WR 2022- Trip 3 West side loop from Elkhart TH
Posted: Tue Sep 06, 2022 9:39 am
Wind Rivers 2022 (7/14/22 to 8/26/22)
Trip 3: Titcomb-Pole Creek Loop from Elkhart TH (8/6-8/14, 2022)
50 miles, 8 days
I observed black clouds over the mountains the days I spent in Lander and knew the forecast was for this pattern to continue a few more days. Nevertheless, I left Lander early to do two loops on the west side. I had not expected the storm on the 6th to be so severe. That was just the start of a trip seemingly jinxed from the get go. Seems like at least one trip every season has one somewhat “bad” outcome. First, I had hoped that a friend would join me to do the planned trip which included a few difficult passes over to the east side that I hesitated to do alone. Second, the big storm hit hard. And then I fell into a creek and killed my watch and temporarily my camera, which thankfully began to work after five days of drying out. Thus, photos for the last five days are from previous trips.
As in the first two trips, I kept my watch on PDT which is the same as MST- the actual match to “sun time”. When I drown my watch and camera on Day 4, tracking of time became very inconsistent and seldom noted since I only had my In-Reach, which was on MDT.
Day 1. Elkhart TH to Hobbs Lake
6.4 miles, 5.6 hours (much under trees in pouring rain), 1280 elevation gain
I reached Elkhart TH about 9:30. I would evaluate conditions and could camp early at Miller Lake but hoped to at least get to Eklund Lake so I could get all the way into Titcomb Basin on the second day. All went fine until I reached Photographers Point at about 11:30 except that backpackers coming out were wet since it was raining farther in. Only a few steps on the trail rain started. Not typical light showers- but immediate downpour with occasional letups. I hid under trees and then ran down the trail until another deluge happened. Just before reaching Eklund Lake trail junction, the tree cover was no longer effective. A little group of us ended up in flood conditions. The trail turned to a river and all potential flat campsites near the trail were flooded, so we kept walking to stay warm.
After three and half hours of getting soaked we finally came to a hill where there were somewhat drained campsites. I was soaked but contents of my pack stayed dry in waterproof stuff sacks. I had difficulty setting up my tent (not free standing) because the stakes just popped out of the saturated sandy soil. Then I shivered so hard that my hands hardly worked. It was getting to be a dire situation. Fortunately, I managed and jumped in the tent, put on my only dry clothes and got inside my sleeping bag, shivering until I finally warmed up. This was probably the closest to hypothermia that I have ever been.
In about an hour the rain stopped. I crawled out and wrung out my hiking clothes; could not have been wetter if I had jumped into a lake. Humidity was so high that as I hung the clothing on trees, they again became soaked. I gave up and threw them in a heap under the tent fly. A kind fellow from the Sierra Club group nearby got water for me. With few dry clothing items, I hesitated to walk through the high grass to the lake shore. Everyone was soaked, regardless of their raingear. The only ones that fared better were a few with ponchos that covered the neck-to-pack gap. For the rest of us, rain had run down our backs, soaking both raincoats and our packs. A few ended up with wet sleeping bags. We all cheered each other up and soon went in our tents when another round of rain started just before dark.
Day 2. Hobbs Lake to Titcomb Lake 10548
7.0 miles, 5.3 hours plus 3 hours drying out, 1730 elevation gain
The morning dawned with thick fog over the lake. Soon the sun shone, thank goodness. Our little camp area looked like a laundry with everyone’s gear hanging out to dry. Fast-drying gear is a miracle! I managed to dry everything and leave at 10AM. My pack cover that I hung on a tree branch overnight was gone. I searched but did not find it. Well, it was old and leaked anyway and I had brought a garbage bag to put inside my pack.
In the conditions and “time warp” during the storm, I was convinced that we had reached Seneca Lake, not Hobbs Lake. I felt disoriented as the scene in front of me was not quite as expected. From Elklund junction to Hobbs Lake you go through similar up-and-down/ forest and meadow terrain as from Hobbs Lake to Seneca Lake, but of a smaller scale. Once I came to Seneca Lake, expecting it to be Island Lake, with the trail on the wrong side of the lake, I realized my error and a hiker I met confirmed that I was indeed, at Seneca Lake. The terrain then “clicked” in my mind. It is wonderful to again feel properly oriented. It however, meant that my expected short day would be a long day.
The popular trail was quite crowded, given the storm. At Island Lake the trail around the lake was still flooded near the south inlet, but on a whole this well-maintained trail held up very well in the storm and quickly drained. With the soaked vegetation and abundant side drainages to cross, my feet got soaked. Continuing to the Titcomb-Indian Pass trail junction, it was evident that the storm did not drive out many as tents occupied most campsites.
The plan was to camp up in the less crowded Indian Basin. The creek to cross was running high and the upper crossing for the Indian Basin Trail was more than I liked, so I thought I would just stay on the south side. Starting out with a faint use-trail, the route ended poorly so I retreated back to down, found a feasible crossing, and instead went up to Titcomb Lake 10548. The lake has numerous long shallow arms on the south end where I found a nice campsite up on a small hill between the outlet stream and an arm of the lake. This windier location should have fewer mosquitoes than all the swampy meadows near the shore. For the most part, this worked except at dinner time when the wind seems to immediately die down when I lit the stove.
I managed a bug-free bath near the outlet and took photos while wandering among the wildflowers down on the peninsula below my campsite. Later I noticed another person down near the lake farther north but never saw them after my fist sighting. I fished a bit with no luck; Titcomb Basin lakes have golden trout. Other fishermen I met on the way in also had no luck.
