We awoke to a glorious early sunrise as the sun climbed it's way over the continental divide. It hit the tent nearly 3 hours earlier than the day before. The benefits of being on a ridge instead of in a deep valley on a crisp fall morning. Morning sun on camp. Tent is middle frame. As soon as we arrived it seemed it was already time to leave. You can only carry so much food,…
The day finally came. We were in the Winds. It was time to top off the packs and head up the trail for four days. Luckily it was sunny and we found just a few cars at the trailhead. Both good signs. We headed out of New Fork Lakes trailhead, chosen due to the strong windstorm that blocked a lot of trails with freshly downed trees throughout the Wind River Range on Labor Day. New Fork canyon was reported as one of the few trails without trees blocking the trails. Although we read at least one report that this trail is rarely used due to the dull scenery, and the slog up the canyon to get to good views, we found the view up the canyon pretty enticing.
Maybe when you gauge it against other trails in the range it’s a bit dull, but I’m just going to say here, don’t believe everything you read on the internet.
The Wind River Mountains. The Winds. Have you seen them from a distance? Have you ever wanted to hike into their depths? Those craggy peaks hold a lot of mystery from the little they give up from a long distance. We had to go. So we drove across Oregon, Idaho and part of Wyoming. We arrived to snow squalls in September, and so we held off on the edge waiting to go in.
