2020 Wind Rivers; South Fork Little Wind River
Posted: Thu Sep 10, 2020 12:41 pm
South Fork Little Wind River Loop; 7/23 – 7/30 (61 miles, 8 days)
The headwaters of the South Fork of the Little Wind River are accessible via well maintained trails and extremely stunning. Add to that, incredible fishing and it is hard to beat. I have probably hiked here more than any other area of the Wind Rivers. It can be accessed from the west out of Big Sandy, or from the east out of Dickinson Park via the Bears Ears Trail, a well maintained pack trail.
The second trip out of Dickinson was also a scaled back from the original planned now that I had a tweaked left ankle as a result of limping due to my right little toe. The toe was improving; the ankle not. Even as planned for my ailing feet, I had to drop two off-trail sections due to unsettled weather. So again, there was a lot of back-tracking on trails. This was my only trip of the summer that had significant rain and lightning. The Wind Rivers, like the Sierra, were extremely dry and unusually warm this summer. This, however, did not seem to impact the mosquitoes and black flies! The head-net was an essential.
(edited 10/26- added a few more photos)
Day 1: Bears Ears TH to Dutch Oven Lake. 10.7 miles, 3000 feet gain, 8 hours.
I drove to the pack station and picked up my In-Reach and then parked at the trailhead starting by 9AM. My intention was to only go to Sand Creek, about 6 miles. This portion of the trail has annoyingly shallow switchbacks and not a drop of water. It actually went faster than I had anticipated, reaching the boardwalk across the boggy meadow at noon. The weather was good so I decided to “make hay while the sun shone” and continued. Although one could camp along the creek flowing down from Bears Ears Pass, it would be very exposed if a storm brewed. My pack was heavy and I fought a head-wind, but my feet were holding up pretty well. The elevation got to me at the top and slowed to a snail’s pace. (The photos were taken on the way out; I put in a few here so you can see the views from Bears Ears Pass.)
As the day wore on, I took more and more rest breaks. Instead of the off-trail direct drop to Dutch Oven Lake, I stayed on the trail to avoid tweaking my ankle again. The first sheltered camping is near Valentine Lake, which is usually over-crowded, so instead I went the extra quarter mile backtrack and arrived at Dutch Oven Lake at 4pm. A few fishermen were there when I arrived and set up and another group arrived later in the evening. Otherwise it was pretty empty. I was too exhausted to fish and I really needed to eat up some food to lighten the pack. How’s that for rationalizing being too lazy to fish? A quick storm blew through at 6PM. It was a hard day!
The headwaters of the South Fork of the Little Wind River are accessible via well maintained trails and extremely stunning. Add to that, incredible fishing and it is hard to beat. I have probably hiked here more than any other area of the Wind Rivers. It can be accessed from the west out of Big Sandy, or from the east out of Dickinson Park via the Bears Ears Trail, a well maintained pack trail.
The second trip out of Dickinson was also a scaled back from the original planned now that I had a tweaked left ankle as a result of limping due to my right little toe. The toe was improving; the ankle not. Even as planned for my ailing feet, I had to drop two off-trail sections due to unsettled weather. So again, there was a lot of back-tracking on trails. This was my only trip of the summer that had significant rain and lightning. The Wind Rivers, like the Sierra, were extremely dry and unusually warm this summer. This, however, did not seem to impact the mosquitoes and black flies! The head-net was an essential.
(edited 10/26- added a few more photos)
Day 1: Bears Ears TH to Dutch Oven Lake. 10.7 miles, 3000 feet gain, 8 hours.
I drove to the pack station and picked up my In-Reach and then parked at the trailhead starting by 9AM. My intention was to only go to Sand Creek, about 6 miles. This portion of the trail has annoyingly shallow switchbacks and not a drop of water. It actually went faster than I had anticipated, reaching the boardwalk across the boggy meadow at noon. The weather was good so I decided to “make hay while the sun shone” and continued. Although one could camp along the creek flowing down from Bears Ears Pass, it would be very exposed if a storm brewed. My pack was heavy and I fought a head-wind, but my feet were holding up pretty well. The elevation got to me at the top and slowed to a snail’s pace. (The photos were taken on the way out; I put in a few here so you can see the views from Bears Ears Pass.)
As the day wore on, I took more and more rest breaks. Instead of the off-trail direct drop to Dutch Oven Lake, I stayed on the trail to avoid tweaking my ankle again. The first sheltered camping is near Valentine Lake, which is usually over-crowded, so instead I went the extra quarter mile backtrack and arrived at Dutch Oven Lake at 4pm. A few fishermen were there when I arrived and set up and another group arrived later in the evening. Otherwise it was pretty empty. I was too exhausted to fish and I really needed to eat up some food to lighten the pack. How’s that for rationalizing being too lazy to fish? A quick storm blew through at 6PM. It was a hard day!