rmottenad
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Joined: 02 Aug 2012
Posts: 27 | TRs | Pics
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Back in 2016 I did the Adventure Alan Wind River High Route between 28 July and 1 August. It was truly the trip of a lifetime. I never really considered writing a trip report at the time so I didn't take contemporaneous notes but these pictures have jogged my memory quite a bit. Of course, hindsight is 20/20, so I may be reducing some of the difficulty of some sections but if in doubt I'm sure there are more detailed TR's out there to binge on 
Day 1 - Green Lakes TH to above Peak Lake - 24 miles +4300 -1600
After an 18 hour drive which involved camping down what I thought was an abandoned forest road but ended up being a staging ground for firefighting crews, I started around 7:30 and made it about 2.5 miles in before I realized that the locking screw on my cascade mountain tech trekking poles fell off my poles that were bouncing around my backpack. Of course I had no replacement parts but I was fortunate to have another pair of poles in the car (I only brought a tarp on the trip so the poles are critical and also generally nice to have). So it was a nice five mile addition to the first day! The walking is very easy on this first day up to Vista and Cube Rock pass and above Peak Lake, which is a wonderful place to camp on the shores (another party was there when I went through so I went above the lake and camped on a perfectly flat dry pond bed (43.1547, -109.6963).
Day 2 - Above Peak Lake to "Middle" Alpine Lake - 14 miles +4200 -3900
Up and at 'em by about 6:30 today, another bluebird day. First climb is up Knapsack Pass and then down into Titcomb Basin which is a very beautiful area and well traveled. I thought it lived up to the hype and I would have loved to spend a few days here. After Titcomb, where I saw a few folks and some fishermen, it was up to the Indian Lakes Basin and Indian Pass. This basin is sublime as well and great camping spots abounded. Once over the other side, it was onto Knife Point Glacier, which was a mixture of snow and ice when I went through it. I went across it around 2PM and I did have those transaction devices that look like little metal coils on the bottom for grip, but they immediately succumbed to the challenge and broke. I thus made the traverse holding onto the poles and kicking steps in best I could in the trail runners. I never felt very unsafe as the grade is not terrible but I wasn't loving it. I took almost no pictures in this area as a result.
On the north side of Alpine Lakes Pass (12,100' or so) I ran into the hiker who goes by the trail name "Wired" which was kind of cool as she has a following in the thru hiking community. We chatted for a few minutes, she was with a couple friends and were on I think day 7 of their nine day northbound hike. The trip down off the pass had a little steep snow on the top which was slow going, and relatively steep the rest of the way but it's always easy to find a good way down when the boulders are so big and you mitigate the slope. At some point on this decent though, I broke the tip off one of my poles, which made for annoying and slippery purchase with them for the rest of the trip (but they still performed their tent function which was more important).
One thing to note which is weird and I have seen this in other trip reports is a MASSIVE horde of flies when you are hugging the rock/shore on the west side of lake 11335. They are everywhere, and their is no egress as this route is already very tight (and would be easier with a group pass up packs in a few places but not prohibitive for the solo hiker).
My campsite (43.0864, -109.5493) was epic and reminded me of the ring party's river entrance to Gondor between those old kings in Fellowship of the Ring.
Day 3 - "Middle" Alpine Lake to Europe Canyon "Lake 10542" - 13 miles +3800 -4200
Another 6:30AM start today and pristine weather. The smoke had mostly cleared by this morning after a smoky night (see the previous tent photo). The objective today was to get as far as comfortably possible, and who knows where that would be? The best thing about hiking here is there is plenty of flat spaces to camp almost along the entire route and none are lacking in beauty. This is a stark contrast to hiking in WA where it seems one is always on a side hill or when it gets flat it's usually meadow and not good NLT ethics to camp on.
The first "challenge" of the day is the climb up Douglas Peak Pass. I elected to take the higher route instead of dropping into the Camp Lake area. The climb up the N side of the pass is not difficult even though the topo lines are very close together. The S side is best descended via grassy benches on the E side, hugging the wall. The hike down through Golden Lakes and Lake Louise is idyllic and a stark contrast from the previous day's work above treeline. As I passed Dennis Lake I opted to take the higher route along the divide which is an amazing ramp up to Europe Peak at times many football fields wide. If you are alone on this section, with nothing but miles of open wandering and good weather for wonderful views, it's hard not to get emotional and feel so amazingly fortunate to be there. As I walked up the ramp the wind was blowing just enough to feel wild but not threatening... but by the time I reached Europe Peak (12259 on topo) I could see that there was some storms moving in. Around Europe Peak I saw the only two people since leaving Knife Point Glacier, and wouldn't see anyone else until I was past Pyramid Lake.
The scramble off the back of Europe Peak (around 42.9713, -109.4504) is best researched before doing it as picking the line going down is obviously more difficult than coming up. But there is good information on Dixon's site about this so I won't elaborate here, other than I didn't find it overly difficult or scary for a class 3 scramble.
