Wind Rivers, WY - Timico Lake Trail

[UTJetdog]

July 15th we arrived at Meadow Lake about 12 miles east and 13 miles north of Pinedale, ready to hit the Timico Lake Trail. This was a first trip to the Winds for any of us, but we had done a lot of research, and we were confident that we had a good plan. 5 days and 4 nights.

Here we are at the Trailhead, rearing to go!


The trailhead was at ~7800' elevation. We had a leisurely stroll across the meadow...


And then we started the ascent into the Winds.


It was a pretty good climb with loaded packs. About 1700' in less than 3 miles. This photo is looking back toward Meadow Lake.


Yours truly at the Winderness boundary.


This whole area burned during a large wildfire 1988. We were told we would get away from the crowds on this trail and they were correct. We saw one other couple the first day. A solo trekker the second day. Three people passing through the third day, and no one else the fourth and fifth days. Sweet!


After about 6 miles we finally arrived at Black's Cabin.


Lake Belford was right next to it.


We camped at Lake Belford the first night. BTW, no fish in Belford - or so it appeared...


The next day we continued eastward towards Barnes Lake and Fall Creek - more climbing. This is looking back on Lake Belford.


Finally we were up on top and out of the burn zone.


Lake Jaquelin with Mt. Baldy in the background.


We continued on to where the Timico Lake trail intersects the Highline Trail and turned south. We decided to set up camp at the mouth of Fall Creek Canyon where the Timico Lake Trail starts again heading eastward up the canyon towards Timico Lake. The younger boys in our crew were tired of carrying their packs, so we modified our plans to stay here tomorrow and just day hike to some of the surrounding areas.


That evening a couple of us went up Fall Creek Canyon to explore some of the unnamed lakes just west of Lake Sequa, and see if there were any fish to be caught.


Yup! Mmmm brookies for breakfast.


Dayhike day. We two older guys decided to head north along the Highline towards the Pole Creek area. Here's Barne's Lake looking northeast with Mt. Baldy in the background.


Farther up the trail we came to Spruce Lake (looking west).


We continued north along the Highline Trail and saw some beautiful country. This photo is looking north with the Chain Lakes on the left.


We came across a lake that had some nice Cutts, and we caught several. The biggest was about 20". On the trip, we released all of the larger fish we caught and just kept smaller ones for eating. It would be a shame for those bad boys to be wasted as table fare...



We continued north and finally came to Pole Creek.


We took a short break, cooled our feet in the creek, refilled our hydration bladders, and headed back south towards camp. Here's a photo of Barnes Lake looking south. Round trip for the dayhike ended up being about 11 miles.


The next morning we explored more lakes in the vicinity of our camp. I found 3 species in one lake - Cutts, Browns, and Brookies. Pretty fish!




Here's a pretty falls just about the inlet to Lake Jaquelin. We saw several like this at various locations off of the trail.


That afternoon we worked our way back down to Lake Belford for our last night so we wouldn't have such a long trip out on the last day.

Here we are back at the Meadow Lake Trailhead. Dirty, but no worse for wear.


This was a great trip to a spectacularly beautiful place. The terrain is very rugged. The Timico Lake trail was described as unmaintained and it is true - there were a lot of downfallen trees we had to get around. Also, I would factor in an additional 20% to trail milages calculated from quad maps. The abrupt elevation gains along with the windiness of the trail (not shown on the maps) really adds up.

The only downer of the trip was the mosquitos - they were relentless!!! 100% DEET didn't even seem to phase them much. I've faced bad mosquitos before, but nothing like these - in quantity or aggressiveness. Wow! Headnets and long sleeved shirts are essential. We would go to bed fairly early each evening just because we couldn't take it any more and had to seek santuary in our tents.

[goofball]

ahhhhhhh.. another winds report. thanks for making me jealous !

[Sombeech]

LOVE the Winds. Thanks for the report. I love it up there, the whole atmosphere of the gray rocks next to those small lakes.

[Glockguy]

Looks like a good trip!

How were the bugs?

Did you see any moose, deer etc?

What did you eat for your meals?

How much did your packs weigh?

[UTJetdog]

How were the bugs?

Did you see any moose, deer etc?

What did you eat for your meals?

How much did your packs weigh?

Bugs were off the charts!

We saw one bull moose and a few deer (one precocious doe came right into camp). Fresh big game tracks were everywhere on the trail. We did see some lion tracks and a deer in the vicinity with an ~8" flesh wound on it's flank. Maybe the lion attacked, but the deer got away?

Food was a mish mash of dehydrated & freeze dried stuff. I'm a freezer back cooker myself. Standard backpacking fare supplemented with some tasty trout.

Packs weighed way too much. Mine was probably the heaviest. 50# fully loaded with 3 litres of water. I like to have what I need...

[accadacca]

Looks like an epic trip fo sho.