Wind River reservation trip planning

[lunkerking]

Hello, my friend and I are planning a fishing trip this summer in the Winds and this is our rough itinerary/route. St. Lawrence TH-Movo lake-Twenty lakes creek-Roberts/Trail lakes. Our plan is to fish lakes along the way in and around Roberts/Trail lakes. We primarily fly fish and are planning a 5-6 night trip. Any info on fishing or trail conditions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[Wandering Daisy]

Well, if my guidebook were not out of print, I would say get it! Unfortunately, it will be out of print throughout most of 2025.

Trail Lake has some medium size brookies. Roberts Lake now has lots of smaller fish- no big lunkers anymore like there were in the 1970's. Still some good size fish at Raft Lake.

As of about 4-5 years ago the trail from The Meadows directly down to Raft Lake was in really bad shape. It is better to go over the pass to Entigo Creek horse camp and take a faint use-trail down to Movo Lake. This trail has wash-outs and many fallen logs, but you can at least find it if careful. The "trail" from Movo Lake to 20 Lakes is basically gone. As of about 5 years ago, it was a bushwhack mess, and it has been since the 1990's. Unless there has been trail work done, which I doubt, be prepared for x-c travel with a lot of fallen logs. People who go into Roberts Lake often go in from Washakie Park (if you have a 4wd). I have met locals at Trail Lake, who have gone in from St. Lawrence, but they may know the trick to find the trail.

Or a longer hike in from Dickinson Park, Bears Ears Trail to Grave Lake, down to Onion Meadow, and a trail that has been recently worked on up over Tepee Pass. There are big fish in Grave Lake, and pretty nice fish in the first lake up from Onion Valley, and below Tepee Pass. In fact, the fishing in the SFLW is better than Trail Lake/Roberts. Good fishing in South Fork Lakes, Washakie Lake, Spearpoint Lake, Macon Lake, stream fishing along Bears Ears Trail below the SFLW crossing.

I am not quite sure why you are choosing Roberts Lake and 20 Lakes. My experience is that there is better fishing in many directions from Sonnicant Lake which has a well-maintained trail from St. Lawrence. Wilson Creek Lakes have nice fish and another well-maintained trail. Good fishing in Lake Solitude, Ice Lakes, Darin Lake, unnamed lake below Lake Kagavah, All the lakes above Lake Heebeecheeche. You can also access these areas from the west, Scab Creek TH, over Kagavah Pass. The trail is a bit hard to follow down to Kagavah Lake, but it is above timber - no bushwhacking or downed timber.

There is no official trail maintenance on the Reservation. The outfitter does all trail work so he can pack people into primarily- Sonnicant and Wilson Creek Lakes. If you want to get some information, call the US Fish and Wildlife office in Lander, WY. They manage the fishery. I doubt you will get any information from the Reservation.

We have a lot of trip reports that you may want to look at. Just do a search. I have posted reports as has Robert Seeberger and a few others.

[lunkerking]

Thanks so much for this info! Well I could buy your book online from Amazon….or I could buy a cheap car…I see it’s selling for $4995!
My friend who does a couple trips to the winds each year has always wanted to goto to Roberts and check out some of the lakes above it. He had some info at some point but not sure if it’s good. But we don’t really know how old or accurate that info is.
After reading your post I think he is very much considering changing our itinerary. It’s still 8 months from now so we are in the planning stage and open to other ideas. This would be around a 6 night trip. Thanks again for the info. Some nice reports on this site !

[Shoe]

Thanks from me, too. I am Lunkerking's friend. Two years ago, I made a solo trip from Moccasin Lake to Grave Lake (through the res) and did some of your planned but abandoned route. I didn't make it to Roberts Lake. I plan to send you an e-mail to share more details. Thank you.

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[Bishop_Bob]

As much as I enjoy the guidebook, I hereby offer my copy of WD’s book for the bargain price of $4495. That’s a savings of $500!

[ironmike]

Or a longer hike in from Dickinson Park, Bears Ears Trail to Grave Lake, down to Onion Meadow, and a trail that has been recently worked on up over Tepee Pass.

Negative on the trail work. I backpacked thru that area back in August (Grave/Onion/Tepee/Trail/Sonnicant/Kagavah) on the res as part of a larger loop. There was NO sign of trail maintenance, in fact quite the opposite in terms of infinite blowdowns and washouts. If not for the occasional duck and assistance from GPS, that 20 mile stretch might have taken several days.

[Wandering Daisy]

To clarify, on the Reservation, a trail being "worked on" is not the level of work that a regular USFS trail crew would do. The Teepee Pass trail work was done by a volunteer youth group, primarily setting cairns to mark the old trail. I walked it in August 2020 and pretty much found the trail. It is faint or missing in a few places and you have to scout to find it again. Finding the start is the key. It had a large cone cairn. Having walked it a few years earlier, I knew where it started. It is like a marked game trail. The trail down from Grave Lake to Onion Meadow was a very distinct horse-worthy trail in 2020. Once up to a bench with lakes below Tepee Pass, the trail is gone, but there is no need for a trail because the off-trail route to Tepee Pass is easy. There actually are several variations. The cairns (large rock cones) can be found in a few places. On the way down to Trail Lake a distinct trail can be found. It did have a few wash-outs in 2020.

There is a trail up Grave Creek from Grave Lake that splits into two other off-trail routes that are above timber and go over a pass to Roberts Lake. These routes involve some difficult talus but are above timber in the alpine environment and would not have been impacted by a blow down if there was one.

The trail work I was referring to was just the section from Onion Meadow to Trail Lake. The Twenty Lakes Trail is gone, and has been for decades.

There was a big blow down on the west side (Bridger NF) in the fall of 2020. The Bears Ears Trail (USFS) was fine last year. I did not try to go down to Onion Meadow; that trail is a Reservation trail. I had not heard that the blow down impacted the east side, but that is a possibility. The people to contact would be Allen Brothers Outfitters, or the USFish&Wildlife office in Lander Wyo.

[lunkerking]

Thanks for all the info Wandering Daisy...I think my friend Shoe on this board sent you an email to your address on your book site, just want to make sure you got it! We are still trying to pull together trip info for this summer. Thanks!

[Wandering Daisy]

Yes, I received it but will answer it when I have a bit more time.

[lunkerking]

Thank you so much. No rush. Appreciate your time!