, almost at the extreme southern end of the range.
The first lake we arrived at was Atlantic Lake.

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We had enough energy to keep going up to Windy Lake where we camped for the first night. Pretty good for us with heavy (12 day ) packs

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We were monitoring the weather closely before we left. We are no masochists. I say sometimes that the Winds in September are little like the Sierras in October. On my first trip, also in September to Titcomb Basin, Mike and I were snowed in. We were prepared and it really wasn't that bad.
But on this trip, if it was going to be bad weather , we would have cancelled or postponed. We know from the forecast there would be some rain, but it didnt appear to be a major front..so we decided it was a go. I wish we would have postponed.

We had an interesting time as the weather changed. It was previouslyvery hot. It was getting to be highs of 75 degrees and lows in the 50's at 10500 feet right before we left. But it got colder the first night.
And the fog rolled in.

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The next day we did a very short hike up to Saddlebag Lake.
The fog was so thick we could only see a few feet in front of us. We heard some other people but did not see them.

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Here was Saddlebag and camp. It was very cold that night..perhaps 20. But all was well.

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We spent a day here..resting and fishing.

The next day ( day 4) we decided to go cross country to Stough Creek Lakes. We had researched several options.
One was to decide to Windy Lake and up onto the plateau separating the basins. This is described in WD's book.
But we decided to try a shorter route. We hiked up to Upper Saddlebag Lake, and then turned 90 degrees and climbed to a summit..not a pass, but
an entry point to the plateau.

The weather was perfect.. ( thank goodness..the most difficult day)
We woke and watched the full moon over the horizon.

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The same view, just after sunrise.

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A view of Upper Saddlebag.

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The climb was mostly easy.. class 2. Perhaps there was one very short class 3 segment that could have been circumvented.

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[robertseeburger]

3 old farts at the top of the "pass". It felt good.. weather good, we made this..thought this was the most difficult part.

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I had to get to a point slightly higher.. The view to the main range was great.

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A view from the top to the west. The highest peak is Wind River Peak.

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This is what the top of the plateau is like connecting Atlantic Creek and Stough Creek.
Easy cross country.

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A view back toward Christina Lake and south toward Colorado.

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And toward Atlantic Peak. I would have liked to have climbed this but didnt get to it.

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Now, progressing along the plateau, a view across Ham Lake.

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I found the scenery here stunning...looking across Stough Creek Lakes west to the main range.

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Upper Stough Creek Lakes

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Long descent...

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The worst part of the descent was the final part..just getting through brush and talus and around the lake. This is Cutthroat lake.
Cutthroat Lake...had cutthroats...

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A view across cutthroat lake

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[robertseeburger]

The next day also was clear.
We hiked from Stough Creek Lakes to Coon Lake. All trail.

Another Stough Creek Lake. ( lots of them)

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We made it to Coon Lake in the afternoon.
I really liked the view of mountains across this lake.

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We went to Tayo Lake (short hike) the next day. We knew from the weather report that it was supposed to start raining at 3 pm.
But we arrived before the rain hit.
A beautiful lake.

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The rain that was supposed to hit at 3pm...hit at 3pm..

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Here is Tayo Lake again..if you could see it.

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And that was about it. Once the rain started, it just kept on raining. We had planned a trip to go to Deep Creek Lakes and do a day hike up to Cirque of the Towers ( despite my 6 trips, I still have never been to Cirque of the Towers..this is the equivalent from my perspective of being a Sierra hiker and never having seen Ritter and Banner over Thousand Island lake). We endured the rain that afternoon, and night, and the next day and night , and the next day and night. We had layover days planned so the itinerary was not in danger. But at the end of the third day, checking our devices and getting a weather report from Mike's son, we decided to abort. The outlook called for even more rain, clearing the last day.

It did clear for a couple of minutes.
Another quick view of Tayo before the rain began again.

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I have had rain before of course. And I have had snow on backpacking trips. And I have had wild thunderstorms.
And I have had it rain harder than this trip. But I have never backpacked where it just rained and it didnt stop for several days.
It wasn't unusually cold. Just wet. And on top of this, I had an equipment failure. My rain jacket failed. Things just got wet underneath .
I was 100% dry on day one, but only 90% dry on day 2 of the rain..and then it deteriorated after that. I think my pack had 3-4 pounds of water weight when we hiked out.
The morning we left we packed up..in the rain..and walked out the 13 or 14 miles..never really stopped.. to Worthen Meadows.
No pictures.. just a march out..
Oh well..

As for fishing? Eight days. Actually, not much real fishing to be had.
Well, Mike, using flies only, caught no fish. He said first time ever shut out .
Me, well in 8 days, I caught exactly one trout. I estimate 12 inches.
Here he is, just before release..no real picture.

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Gary did a little bit better ( flies only)
He caught at least one in each lake.
Here is one ..perhaps a 16 incher.

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And he caught one trophy. A 19 inch golden.

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And here is what his 19 inch golden REALLY looks like, without the enhancement of holding it close to camera.. (yuk yuk)

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Lastly, some stomach guts ( not too many people are interested in this..but a couple are.. baby scuds or fleas?)

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Overall.. always good to get to the Winds. I was disappointed not to get to the Cirque of the Towers, and I wish I had done better with fishing.
But the scenery was great and we enjoyed the experience.
Same time next year. Either a return trip ( try again, perhaps do WD trip 1 from this years post), Dry Creek, or another Indian Reservation trip where the cutthroats are big and perhaps easier to catch.

[Wandering Daisy]

I was watching the weather while you were in hoping it was not as bad as indicated on radar. I think the week before you went was better weather.

Yes, it was a very monsoonal summer- my plans also were changed but my rainstorms were typical one-day or less with sun the next morning. I have had a week of steady rain in early September long ago. And got caught up Tourist Creek with days in the tent then a tense bail down a very difficult route trying to beat the lowering snow level, with steady rain all the way out. That was late August 2014. If you spend enough time anywhere in the Rockies you are going to get one of those week-long wet spells, most with snow too. Worst I ever had was 28 days of snow in June 1969. It was basically still winter.

Fantastic you guys found a nice route up to the plateau from Saddlebag Lakes. When I was at Tayo Lake all the fish were at the inlet; big goldens that would NOT bite my fly.

Glad you got out safely.

[windknot]

Thanks for the report and photos! Although the fishing (and time available to fish) wasn't as expected, this looks like beautiful country. I appreciate you sharing.

Even the 18 hours straight of rain that I experienced on a trip earlier this year was enough to seriously dampen the mood and make us start planning to abort if it were to continue any longer. I can't imagine backpacking in several days straight of rain, and so if it were me I'd probably have hiked out even earlier.