Trip suggestions for mid August

[Dan Magdoff]

Hey everyone!

Hope I can pick ya'lls brains again for some trip ideas. :)

Myself, girlfriend and a few other friends have just under three weeks off in August. We are lookin for a place to go backpacking…..hopefully somewhere we haven't been before. The group will be coming from both Arizona and California. We have done a ton of trips in the Sierras in the past and want to try something new. We are OK with a 1-2 day drive to get where we are going….

We are currently thinking maybe Montana or Wyoming.

We plan on giving us a few days of travel on either end of the trip, so maybe a max of 12-14 days in the backcountry.
– Several in the group aren't very "lightweight" and we like to take our time, so probably an average of 7-10 miles a day; but those can be strenuous miles. If its off trail we are probably talking more like 5-7 miles a day (depending on terrain)
– Ideally, we would like a loop or semi loop trip just to make things easier.
– Would like to have a layover day or two.
-Prefer to get to destinations such as lakes as opposed to bagging peaks.
– comfortable with off trail navigation.
– Would like to get as much as possible away from crowds.

Any tips or suggestions would be awesome!!

Thanks
Dan

[David Chenault]

There are a number of mixed trail/off trail loop to be done in the Uintas. Stay away from the northern Kings Peak TH and you'll see few people. No permits needed.

The southern reaches of Yellowstone going into the Teton Wilderness would provide a very different scenic experience than the Sierras. Permits generally aren't too hard to get in the park, and once in NF you don't need one. A loop from the southern entrance station would be fun: hike up to Heart Lake, over to the upper Yellowstone River, then take Pacific Creek and the CDT back. Lots of meadows, some hot springs, tons of wildlife (and bears). Pretty easy walking overall. A trip into the Bechler would be another option if you can swing the permits.

[Dan Magdoff]

I was looking into the Wind River Range? What are peoples thoughts on that area? Any suggestions for places within the wind river Range?

[Brad Rogers]

Wind River is absolutely amazing. I have been there twice, once in 2012 and again last year. In 2012 I did a loop out of Green River going into Titcomb Basin and over Knapsack Col. This past year I started from Big Sandy and did a loop over Illinois Pass and around Cirque of the Towers. Both of those areas are fairly popular, but we still didn’t see that many people, and when we were in more remote areas we didn’t see anybody.

Wind River Range would be my suggestion for sure other than it looks and feels fairly similar to the Sierra. If you do decide to go I recommend the book “Beyond Trails: Off Trail in the Wind River Mountains of Wyoming” by Nancy Pallister. It is a top notch guide giving you a ton of suggested routes.

[Sam Buchta]

As mentioned, the Wind Rivers are beautiful, I'd highly recommend them as well. I didn't do anything too crazy when I was there but it's pretty hard to go wrong. I went in Eklhart Park trailhead to Timico Lake, over the continental divide to Upper Golden Lake, then back over Angel Pass to Cook Lakes, up into the Titcomb Basin, and eventually back out. Those are kind of popular areas, even that section of cross country, but the scenery is fantastic in any case. I camped at the lake above Island Lake and below the Titcomb Basin lakes and it was much less crowded than Island Lake or the basin itself.

[David Chenault]

With your low mileage and request to avoid people the Winds didn't immediately come to mind. Plus the bugs suck.

[dreamer]

Dave, you are so right. Unless you want to wear your headnet some/most of the time while stationary I'd stay out of there until the last third of August or so. On the other hand if you can be stoic about it, the early season bugs sure keep lots of others away.

[Kris Sherwood]

I did a north to south traverse in the Winds a couple years ago in mid-August. Almost no bugs for us. We did a point to point from Green River Lakes to Big Sandy. Roughly 80 miles, roughly 40% of that was off trail. Great trip, but does require a shuttle or 2 cars.

[Dean F.]

You could make something loop-like in the Winds that could consume 14 days, but it would be odd. For instance, the CDT one way and one of the High Routes the other. I did the CDT through the Winds in the last week of august last year and only ran into ten other people, and all but three of those were on the access and exit trails. But certainly the camps weren't crowded. (And also no bugs.) Hard to think of really long loops like that, offhand. Making a loop out of the alternate route around the Collegiate Peaks on the Colorado Trail comes to mind. I'm sure the potential is there, mind you, but most *well-known* loops are, for obvious reasons, about one week. I suspect that you'll just have to get a map of someplace interesting and research it yourself. You could for instance (I'm a Colorado guy) do a grand tour of the Weminuche Wilderness. That would be a huge loop, plus fun if you use the Durango & Silverton narrow-gauge railway as a shuttle. A big loop in the Bob connecting the Sun River and Flathead drainages might be the ticket- in August the packrafting opportunities are much less, though, so it'd be all hike. Maybe the Flathead itself? I'm sure Dave will chime in. I suspect that there would be a way to connect the Northern and Southern Loop in Glacier to make one big loop. Nice thing about glacier is that it isn't too late for you to apply for a permit, though you'll have to be damned quick- they put all applications that they receive from 15 March to 01 April into a lottery.

Bear in mind that some people around here have pretty extreme views on what constitutes "remote and un-crowded."

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