Trip 3: Titcomb-Pole Creek Loop from Elkhart TH (8/6-8/14, 2022)
50 miles, 8 days
I observed black clouds over the mountains the days I spent in Lander and knew the forecast was for this pattern to continue a few more days. Nevertheless, I left Lander early to do two loops on the west side. I had not expected the storm on the 6th to be so severe. That was just the start of a trip seemingly jinxed from the get go. Seems like at least one trip every season has one somewhat “bad” outcome. First, I had hoped that a friend would join me to do the planned trip which included a few difficult passes over to the east side that I hesitated to do alone. Second, the big storm hit hard. And then I fell into a creek and killed my watch and temporarily my camera, which thankfully began to work after five days of drying out. Thus, photos for the last five days are from previous trips.
As in the first two trips, I kept my watch on PDT which is the same as MST- the actual match to “sun time”. When I drown my watch and camera on Day 4, tracking of time became very inconsistent and seldom noted since I only had my In-Reach, which was on MDT.
Day 1. Elkhart TH to Hobbs Lake
6.4 miles, 5.6 hours (much under trees in pouring rain), 1280 elevation gain
I reached Elkhart TH about 9:30. I would evaluate conditions and could camp early at Miller Lake but hoped to at least get to Eklund Lake so I could get all the way into Titcomb Basin on the second day. All went fine until I reached Photographers Point at about 11:30 except that backpackers coming out were wet since it was raining farther in. Only a few steps on the trail rain started. Not typical light showers- but immediate downpour with occasional letups. I hid under trees and then ran down the trail until another deluge happened. Just before reaching Eklund Lake trail junction, the tree cover was no longer effective. A little group of us ended up in flood conditions. The trail turned to a river and all potential flat campsites near the trail were flooded, so we kept walking to stay warm.
After three and half hours of getting soaked we finally came to a hill where there were somewhat drained campsites. I was soaked but contents of my pack stayed dry in waterproof stuff sacks. I had difficulty setting up my tent (not free standing) because the stakes just popped out of the saturated sandy soil. Then I shivered so hard that my hands hardly worked. It was getting to be a dire situation. Fortunately, I managed and jumped in the tent, put on my only dry clothes and got inside my sleeping bag, shivering until I finally warmed up. This was probably the closest to hypothermia that I have ever been.
In about an hour the rain stopped. I crawled out and wrung out my hiking clothes; could not have been wetter if I had jumped into a lake. Humidity was so high that as I hung the clothing on trees, they again became soaked. I gave up and threw them in a heap under the tent fly. A kind fellow from the Sierra Club group nearby got water for me. With few dry clothing items, I hesitated to walk through the high grass to the lake shore. Everyone was soaked, regardless of their raingear. The only ones that fared better were a few with ponchos that covered the neck-to-pack gap. For the rest of us, rain had run down our backs, soaking both raincoats and our packs. A few ended up with wet sleeping bags. We all cheered each other up and soon went in our tents when another round of rain started just before dark.
Day 2. Hobbs Lake to Titcomb Lake 10548
7.0 miles, 5.3 hours plus 3 hours drying out, 1730 elevation gain
The morning dawned with thick fog over the lake. Soon the sun shone, thank goodness. Our little camp area looked like a laundry with everyone’s gear hanging out to dry. Fast-drying gear is a miracle! I managed to dry everything and leave at 10AM. My pack cover that I hung on a tree branch overnight was gone. I searched but did not find it. Well, it was old and leaked anyway and I had brought a garbage bag to put inside my pack.
In the conditions and “time warp” during the storm, I was convinced that we had reached Seneca Lake, not Hobbs Lake. I felt disoriented as the scene in front of me was not quite as expected. From Elklund junction to Hobbs Lake you go through similar up-and-down/ forest and meadow terrain as from Hobbs Lake to Seneca Lake, but of a smaller scale. Once I came to Seneca Lake, expecting it to be Island Lake, with the trail on the wrong side of the lake, I realized my error and a hiker I met confirmed that I was indeed, at Seneca Lake. The terrain then “clicked” in my mind. It is wonderful to again feel properly oriented. It however, meant that my expected short day would be a long day.
The popular trail was quite crowded, given the storm. At Island Lake the trail around the lake was still flooded near the south inlet, but on a whole this well-maintained trail held up very well in the storm and quickly drained. With the soaked vegetation and abundant side drainages to cross, my feet got soaked. Continuing to the Titcomb-Indian Pass trail junction, it was evident that the storm did not drive out many as tents occupied most campsites.
The plan was to camp up in the less crowded Indian Basin. The creek to cross was running high and the upper crossing for the Indian Basin Trail was more than I liked, so I thought I would just stay on the south side. Starting out with a faint use-trail, the route ended poorly so I retreated back to down, found a feasible crossing, and instead went up to Titcomb Lake 10548. The lake has numerous long shallow arms on the south end where I found a nice campsite up on a small hill between the outlet stream and an arm of the lake. This windier location should have fewer mosquitoes than all the swampy meadows near the shore. For the most part, this worked except at dinner time when the wind seems to immediately die down when I lit the stove.
I managed a bug-free bath near the outlet and took photos while wandering among the wildflowers down on the peninsula below my campsite. Later I noticed another person down near the lake farther north but never saw them after my fist sighting. I fished a bit with no luck; Titcomb Basin lakes have golden trout. Other fishermen I met on the way in also had no luck.