Valley of Walls

Another trip into the Wind River Mountains.

Wind River Off Trail

   This was an off trail loop we hiked last week. When we left the house to start hiking the weather forecast look great! Clear with only a 20% chance of rain for one of the 3 days we were out. However, the way mountain weather goes the forecast changed dramatically after we hit the dirt. We experienced a ridiculous amount of rain, hail, sleet and snow (up high) with just enough sunshine to tease and taunt us. Normally wet weather like this is not a problem since we were adequately prepared. But this trip was almost entirely off trail where most of our route is on slippery wet granite. Even in the dense vegetation the ground was slippery. Our river crossings became waist high in swift water often re-routing our way. During one waist high river crossing I remember looking up at the sky watching lightning bolts rip across the sky. Sheesh...And all of the wet granite would become too steep for travel due to how slippery it was from the rainfall. On our second evening I took a hard fall down some steep granite resulting in much needed stitches in my hand. This was a flapper and it was deep. Blood was pouring out of my hand so I threw off my pack, grabbed my first aid kit, poured water on the hole, applied pressure with gauze, wrapped it up and continued hiking in the dark for a few more minutes until we deemed travel too dangerous at night off trail and over slippery steep wet granite. We hastily set up camp during a storm in the middle of a boulder field since most of these lakes had zero shoreline. Just cliffs and scree fields running straight into the lakes. Not the best place to camp when needing a good nights sleep. Oh, and my injured hand didn't start throbbing in pain until I climbed into my sleeping bag. Wow. Ouch.... Our last day took us 7 hours to hike 2.5 miles due to more bad weather, slick rock, no trail & constantly getting cliffed out which prevented us from proceeding. We begrudgingly crawled crossed an unstable bobbing and moving log jam to make it back to the trailhead. This was after we decided against swimming across the lake on a 43 degree windy day... Thankfully we crossed the log jam without incident. We knew how stupid and dangerous it was to cross but out of sheer desperation to get out of the woods and get myself to the doctor for stitches pushed us on---not to mention we wanted some damn cheeseburgers! It was an epic adventure no doubt. My girlfriend I brought with me (to have her first Wind River experience) luckily still speaks to me. 

Never cross a log jam! It's too dangerous!

Wind River Range

I don't really know what it is about this particular mountain range that draws me in. I know I love the fact there is a lake or stream around every corner and over every hill. I love the long approach to get into the heart of the range. We hiked in about 17 miles to our main base camp and took big day hikes from camp over the next 3 days. I love how tiny I feel being surrounded by dozens of peaks over 13,000 ft high. I love being completely away from civilization & unreachable with the worlds problems and bad news. The Winds are my solace a peace. I am grounded and recharged after every visit. As I scramble off trail for several miles up and through a boulder field I am very aware of every step I take on every rock, testing its stability. It takes brain power and focus and knowing that if I fall or injure myself it could take easily 24 hours for any rescue crew to reach me (or my friend)---which in turn, makes me feel so alive! However, I really don't think I could get more than a scraped knee, so really, the risk seems minimal.

There are no distractions while in the desolate remote beauty of the Winds. Their Native American past also weighs heavily on my mind while trekking through the vast remote mountains. I can't help but wonder and imagine how the Indians lived and hunted and how they survived the extremely harsh long winters. The Winds have a part of me that I can't quite explain. They are absolutely magical and feel so untouched by humans. Hopefully, they will remain that way forever.

The view from our first camp site

The long approach in

The unspoiled Titcomb Basin

Basecamp

Waiting out the storm

We brought in a Badminton set to play when we took breaks from hiking

Plenty of wildflowers 

Shenanigans before scrambling up the boulder field behind us

Miles of boulders