The walk down Europe canyon with foreboding skies and ultimately thunderclaps and lightning did not dampen my mood but instead, as I was nearing the end of the hiking day anyway, made me grateful to experience the sinister side of the mountains which I always appreciate as long as its not too prolonged! I camped near Lake 10542 (42.9496, -109.4544) and read books and maps until it was dark as I knew the following day would require a little more route finding.
Day 4 - Lake 10542 to Cirque of the Towers - 23 miles +4900 -5100
Off at 6:30 again, a little cloudier than the previous few days but the rain and storms had subsided, at least for now. I knew the first half of the day would be kind of meandering ups and downs between 10k and 11k to get to Halls, Middle Fork, and Bonnneville Basin. I actually thoroughly enjoyed this kind of hiking, plenty of streams, lakelets, huge boulders, and flowers all along the way. It very much felt like the sound of music. There is not much to write about this section in the way of routefinding or difficulty, Dixon's description is good and should be followed as I think there are some places where you can get on the wrong elevation band and have to work harder than is necessary to get to the right contour.
A highlight of the day was coming down and crossing the Middle Fork of Boulder Creek near lake 10100 and seeing a bald eagle scanning the lakes for lunch (and maybe keeping an eye on me). It was almost comical how spectacularly special this moment was for me. In the background was the hulking mass of peak 11262, sloping up and scraping the sky. I sat here and watched for a while, and then kept on, up from the lake on no apparent trail, and into Rainbow Lake where I had a skinny dip to wipe off three days of dirt and sweat and I remembered George Costanza's exclamations after exiting a pool shortly thereafter!
I chose to skip the Middle Fork/Lee Lake route because I was about to go up Bonneville/Raid and knew it would be physically and mentally challenging and didn't feel the need to do back to pack similarly located passes. I enjoyed the easy walking from Rainbow to Bonneville Basin anyway so I didn't regret it. My memory is hazy but I remember the route up to Bonneville Raid col to be rather challenging and it's worth noting Dixon's description here not to go up the stream but go south of it and ascend on a better gradient. I lunched near the lake near the summit fairly tired from the climb and soon with the knowledge that the Bonneville/Raid talus field was in my immediate future. In any case, I took it slow over that mile of talus hopping and onto the "bench" at 10900 to Pyramid Lake. The views here are astounding. The peaks across the valley rise up like the teeth of a great white, and are very dark granite. This is another place I could have spent hours or days!
Moving from Pyramid Lake to Shadow Lake was uneventful besides seeing the first people in a few days, near Skull Lake. It was a nice family of four spending more than a week out there and I really look forward to this with my own wife and kids in ten years or so! As I approached Shadow Lake, it was becoming clear that another round of weather was moving in, and it began to get very very windy. I considered hunkering down and camping near Shadow Lake but I still felt pretty good and it was only 5PM and I wanted to camp in the Cirque. The 1200' climb up Texas Pass is steep but short, and then I came into the Cirque which at this point was very moody. Black clouds hung low and it started to rain hard, but the low sun glanced into the Cirque which made for otherworldly light and I thought it very fitting for the nature of the terrain and as long is it's not too cold I usually welcome the vagaries of the weather.
I tramped down from Texas Pass, across the floor and up to Jackass Pass, and at this point it was time to find a campsite (42.7713, -109.2185), which I did around 7:30PM in a small and cozy stand of pines. The light turned every shade of pink, purple, and blue imaginable and I settled in for my last night in this mountain temple.
Day 5 - Cirque of the Towers to Big Sandy TH - 8 miles +800 -2000
On the trail by 6AM to catch first light, as I began to climb up to Jackass Pass. The trail here is a veritable highway compared to the majority of the rest of the trip! As I climbed down from the pass towards Arrowhead, Lake 10105, and Big Sandy, it was a bittersweet moment as I knew the days in the thin air were over. The terrain to the East of the trail over to Wind River Peak looked incredible for hiking and climbing and would make a nice addition to the route, as I think Skurka's does. The remaining trek down to the car (which I had paid to have shuttled from Green Lakes to Big Sandy for I think $300) was uneventful but still very beautiful, and did have some rugged sections from the pass to Big Sandy Lake. My biggest regret was not leaving some hearty food in the car to gorge on at the end! On the drive home I stopped in Missoula and made it home the next morning.
I think any reflections on the route may ring hollow compared to other more eloquent reports and/or what can be experienced through pictures along the route, and especially the videos that I took (here's the full album). I am so happy I got to do this route and am happy it's getting the attention it deserves as it truly is spectacular and should be enjoyed by all who have the means to do it. If you're planning to do the route and need some comparison on what you think your speed might be, I was 28 at the time and in fairly good shape coming off a PCT hike a year earlier where I averaged about 25 miles per day. On this route, I covered 90 miles in about 50 hours or average of 1.8 mph. The terrain, especially the talus, does slow one down fairly significantly, while the ability to move in a straight line to your objective in a lot of places shaves off time you may have spent on a curvier trails.
Anyways, hope you all enjoy this trip report and may you have the ability to get into this beautiful range in your lives!
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