Wind Rivers -- Junction Lake -- July 2006 TR

[Sombeech]

Who: Scott, LeRoy, Clint, Camron, Shad, Kevin & Janis, and myself.

Where: Wind River range, Bridger Wilderness, Junction Lake area

When: July 22nd - July 28th. A full week, 6 nights, 7 days

Schedule:

• Saturday night- we drove to Pinedale WY to the Elkhart Park TH. We hiked in to Miller Lake in the dark.
  Sunday- met up with my aunt and uncle - Janis & Kevin (Mcgillagorilla) at Middle Sweeney Lake. From there we hiked down into the Junction Lake valley to set up camp. Our desired spot was taken, only until monday though, so we set up camp just around the corner.
  Monday- moved into our main camp when a group left. Kevin & Janis had to leave early. Scott (accadacca) hiked in and met us at our camp.
  Tuesday- ran into some decent Macinaw trout at Junction Lake
  Wednesday- Scott, Clint, and Shad hiked up to a couple of lakes, namely 1,000 Island Lake, and estimate catching @200 fish that day!
  Thursday- headed back to Junction lake to catch some more big fish and take a swim
  Friday- Hiked out. Clint, Shad, and I split off and went to Photographer's Point, @1.5 miles out of the way.

Summary: We saw a different group of people everyday. The funny thing was, we ALL thought this was our "secret" little camp spot. Some people were actually pretty upset that we got to their spot before they did. Well, that's how it goes. They were all from Utah, and it was the 24th of July week.

So, we hiked in about 8 miles to camp, and then about 2-3 miles a day for fishing. We ate delicious fish about every night, as you'll see from the pictures. We estimate that we caught @300 fish altogether that week. The fishing was great, even though the rivers mostly contained 10-12 inchers. It was a lot of fun.

Read the captions on the pictures for more description.

[accadacca]

What a Trip!!!!

I will put some comments by some of my pictures. Most of mine are of a stretch of river that we fished. We pulled hundreds of fish out of these holes. It was so beautiful too. If this stretch was near the city it would have people lining the banks. It was ridiculous how easy and how many fish in the smallest holes.

[Sombeech]

Thread is unlocked for discussion now.

We were expecting to run into bears up there, but we hardly saw any trace. Just a few bear caves was all, and maybe bear scat.

We heard a few wolves howling at night, but our camp never seemed disturbed.

[Scott P]

How were the mosquitoes? Still bad, or tapering down?

[shagster]

What a great trip. For those of you who couldn't join us you really missed out on this one. We had a great time. Thanks to Somebeech, Scott, Leroy and Cam for taking me along.

[icthys]

Ok, I'm going next year.

[accadacca]

How were the mosquitoes? Still bad, or tapering down?

Boy am I itching this morning...could be from the Jack too. I would rate the bugs about 7 out of 10. Pretty heavy in spots and I used almost a whole bottle of deet...they had fangs.

[Sombeech]

Ok, I'm going next year.

I would suggest going in LATE August. Unfortunately, this was the only time we could schedule it this year, and it was kind of busy. Lots of other groups passing through our "secret" spot.

If we go again, it will be later in the fall. September was actually very good, except for the snow. We didn't see anybody else.

And, we think September is the time of year that those big Mackies travel up to that small lake for easy catching.

[hike2kolob]

Very nice pics. Looks like a great trip guys!

Those were some big fish. I will confess that I am taking notes and consulting topo maps.

[Sombeech]

I just wanted to show the Elk carcass that was picked clean by a pack of wolves.

[Alex]

Awesome trip guys! Got to join you next year....

[shlingdawg]

Count me in as well. For absolutely sure.

Nice pics and trail report. I'm all for fewer people/crowds too, so PLEASE let me know what '07 looks like. I missed any sort of adventure this summer (new daughter messes things like that up). But its all good, I guess.

[Mtnman1830]

Wow Looks like a great time.

I am headed up for a weekend in Goblin Valley next weekend, and Kings Peak in two weeks.

You just got me looking forward to getting away even more.

[neds rock]

Look like you guys a lot of fun, makes me want to go there right now

[Sombeech]

Look like you guys a lot of fun, makes me want to go there right now

It was great. Hey, welcome to the forum! You should tell us about yourself! The Newbies section awaits you.

[chickenlicken]

That looks like lots of entertainemnt. I have yet to venture deeply into the winds. I may have to leave the atv home and strap on a backpack next year. I could fish 10 hrs a day and not get tired of it, especially if I was catching fish like those! Thanks for the report.

[Shan]

Photographer's Point - Nice!! I wonder which cool chick told you about that place!

Sounds like a great trip! Mackies... yum.

[Sombeech]

Photographer's Point - Nice!! I wonder which cool chick told you about that place!

Yeah, baby! Thanks for the tip. It was even easier than hiking out of Miller Lake.

[paraAdams]

Do you have any idea how fast you were going with your packs on, while you were hiking in? Did you happen to have a GPS that told you MPH?

[Sombeech]

Do you have any idea how fast you were going with your packs on, while you were hiking in? Did you happen to have a GPS that told you MPH?

We had at least 2 GPS' with us, but I'm not sure if anybody recorded the speed. We hiked about 4 miles in 2 hours, with maybe 5 short breaks.

Coming out, we went the long way to see Photographer's point, so @9.5 miles on the way out. We made that around 4 hours.