Trail through the Winds

imported
#1

I’d like to know if there is a distinct trail through the Wind River Range. I want to section hike Wyoming this year and I’m wondering how much navigating I will have to do after the Great Basin.

susie burns

#2

Short answer: I didn’t have to navigate too much.

Long answer:
I was going north and from South Pass City, navigation was fairly straight forward. There is a 12 mile or so dirt road walk up to the entrance to the Winds. From there I didn’t have to do much other than walk. Up over the pass south of Temple Lake, through the Cirque of the Towers is recommended highly, rather than going to Big Sandy Lodge or whatever. Through the cirque, over Texas Pass. Head north on the western side on the Highline Trail. Some signs say Fremont Lake. This is correct.

CDT is marked occasionally. When you get near Island Lake, there is a branch to the north west. I didn’t see a Highline/CDT marker, but the trail to Elbow Lake will get you in the right direction. I went over Knapsack Col which was unreasonably gnarly. I loved it but it was dangerous. So I don’t know how the trail is between Island Lake and Cube Rock Pass. The Highline Trail goes over Cube Rock Pass, then down the Green River Drainage. After you get out of the Winds, there are CDT blazes on carbopolyplexynite posts or whatever they are called.

After Gunsight Pass I was looking at my GPS a bit more than usual. It gets a bit flat and featureless. Lots of grass and dead pines. Not sure what to say on that front without a 60 page thesis on CDT ranch road navigation.

The Winds are fine. Get the spendy waterproof Earthwalk Press maps. They are pretty classy, and nice to hang up on your wall at home.
-SG

San Gabe

#3

As you can tell from San Gabe’s response, there are lots of fun options to the “CDT” in the Winds. That’s the beauty of the CDT–it’s not really blazed in reality so if you feel the need to wander off for a while, it’s OK–nobody will question the “purity” of your hike.

I pretty much took the same route San Gabe did. I was SOBO and it was going to be a week or so before I saw mountains again, so I made the most I could of the Winds and still keep forward motion. The trails are well used and well signed. Even the Texas Pass route, off trail, was very easy to follow. You don’t want to miss the Cirque of the Towers.

Garlic

#4

I agree with the above, especially about carrying the Earthwalk Press maps. Some of the trail junctions are a bit obscure and many are not marked on the ground as to destination (just a pile of rocks out in a meadow mark a turn), so you may not be able to tell whether a side trail is a casual use trail that goes to a lake or is the actual CDT route. However, like most Wilderness areas on the CDT, the trail in the Winds gets lots of use.

North of Gunsight the trail was well marked about 11 years ago, but the carsonite posts have all fallen down. We propped them up when we hiked again in 2006, but I’m sure most of them are on the ground again. That said, we had very little trouble navigating in the Gros Ventre in 2006 and 7. (we had to skip a section during a fire which we completed the following year). I used the Jim Wolf books which had detailed descriptions of the route. There is new official trail but the maps and description for it aren’t available (not in the ‘official’ guidebook) and the marking in the section we tried to follow in the Gros Ventre was really hit and miss. You might have better luck than we did though in getting maps or descriptions from the National Forest though.

Ginny

#5

Yeah, I remember lots of barren lakes with great views… Yogi & Dewey went off trail at a river x-ng to look for cokes at a lodge that was closed… then they headed for big sandy while I ran out of food as I turned slightly North over the ez side trail to the Cirque where you can camp with horsepackers & lamapackers then follow the riverside trail out to a road to a different lodge with a tiny store that was closed so a Mormon? family invited me in for stew & a roadworker gave me what was left of his lunch… sadly that restaurant on the main highway to Lander/S.Pass city was closed. I bushwhacked a alt-route or “beer” route sometimes joining the CDT but then following the Mormon Historical trail out to Sweetwater store & another tiny town cafe & then Baroil Pub before bushwhacking a route arrow south using my county maps of dirt roads to where you join the highway (cdt).

gingerbreadman