TR Southern Winds 9-8-22 to 9-15-22
Posted: Tue Sep 27, 2022 5:20 pm
My friends Mike and Gary and I made a trip to the winds. ( 3 66 year olds)
The plan was 12 days. The actual was 8 days.
The reason for the delta? rain, rain, and more rain...and more projected rain.
Scenery was great as expected ( when we could see the mountains).
Fishing was ...not too much and and not very good...with one exception.
This was my 6th annual trip to the winds in 8 years. I dont do any through hikes..just try to see an area more intimately. ( combination of strategy and old age). But now I have touched a good portion of the range. Enough to know what I dont know.
We started out at Fiddlers Lake, almost at the extreme southern end of the range.
The first lake we arrived at was Atlantic Lake. We had enough energy to keep going up to Windy Lake where we camped for the first night. Pretty good for us with heavy (12 day ) packs
We were monitoring the weather closely before we left. We are no masochists. I say sometimes that the Winds in September are little like the Sierras in October. On my first trip, also in September to Titcomb Basin, Mike and I were snowed in. We were prepared and it really wasn't that bad.
But on this trip, if it was going to be bad weather , we would have cancelled or postponed. We know from the forecast there would be some rain, but it didnt appear to be a major front..so we decided it was a go. I wish we would have postponed.
We had an interesting time as the weather changed. It was previouslyvery hot. It was getting to be highs of 75 degrees and lows in the 50's at 10500 feet right before we left. But it got colder the first night.
And the fog rolled in.
The next day we did a very short hike up to Saddlebag Lake.
The fog was so thick we could only see a few feet in front of us. We heard some other people but did not see them.
Here was Saddlebag and camp. It was very cold that night..perhaps 20. But all was well.
We spent a day here..resting and fishing.
The next day ( day 4) we decided to go cross country to Stough Creek Lakes. We had researched several options.
One was to decide to Windy Lake and up onto the plateau separating the basins. This is described in WD's book.
But we decided to try a shorter route. We hiked up to Upper Saddlebag Lake, and then turned 90 degrees and climbed to a summit..not a pass, but
an entry point to the plateau.
The weather was perfect.. ( thank goodness..the most difficult day)
We woke and watched the full moon over the horizon.
The same view, just after sunrise. A view of Upper Saddlebag.
The climb was mostly easy.. class 2. Perhaps there was one very short class 3 segment that could have been circumvented.
The plan was 12 days. The actual was 8 days.
The reason for the delta? rain, rain, and more rain...and more projected rain.
Scenery was great as expected ( when we could see the mountains).
Fishing was ...not too much and and not very good...with one exception.
This was my 6th annual trip to the winds in 8 years. I dont do any through hikes..just try to see an area more intimately. ( combination of strategy and old age). But now I have touched a good portion of the range. Enough to know what I dont know.
We started out at Fiddlers Lake, almost at the extreme southern end of the range.
The first lake we arrived at was Atlantic Lake. We had enough energy to keep going up to Windy Lake where we camped for the first night. Pretty good for us with heavy (12 day ) packs
We were monitoring the weather closely before we left. We are no masochists. I say sometimes that the Winds in September are little like the Sierras in October. On my first trip, also in September to Titcomb Basin, Mike and I were snowed in. We were prepared and it really wasn't that bad.
But on this trip, if it was going to be bad weather , we would have cancelled or postponed. We know from the forecast there would be some rain, but it didnt appear to be a major front..so we decided it was a go. I wish we would have postponed.
We had an interesting time as the weather changed. It was previouslyvery hot. It was getting to be highs of 75 degrees and lows in the 50's at 10500 feet right before we left. But it got colder the first night.
And the fog rolled in.
The next day we did a very short hike up to Saddlebag Lake.
The fog was so thick we could only see a few feet in front of us. We heard some other people but did not see them.
Here was Saddlebag and camp. It was very cold that night..perhaps 20. But all was well.
We spent a day here..resting and fishing.
The next day ( day 4) we decided to go cross country to Stough Creek Lakes. We had researched several options.
One was to decide to Windy Lake and up onto the plateau separating the basins. This is described in WD's book.
But we decided to try a shorter route. We hiked up to Upper Saddlebag Lake, and then turned 90 degrees and climbed to a summit..not a pass, but
an entry point to the plateau.
The weather was perfect.. ( thank goodness..the most difficult day)
We woke and watched the full moon over the horizon.
The same view, just after sunrise. A view of Upper Saddlebag.
The climb was mostly easy.. class 2. Perhaps there was one very short class 3 segment that could have been circumvented.