This one has links to pictures below, finally!
I love adventure runs! While its fun to go with friends, I always seem to get the most personally from solo trips, especially when they are to new areas and on trails I’ve never been to. Something about stepping out into wild places with no one but you to depend on to get yourself through it. I guess that’s the adventure part, or the stupid part?
This adventure started way too late on Friday night (ahh, the joy of working for yourself). I rolled out of town at 8:00 PM headed for the Big Sandy trailhead in the Wind River Range in Wyoming. I have been into the “Winds” a few times before a long time ago, but always from the north end, never from Big Sandy, which is why I should have brought a road map. Me being me, I glanced at the Wyoming Gazetteer, found the trailhead, thought it looked straight forward enough, put the map back on the shelf and left, dumb!
I was feeling like a genius when about a half hour out of Farson Wyoming I saw the familiar brown sign pointing to the right onto a dirt road saying Big Sandy Entrance, yes! I knew it was straight forward. Two miles later I was running a hamster maze of unsigned dirt roads in the very, very dark trying to find the trailhead, no luck. Called a buddy I knew would be awake, had him google it, ummm, not much there either, called another buddy, woke him up and asked him to look at his guide book, yep that did it. All in all what should have been a four hour drive, I made six by leaving the map home. Brilliant, 2:00 AM arrival at the trail head, nice!
I threw my mat on the grass next to the car and crawled in my bag to sleep a few hours, only I couldn’t because the sky was unreal, it’s not often you get to look up in that kind of darkness on that clear of a night, wow!
Mosquitoes! Everywhere! I woke up at dawn, it was freezing and the sky was now filled with mosquitoes. I’ve spent time in notorious blood sucker areas from Alaska to the Yukon tundra, nothing like these swarms, I killed four in one hand clap! Cold and bugs, no sleep, I crawled deep in my bag for another hour. Up at 8:20, on the trail by 8:30, mosquitoes. The trail started out as perfect single track through a green meadow next to a beautiful river, does it get any better? Today it would. I had never been here before and had really no idea what to expect. I had heard a lot about the area from friends who climb in the Cirque of the Towers, so I knew names and a little topography but that was about it. My very thorough planning (about 5 minutes with the Wind River South map and a route recommendation from a friend) had my estimated route distance at 28 miles and I was planning to get to the Cirque of the Towers area and head off trail Northeast over a high pass, cross around the back side of the Cirque and come back to the trailhead, making a big loop. Plan B was an out and back to the Cirque if snow blocked the pass.
I saw a few people within 2 miles of the trailhead, a couple of day hikers and solo girl with a big pack, other than that, not a soul on the whole loop! Awesome, but a little unnerving out in the middle of nowhere. I made my way at an easy pace to Big Sandy Lake, incredible! Beautiful mountain lake surrounded by green meadows, wild flowers and high granite peaks. Made a hard left onto the Jackass Pass trail and started to climb up toward the Cirque of the Towers, within a few miles the scenery became so amazing I think I was tripping over my jaw, absolutely stunning, green, snow, huge granite walls, unbelievable.
As I was climbing toward the Cirque I noticed a side trail that went directly to a high ridge rather than the main trail which went up a long gradual valley. I took the shorter route and was soon standing on a saddle above one of the most beautiful valleys I have ever seen. Big alpine lake, creeks in every direction pouring down off of steep boulderey hillsides, huge granite spires. The side trail I had taken ended here and I had to boulder hop, bushwhack a little, and cross a few creeks, one over waist deep to get to the bottom of the valley. No sooner had I reached the shore of the lake and the trail, I had to leave it again and start to climb to the pass (Texas Pass I think ) to cross over to the next valley. I was happy to find a faint trail up a good portion of the initial climb, but it soon petered out as I got above tree line. I was slogging uphill through a beautiful high alpine meadow filled with granite boulders. I noticed another set of tracks crossing a few of the snowfields, they looked funny, then I realized they were bear tracks! They were kinda melted out so they were not real new, but for sure bear tracks. Kinda funny, because I noticed me and the bear choose about the same route, I guess he was headed for the same pass. I was on very open hillside with big sight distance, so I figured if he was still around, one of us would be aware of the other while we were still a ways apart.
I hit the high pass (11,940 ft on the map) at about 11 miles and looked into the next valley and saw two partially frozen lakes and still not a soul to be seen, just me, a bear somewhere, and big mountains. Perfect! Other than the bear. I descended to the lakes singing out loud to my music and hooting all the way down. The lake shore was basically dry tundra with no trail, just cruising on soft grass and hopping over rocks. As I descended through another shallow pass, the whole hillside I was running on started to be covered in yellow and purple wild flowers. I sat down for a few minutes to take it all in. unbelievable.
Eventually I hooked back up to a trail and cruised at an easy pace down a broad, green ,open valley then into the trees again and about 9 miles of perfect single track past lake after lake all the way back to Big Sandy. I saw two people hiking up about 1 mile from the trail head and a couple sitting in a meadow a few miles out from Big Sandy, so in 25 miles I saw 5 people and all closer than 2 miles from the trailhead, nothing like having the place to yourself. I think the universe gave me a little love today for suffering through the week I had at work. Everything was absolutely perfect. Body felt fine, weather was made to order, sun in the morning, clouds and breeze in the middle of the day, a short rain storm 5 minutes after getting back to the car. I felt no need to push pace at all, I ran comfortably when I could, hiked cautiously when conditions warranted, and stopped and took it all in a lot. Absolutely, hands down, no doubt about it, best run so far!
Ended up with 24 something milkes and 3700 something vert all above 9000 ft. The Garmin link is on Sunday the 18th post.
PICS!
First part of the trail
http://picasaweb.google.com/110731470557570571093/WindRivers#5495088387635281474
Big Sandy lake
http://picasaweb.google.com/110731470557570571093/WindRivers#5495088420567643458
Climbing to the Ciurque
http://picasaweb.google.com/110731470557570571093/WindRivers#5495088420567643458
Looking back toward Big Sandy (about where i took the detour to the Cirque
http://picasaweb.google.com/110731470557570571093/WindRivers#5495088441162794722
Trail into God's country (the Cirque) Peak in the center in Pigora, Texan pass is in the far right of the picture (snow field on ridge)
http://picasaweb.google.com/110731470557570571093/WindRivers#5495088457688334002
Won't let me paste anymore??? I'll put more in the 18th post along with the Garmin Stuff.
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