Wind Rivers n00b questions

[ibenick]

I'm preparing to get all over the Winds this summer. I've spent loads of time in the Uintas but nothing in the Winds. So with that said, I have a few questions that I'm sure will be cake for the many Wind River vets around here.

When do the Winds usually become accessible? Same kind of melt cycle as the Uintas? Is early July safe or different from year to year? How about the end of season up there, about the same as Uintas?

How about fishing... Are the lakes stocked or are they native? Are there a lot of them that have no fish or can you count on most having healthy populations like you would in the Uintas? I've heard there are Golden trout there instead of brookies?

And finally, where are your favorite areas? How about the best first place to go for a noob? (Feel free to email me that one if you want ).

Muchos gracias.

[homerj]

I'm no expert on the Winds, but I'll gladly answer the questions I can... I started backpacking 4 years ago (5 this summer) and have gone to the Winds every year. I have backpacked Yellowstone and the Unitas, but love the Winds the best!

I have always gone in August. I hear July is HORRIBLE for mosquitoes. My cousin has been in around the end of June and did fine. You can check out his pics here to see what the conditions were like then:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/50521126@N00/sets/
I know there are quite a few that go in Sept as well.

As for the fish being native/stocked. I believe almost all the lakes had no fish in them back in the early 1900's until Finis Mitchell came and stocked them. I don't believe any of the lakes are stocked now days. Most of the fish in the Winds are cutthroat or brooks. There are Goldens, but I have yet to find them... Almost all the lakes have fish in them... at least the ones you'd expect to have fish. Shallow lakes and very high altitude lakes usually don't have any fish...

How far you wanting to go in? Big Sandy is nice for a shorter trip (about 6 miles), but very busy. It still has good fishing as most are climbers heading to the Cirque of the Towers.
Titcomb Basin is suppose to be really cool, but I haven't been thereyet. Same with the Green River Lakes.

Oh, I highly recommend the maps by Earth walk press. North: http://www.amazon.com/Northern-Wind-...2064536&sr=8-1
South: http://www.amazon.com/Southern-Wind-...2064536&sr=8-2

[keithd]

I'm no Winds expert, either, but I've done it a few times. My first trip that was longer than an overnighter was in to Titcomb Basin in early August:

http://www.edarnell.com/Trips/page39.html

Titcomb is truly beautiful, but it was pretty crowded up there that time of year. In fact, it was too crowded for me, and we ended up cutting our trip short.

So I went back a couple of years later in early September, and it went much better. We saw very few people, and it was a great trip. It was cold at night, but that's a small price to pay for solitude!

Here's my trip report from that trip:

http://www.edarnell.com/Trips/page60.html

Both trips started from Elkhart Park and went up into Titcomb, which is really one of the prettiest places in the Winds, and that's the easiest access into the whole range. It's important to remember that the alpine areas of the Winds are pretty hard to get to, so it takes every bit of an entire day or more just to get within sight of the best part of the range. For my next trip, I'm thinking about starting in the Fitzpatrick Wilderness on the north-east side of the range.

As for fishing, I don't usually fish, but I saw lots of people having successful fishing on both trips.

For snow, I think these links will work...here's the NWS models of the historic snow depths:

July 2010: http://tinyurl.com/3stpfff
July 2009: http://tinyurl.com/3rhtmam

You'll probably hit snow...and it'll probably be enough to slow you down, but not enough to ruin the trip. And like the Uintas, I thing the tail end of the season would be mid-October.

Have fun!

Keith

[Glockguy]

The Winds are not enjoyable to me until at least mid August due to the bugs.

Most lakes at least have brook trout, only a few have goldens.

Go here and do a search for "Wind River" or "Wind River Range" and there are dozens of trip reports with pictures to fill you in.

http://www.backpacker.com/cgi-bin/fo...SF;f=623107219

[uintahiker]

Oh man oh man- I love the Winds!

The bugs can be bad. Snowmelt varies. I've always gone in mid to late August.

Fishing though is what gets my blood pumping.
The fish were stocked at one point, but stocking varies now. Finis Mitchell back in the 30's did a lot of it.
A lot of the lakes have very healthy fish populations.
It's probably the best place to go for Golden Trout, but count on hiking to get them.

3 books.
The Most Complete Guide to Wyoming Fishing by John Baughman. (Only 2000 were printed. There's a used copy on Amazon right now for $39. It's a Bargain if you asked me. This is THE BOOK if you are interested in finding Goldens)
Wind River Trails by Finis Mitchell (Very interesting read, if just for the history of the range)
Flyfishing the Rocky Mountain Backcountry by Rich Osthoff (another very good book to read if you're serious about fishing in the mountains)

[ibenick]

Wow. Thanks guys. Almost an overload of excellent information! I've been processing it all day long.

