Wind Rivers Wyoming 6-day trip

The first day involves a path of switchbacks up the mountain for about three hours. Once off of the switchbacks, its an inclined path almost straight to the first campsite. There is only one path so it's pretty dang easy to find your way. After a while, you will come to a fork in the road. Going left takes you to the next campsite about seven miles away. Straight will take you to the first site. The first campsite is really nice, situated on a small hill, it has a fire ring, plenty of places for tents or hammocks, and is right next to a pond that offers prime fishing. Make sure to bring a little butter and lemon pepper for your freshly caught fish. There are a couple lakes you can get some Chinook Salmon in, or something that looks and tastes a whole lot like it. Make sure you have your fishing licence of course, and some extra bait.

The second day is wonderful. Leave as early as you want from the campsite, sleep in, whatever. You will travel back the way you came to the fork in the road, and this time follow the lakeside path. In the summer it is absolutely gorgeous with all of the wildflowers, and rippling water. Follow the trail for a few hours until you find a way to the campsite. From there, there are tons of lakes you can camp at, beautiful scenery, glorious fishing, and all around good times! Continuing on the trail another seven and a half miles will bring you to the Big Thompson Lake, one of the final campsite, and definitely the best. The lake is only a few hundred feet from the campsite, and no matter where you camp, you have a spectacular view of the lake and surrounding mountains. It's super fun to stand on the ledge above the water and yell something and hear the mountains echo it back six or seven times.

Also, during the day, if you want to take a bath, there is a big, really cold lake about a mile from the campsite if you take the trail out. It is the same lake you pass on your way out on the last day. its super cold, but if you like the cold, jump on in with your biodegradable soap and scrub-a-dub-dub!

A word of warning about this last site, at night, large packs of coyotes can disturb your sleep with their emphatic cackling. I have never known them to come within a half mile of the site, but it is better for this reason that you carry some kind of personal protection, or travel in a group. But other than being loud, they have never harmed anyone up there yet. Be smart and you wont have any problems.

On the topic of other animals, lots of sheep graze up there, along with large herds of cattle that go pretty much wherever they want. Bears can be a concern depending on the time of year, but i haven't seen one in the four times I have been there, so make some noise as you go and you will be fine. If you are following the trail the whole way to the end, the last 7-ish miles are extremely difficult, almost constant uphill, and almost straight downhill when it tops off. Following the trail the whole time will result in a 6 day trip if you decide to take a day of rest at one of the sites.(highly recommended) But if you don't take a break day, and you cover more than seven miles in a day, it can take as few as four days.

If you would like the secret path I take with my friends that is super cool and can shave a couple hours, and a whole lot of uphill slogging off the trip, contact me, and I can share it with you. This trail is used to get from the smaller lakes to Big Thompson and takes off a lot of time, leaving the whole day for fishing and rest at Big Thompson. But it can be pretty long and complicated to write, so I am just gonna leave this here with the basics. Enjoy!

bubbamancub13@gmail.com

P.S. There have been years when there are tons of mosquitoes, and there have been years when we never saw a single bug. So check any source you can find about conditions, and if you're not certain, bring good mosquito gear anyways.