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| Backpack | 37.30 Miles |
11,424 AEG |
| | Backpack | 37.30 Miles | 6 Days | | |
| 11,424 ft AEG | | | | |
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| partners | | Ventured into the Wind River Range with my friend Scott starting at Big Sandy trailhead. After the long drive we started hiking about 11am and made it the first 5.6 miles to Big Sandy Lake within a few hours. We continued another few miles to Black Joe Lake where there is a rock scramble to get around the lake. However, we brought packrafts on this trip with the intention of floating some of the lakes. Fortunately for us the wind was blowing strong up canyon so it literally pushed us to the other side landing on the beach that we wanted. We continued to the next lake up canyon nearby and found a camp spot.
Day 2 the goal was to hike Wind River Peak at 13,192 and part of the Wind River High Route. I followed Andrew Skurka’s high route up the West Gully route access to Wind River Peak. The route goes up the Black Joe Lake canyon to lake 11,185 at the base of West Gully. That’s where it gets interesting with class 3, loose scree, and bouldering but it was late enough in the season that didn’t have to deal with any ice or snow. Takes awhile to negotiate the gully but it gets easier climb about ¼ mile from the top where it’s an easy walk up. Ran into 2 high route thru hikers and talked to them for a few minutes. Reaching the top there were 9 people on the summit who had come from the easier east approach. The summit is flat and wide so somewhat anti-climatic after the west approach. The people on top were cool and talked them for awhile. After they departed I had 4G and got an updated weather forecast spending an hour on top before heading back down the West Gully route. Uneventful return trip with same loose stuff and boulders. Met up with Scott who had waited at lake 11,185 and took a break. Then continued back to camp for pleasant night by the lower lakes.
Day 3 we headed over to Deep Lake from Black Joe Lake. It’s not a long hike about 4 miles depending on camp and arrived early afternoon. That afternoon until dinner was spent floating on Deep Lake and taking in the great location. Very little wind so conditions were excellent for floating and paddling around the lake. After the float another mild September evening at Deep Lake.
Day 4 we stayed another day at Deep Lake with the goal of hiking Temple Peak 12,972. From Deep Lake it’s short climb over the ridge into Temple Lake canyon. There’s a trail that runs above the lake we followed that eventually leads to Temple Pass. On the pass Temple Peak was to the right with a couple of approach options. The shortest and most aggressive options are straight up 4th class from the pass but I chose to do the longer 3rd class approach along the southeast side. I parted with Scott at the pass and continued to contour along the cliff band on the southeast side. Eventually there are breaks in the cliff band which leads to the 3rd class scramble to the main ridge line. Once on the ridge line the off trail was less steep but lots of bouldering. There were occasional patches of grassy slope but mostly boulders to the summit. Unlike Wind River Peak the Temple summit was much more summit like and I was the only one there this time. I spent about 40 minutes on top and had some 4G to get another updated weather forecast. Very nice summit with a dramatic 2,000 foot plunge into Temple Lake below on the north face. After the nice break I returned the same way back to the pass. From the pass it was an easy hike back to camp at Deep Lake. Another nice evening relaxing after some tough off trail miles.
Day 5 we hiked back to Big Sandy Lake so we would have an easy exit day. We also had plenty of time for another afternoon of floating on Big Sandy Lake. There were a lot people in the area being Labor Day Weekend but none on the lake  There’s a small island which we checked out and even went back around sunset for island happy hour!! Back at camp the last night was relaxing with nice temps again.
Last day we just had to hike out the 5 plus miles to the trailhead. Easy day and considering the forecast we were glad this was the end of the trip. We had over five days of great weather with sunny highs in the 60’s and 70’s and lows around 40. But that afternoon and evening the forecast would change significantly. See attached [ photo ] . Anyway we were glad to beat the weather and have such an excellent trip….almost forgot no mosquito's!! |
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