2020 Wind Rivers; North Fork Little Wind River
Posted: Sun Sep 13, 2020 1:38 pm
2020 Wind Rivers (3)
North Fork of the Little Wind River. 8/3 -8/11
After a few days rest in town, the little toe was fine except for a bit of swelling at the end of the day, but both ankles were tweaked and I was still limping. My ambitions planned trip on the Wind River Indian Reservation was cut back to accommodate. Wilson Creek Lakes were eliminated because it would require a difficult, talus-filled hike over Saddle Mountain to continue southward. I would instead go directly in via the better maintained Heebeecheeche Trail and perhaps come out via Raft Lake, if I had time (turned out I just came back out same way I went in; another boring backtrack). I would also deliberately place my feet so as not to limp and take plenty of rests. Well, there was a lot of good fishing to be done, so I would still have plenty to do. The trip turned out to be 49 miles in 8 days, mostly on trails, albeit some poor trails.
Day 1: St. Lawrence RS TH to Wolf Creek. 8.7 miles, 2885 feet gain, 7.2 hours.
I left Lander at the crack of dawn reached the St. Lawrence trailhead at 8AM. The road was as bad as ever, and I scraped bottom with my car a few times in spite of going agonizingly slow. There were plenty of antelope and rabbits, but thankfully no cows blocking the road. I parked at the Ranger Station since I did not have a high clearance vehicle. There is a half mile 4wd road to a small parking area. There were a handful of cars at each parking area.
Soon a fellow came by going back to his car because he had forgotten some critical piece of gear. I mentally made a check of my gear! It was more like I was taking too much gear as my pack weighed in at 29 pounds without water. Again I took extra socks and insoles and wading shoes. At The Meadows there was a large group coming out on the trail from Raft Lake.
I continued up the trail over Entigo Pass. Half way up a huge family group caught up to me. A packer was taking in their gear and they were walking in with day packs. They were headed for Wilson Creek Lakes, so we would depart ways soon. I took a long rest on top before dropping to Entigo Creek, which barely had water and a few unhappy small fish. No wading needed- just hop across on rocks. A new sign was nailed to a tree pointing the way to Raft Creek. I took another rest at the Wilson Creek-Heebeecheeche trail junction.
Then I dropped to the crossing of Wilson Creek, where I ran into another large group of two families with kids of various ages taking a long lunch stop. I crossed the thin single log with a dubious hand rope while they all watched. I half expected a standing ovation when I did not fall off! I continued on; it seemed forever to get to Wolf Creek, the next water source. Although only 3PM I got a nice bath just before the two families caught up with me. A storm was brewing and thunder boomed in the distance. They were absolutely set on getting to Lake Heebeecheeche (more on that later). I quickly set up my tent and ducked inside just as it began to sprinkle. This was a very boring campsite, with no views. I got out and cooked dinner when it began raining again. There was nothing to do but rest my feet and listen to music.
North Fork of the Little Wind River. 8/3 -8/11
After a few days rest in town, the little toe was fine except for a bit of swelling at the end of the day, but both ankles were tweaked and I was still limping. My ambitions planned trip on the Wind River Indian Reservation was cut back to accommodate. Wilson Creek Lakes were eliminated because it would require a difficult, talus-filled hike over Saddle Mountain to continue southward. I would instead go directly in via the better maintained Heebeecheeche Trail and perhaps come out via Raft Lake, if I had time (turned out I just came back out same way I went in; another boring backtrack). I would also deliberately place my feet so as not to limp and take plenty of rests. Well, there was a lot of good fishing to be done, so I would still have plenty to do. The trip turned out to be 49 miles in 8 days, mostly on trails, albeit some poor trails.
Day 1: St. Lawrence RS TH to Wolf Creek. 8.7 miles, 2885 feet gain, 7.2 hours.
I left Lander at the crack of dawn reached the St. Lawrence trailhead at 8AM. The road was as bad as ever, and I scraped bottom with my car a few times in spite of going agonizingly slow. There were plenty of antelope and rabbits, but thankfully no cows blocking the road. I parked at the Ranger Station since I did not have a high clearance vehicle. There is a half mile 4wd road to a small parking area. There were a handful of cars at each parking area.
Soon a fellow came by going back to his car because he had forgotten some critical piece of gear. I mentally made a check of my gear! It was more like I was taking too much gear as my pack weighed in at 29 pounds without water. Again I took extra socks and insoles and wading shoes. At The Meadows there was a large group coming out on the trail from Raft Lake.
I continued up the trail over Entigo Pass. Half way up a huge family group caught up to me. A packer was taking in their gear and they were walking in with day packs. They were headed for Wilson Creek Lakes, so we would depart ways soon. I took a long rest on top before dropping to Entigo Creek, which barely had water and a few unhappy small fish. No wading needed- just hop across on rocks. A new sign was nailed to a tree pointing the way to Raft Creek. I took another rest at the Wilson Creek-Heebeecheeche trail junction.
Then I dropped to the crossing of Wilson Creek, where I ran into another large group of two families with kids of various ages taking a long lunch stop. I crossed the thin single log with a dubious hand rope while they all watched. I half expected a standing ovation when I did not fall off! I continued on; it seemed forever to get to Wolf Creek, the next water source. Although only 3PM I got a nice bath just before the two families caught up with me. A storm was brewing and thunder boomed in the distance. They were absolutely set on getting to Lake Heebeecheeche (more on that later). I quickly set up my tent and ducked inside just as it began to sprinkle. This was a very boring campsite, with no views. I got out and cooked dinner when it began raining again. There was nothing to do but rest my feet and listen to music.