August 28-29, 2015
After arriving in Salt Lake City, we drove to the Big Sandy Trailhead. We had arranged to camp at the trailhead for the night and have a shuttle pick us up in the morning to take us to the Green River Lakes Trailhead.
Much of the second half of the drive was on dirt roads as the Wind River Range came into view.
The last twenty miles weren't quite as nice but were manageable in a Toyota Prius.
There is a small campground at the trailhead, but being a National Forest there were people camping in many places along the road. We found a nice spot close to the parking lot.
Big Sandy is one of the major trailheads to access the Winds and this was quite evident from the number of cars in the parking lot on the weekend.
We enjoyed some nice morning views as we waited for our shuttle.
We had a pleasant ~3 hour shuttle to the Green River Lakes Trailhead and were able to learn a lot about Wyoming from our friendly shuttle driver.
Soon we were at the Green River Lakes Trailhead and ready to begin an exciting adventure.
The route starts out on the popular Highline Trail past the Green River Lakes.
We saw a sign for Continental Divide Trail (CDT), which continues north from the lakes to the US/Canada border (south to Mexico). Previously I have hiked spectacular portions of the CDT along the Colorado Trail. From what I understand this high route through the Winds would be a great alternative for thru-hikers, weather permitting.
Soon we entered the Bridger Wilderness.
Near the end of the first lake, we stopped on the beach for a snack and to get some water. We saw a group on horses pass up on the trail.
The trail crossed well constructed bridges.
We came to the next Green River Lake and hiked up on a ridge.
A classic view of the trail
Next we began to follow the Green River. It was interesting as in early May I had seen the same river while on vacation with my dad in the Moab Area. The Green River eventually joins the Colorado River and continues through the Grand Canyon.
There was an interesting mountain with many ridges beside us.
A nice reflection of Squaretop Mountain in the Green River
The Green River
During the early part of our hike, we had some rare hiking below treeline.
The trail stayed close to the Green River.
We had an interesting bridge across a stream crossing.
The trail went through a talus field, a glimpse of adventures to come.
The trail crossed the Green River on a nice bridge.
Soon we began our climb up to the high country. The trail had many switchbacks so it wasn't too steep.
There were expansive views just behind the trees.
We decided to set up camp a little past the Clark Creek Crossing. There were several nice campsites near the creek. We attempted to get our food weight down by eating lots of food, but weren't that hungry.
The mountains still towered over our campsite, but tomorrow was going to be when the Wind River High Route really began.
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