How far you wanting to go in? Big Sandy is nice for a shorter trip (about 6 miles), but very busy. It still has good fishing as most are climbers heading to the Cirque of the Towers.

Good to know. I think I'll do something a bit longer the first time around. I'm giving it 4 days plus a drive up the night before so I was thinking something around 20-35 miles. I really want to see the Cirque of the Towers though, looks awesome!

Oh, I highly recommend the maps by Earth walk press. North: http://www.amazon.com/Northern-Wind-...2064536&sr=8-1
South: http://www.amazon.com/Southern-Wind-...2064536&sr=8-2

Purchased today. Thanks. I've been going crazy on the topos because I hadn't seen any decent dedicated trail maps.

Titcomb is truly beautiful, but it was pretty crowded up there that time of year. In fact, it was too crowded for me, and we ended up cutting our trip short.

So I went back a couple of years later in early September, and it went much better. We saw very few people, and it was a great trip. It was cold at night, but that's a small price to pay for solitude!

I'm with you on the solitude thing. I avoid crowds like the plague. From what I've learned so far I think I'm going to wait to hit them until after school starts back up. last week of August or maybe into September.

Another question for you, Keith, I read your trip reports, very nice BTW, lots of goodies on your site. You mentioned in there that the Winds aren't very good for off trail hiking because of the landscape. While studying the topo I've seen many, many lakes that are off trail that look like they might be great candidates to get away from the crowds. Is this not the case? Like what exactly are the obstacles? Lots of small cliff bands or something?

[homerj]

I really want to see the Cirque of the Towers though, looks awesome!

Cirque of the Towers are usually busy like Titcomb and Green River Lakes, but if you go after school starts you'll be fine! I hope you enjoy the Cirque of the Towers better than I did... I think I was let down from all the hype I'd heard about them.... We didn't hike down to Lonesome Lake where the view probably is tons better, but instead view them from Jackass pass. Anyway, don't let my opinion deter you from seeing them!

[mr. incognito]

I'm with you on the solitude thing. I avoid crowds like the plague. From what I've learned so far I think I'm going to wait to hit them until after school starts back up. last week of August or maybe into September.

Another question for you, Keith, I read your trip reports, very nice BTW, lots of goodies on your site. You mentioned in there that the Winds aren't very good for off trail hiking because of the landscape. While studying the topo I've seen many, many lakes that are off trail that look like they might be great candidates to get away from the crowds. Is this not the case? Like what exactly are the obstacles? Lots of small cliff bands or something?

Wear a bear bell on your pack dude. Like you I can't be confined to trails and enjoy solitude. When I was there it was miles of thick berry bushes and bear sign everywhere off trail. Hate to hear you had an unfortunate encounter. As for fishing I don't do much of it but did find some stranded desperate fish in deep but small pools inbetween boulders in a mostly dried up talus stream bed. I literally caught all of them (more than a dozen decent sized fish) by hand and walked them to the nearest lake.

[ibenick]

I literally caught all of them (more than a dozen decent sized fish) by hand and walked them to the nearest lake.

Awesome!

And thanks for the bear tips. I'll at least throw a bell on the pooch, might drive me nuts having it on my back.

[keithd]

Another question for you, Keith, I read your trip reports, very nice BTW, lots of goodies on your site. You mentioned in there that the Winds aren't very good for off trail hiking because of the landscape. While studying the topo I've seen many, many lakes that are off trail that look like they might be great candidates to get away from the crowds. Is this not the case? Like what exactly are the obstacles? Lots of small cliff bands or something?

You know, I've read lots of trip reports in the past where people have spent several weeks off trail in the Winds. But the parts that I've seen were just so littered with boulders, that it would be really hard to go cross country. That doesn't mean it would be impossible, it was just that the Beartooths were very easy for going cross country, so that's what I envision when I think of just heading out off trail.

Also, if you're thinking about just heading to specific lakes that are off-trail, that probably won't be that bad. I was more talking about spending the whole time hiking off trail, which seemed much harder than it would be in the Beartooths...but certainly still enjoyable and doable.

I hope that helps!

And thanks for the compliments!

Keith

[brookiekiller]

I have done a few trips in the winds - they are great - I hightly recommend going off trail when possible - it is rougher country and you can't just eyeball destinations like you can in the Uintas, but you can really experience some wild country - it isn't as hard as it may look either. The places I will never visit again if solitude is mandatory is Island Lake and Big Sandy Lake. The Central Winds are just big swaths of high grasslands between forests and lakes - as you get closer to the divide it can be much rougher. I personally don't know if I would go solo in the Winds where as I solo all the time in the Uintas. The main reason is that something can go wrong and there are so many nook and crannies to have to search. Go to backpacker.com and search in the rockies forum - there are some true experts in there.