September Trip to the Winds

Beautiful! Looks like a great hike and good time was had.

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I enjoyed the TR, Randy. Almost made me want to get a dog.
rOg, by coincidence I came across your blog today and enjoyed your trip report there too. I think I should worry about rain less.

Great report.
Crem de la crem in terms of scenery.

But the Winds in September – Dr. Jekyll an Mr. Hyde

Go for the best, expect the worst. Either way it's an adventure.

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Nice.. love the one of the Golden sitting at the river.. "uh i'm going to wait to see how this goes for him" ;)

Sept is my favorite time of the year in the Winds – or any other range for that matter. My first trip to the Winds was in 1975ish and I have been back almost every year since.

This past Sept rained everyday technically, but was warm and mostly pleasant none the less. Over the years I have experienced highs in the 80's and lows near 0 in the month of Sept. Overall it's a great time with few to no bugs, thunderstorms, and people.

Rog, I did see your TR when you posted it. I didn't want to rub it in so I didn't say anything.:) Your trip was a LOT more ambitious than ours. We did have some poor weather but it was really only over a 26 hour period. From noon the second day until around 2 the third day. The laundry line definitely looks familiar. Last year, Buddy and I went 1 week earlier and the weather was perfect. But as Greg mentions, you just never know what you're going to get. I've targeted early September mainly because it's my favorite time of year and I'm assuming there's less people after labor day. Considering where we were, we really didn't see a lot of people. It would have been even less last year but we ran into 2 NOLS classes. (Wish I'd have done something like that when I was a kid!)

It was pretty cold, especially the night near Rabbit Ears Lake. Probably in the 20's. I've never been cold before in my WM Alpinlite so I was kind of surprised. Of course, it didn't help when I decided not to pack my down booties. When I got home I measured the loft and it was 4" instead of the 5" WM says. I washed it and it came back up to 5". I'm sure that will help a lot.

Rog, did you guys carry bear spray? I've read that Grizzly sightings do occur but are rare in the southern Winds. I did 2 different couples carrying bear spray on this trip but they were both from Jackson Hole and both said the same thing: Based on where they live and go, it's just a standard part of their kit. This route took us up to the central area. I'm just wondering how far north you go before it's more common to carry bear spray. I'm sure that there would be wildly varying answers to that question. I'll need to do some more research on it before the next trip to the Winds.

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Great pics and write up, answering some questions I had about the Winds. Thanks.

Here's a few more of the Cirque area from last year's trip for you Rog. This year's trip shared the 5 miles or so from Big Sandy lake to the Lizard Head trail cutoff with last year's trip. Unfortunately, there was almost a constant haze from the fires burning up north that year so the pictures aren't the greatest.

These are left to right views of the Cirque:

Me and Buddy at Lonesome Lake with Pingora Peak in the background. This was shot by a NOLS student we were visiting with. He and some others were fishing the lake while others of their group were climbing the backside of Pingora. We could hear them yelling to each other but couldn't make it out. Probably just instructions anyway. His group were going up there the next day. He was a college student and I asked him how he paid for the course and he said his parents. I told him I'd shoot a video of him to say hi to them and get it to them when I got out since the class was out for something like a month. I got a nice note saying how much they loved seeing it. That was nice.

Me and Buddy at the top of Jackass Pass with one of the Cirque peaks in the background.

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Randy,

Very enjoyable TR. The fact that so many BPL members are willing to overcome all the physical obstacles to keep returning to wild lands is a testament to how much we value our time in the wild. Worn out body parts and cancer be damned the trail is calling.The pics of you and Buddy are endearing and I'm sure they will find a place in your personal gallery of memories.

Hoot

Randy,

Thanks for the nice report. I love a hike in the Winds, even from the armchair.

Anyone interested in climbing there should check out the guidebook by Joe Kelsey.

Bears?! Forget the freaking bears! Have you heard abouth the cat? A thru hiker back for a closer look told me the chilling tale atop Hailey Pass this August. — Evening found our happy innocents in Ranger Park (between Washakie Pass and Valentine Lake) relaxing to a well deserved dinner by their camp and watching a nearby deer. At this moment Fluffy bursts from cover and proceeds to take Bambi out in a flash of blood and gore, while in full view. One can imagine Hansel and Gretal feeling as though they just might have wandered a bit to far into the Forest for comfort as our friends rapidly packed up and moved on.

I have been going to the Winds for decades and never take Bear spray. That may one day prove to be foolish but I have had few encounters there, a Grizz on the northside of Porcipine Pass, another Grizz on the very north end of the range, a bear swimming across Green Lake, black bear in Lizard Head Meadows, another up above Grave Lake on the west end, and another in the Big Sandy trailhead campground.

In all instances they were interested in getting away as fast as possible. I have carried spray in AK and British Columbia and have seen more bears in one day there than nearly forty years of going to the Winds. I think one big reason I don't have many encounters is the fact that other than the first night and sometimes the last, I rarely camp below 11,000 feet. Consequently, I see little more than rodents, birds, coyotes, sheep, and a rare goat – and in the Winds – Llamas.

Soloed into the Brown Cliffs area earlier in the month from the Meadow Lake trailhead. Nice country, The Winds.