Wind-O-Roma Trip Report

“I got up at 4:30 Friday morning and showered, threw my stuff in the car and drove to my parents house. Parked my car there and my dad drove me to the airport. Got on the plane and had a nice, uneventful flight out to SLC, I slept most of the way. Awoke just in time to watch the Wasatch Front go by as we came down the valley into SLC, great show. Met Sirpete by the baggage claim. We got my bags then decided to pick up the rental car a little early, we had to wait for Bigpoppa anyway. We got the car (Ford Explorer) after much hassle with my credit card (no reason for the hassle apparently) We headed into town for a quick trip to A&W where I got some lunch. We went back to the airport and picked up Bigpoppa, then headed for Pinedale. I put my foot on the floor and we made it to Pinedale in an amazing (if I do say so myself) three and a half hours. Met Landscaper and Wannabp at a city park. We hit the Great Outdoor Shop where the staff hooked Bigpoppa and myself up with the appropriate flies. Then headed to the Cafe on Pine (expensive but good) for dinner. Then headed up to Elkhart park where we dropped off Landscaper and Wannabp's car and piled into the Explorer. We headed up to New Fork Lake expecting to meet up with Gremlin. We searched all over but Gremlin was nowhere to be found (he was apparently at Fremont lake which is about four thousand six hundred and forty seven miles from the trailhead, well maybe that's a slight exaggeration). We left messages in every place we could think of for Gremlin and the OM group to let them know of our plans, then grabbed a camping spot at the narrows campground right next to the trailhead on New Fork Lake.”

“uh, I'm guessin theres more to come?

how'd the slides turn out?”

“Got up and packed our packs. I discovered that my hat was missing (can't go backpacking without a hat). Everyone agreed that the rest would take off while I went back to town and got a new hat. I took off for Pinedale and stopped at the Great Outdoor Shop where I secured new head protection. I drove back to the campground and everyone was still there, apparently Landscaper's trekking poles were still in the car. We drove up to the trail head, Everyone else was pretty much ready so they took off while I packed up. While packing I found my hat stuffed under the backseat. We left messages for those following us in the trailhead register. I took off about 45 minutes behind Sirpete, Bigpoppa, Wannabp, and Landscaper. There were a lot of cows down at the head of New Fork Lake and when they mooed it echoed down the canyon. Other than the mooing it was a beatiful hike, great weather, great trail, great views. I started getting a hotspot and took a quick break to put on some moleskin but I was already too late, I had a blister, I fixed it up and moved on. Caught up with the group at the first crossing of the New Fork River. We hung out on a large rock and watched and took pictures of some climbers on a rock wall above us in the canyon. We then headed off for New Fork Park. Made a second crossing of the river, then entered the park and met up with Garfum and his viscious dog, which must have been hungry because he tried to eat several of us. Had a pleasant conversation with Garfum who was camped with his family on the other side of the river. We headed up the park about a mile or so and set up camp in a beautiful meadow. Later in the evening I went to set up my bear hang, I threw the rope over a branch about 25 feet high, but forgot to put my foot on the end of the rope. It all went up the tree. Damn, bastards. I ended up going up the hill and finding a large dead tree and dragging down the hill. I leaned the dead tree up and dislodged the rope, then rehung. Took many pictures as the sunset in the canyon. We had a small fire, then went to bed. It was very cold that night.”

“I forgot to mention that Trekkngirl showed up at camp the first night and informed us that the rest of the OM group (Trekkngirl, OM, Stovestomper, Radagast and wife) were camped down by Garfum and family. I woke up early, made breakfast and wandered down along the river. I saw a large bull moose making his way down the river, unfortuneatly I didn't have my camera with me and the light was so low (the sun had not made its way into the canyon) that I probably wouldn't have gotten a good shot anyway (later found out that OM and co. saw the same moose that morning). We packed up and this time I had more trouble getting the bearbag down. We started hiking just as the sun moved into the canyon. The temp change was dramatic, it must have been instantly 20 degrees warmer (probably more) as soon as the sun hit. We made the long climb up toward Lozier Lakes through many, many switchbacks. But the trail was incredible. At first at the end of each switchback there were incredible views of New Fork Canyon where we had spent the last night. Later the trail climbed along a river coming down cascades from the basin above. By this time I was well ahead of everyone else and kept turning back to wonder if I'd made a wrong turn, but everytime I checked my position I was sure I was going the right way. Eventually the trail lead up into a large alpine bowl filled with wildflowers, I stopped several times to get pictures and too check if anyone was coming up behind me. I then climbed to a divide above the bowl and saw the first Lozier lake (Kenny lake?) I took several picks then wandered down to the lake. I set up on a large rock outcrop and broke out my fly rod. I started catching fish on the first cast. The first I caught (rainbow trout) was the largest I would catch (I shoulda cooked it right then and there, but I let'em go). Soon Bigpoppa showed up. He told me that Sirpete was back up at the divide and had decided to bag a small peak. Bigpoppa broke out his rod and we spent the afternoon fishing. I caught many more rainbows but all too small to keep for dinner (Kudos to the guys at the GOS in Pinedale they definitely hooked us up with the right flies). Eventually Landscaper and Wannabp showed up. We all lounged around the lakeshore for awhile. Sirpete came by and said he was headed off to set up camp. I assumed that he would set up on the bench above the East end of the lake. Later we all decided to go find campsites. Landscaper had found some sites with a firering on the bench. We went and set up in that area but could not find Sirpete. Bigpoppa set out to find him and did at the next lake to the east a few hundred feet below. Sirpete was a good sport and hauled his stuff back up to the bench where we were camped. The OM group showed up about this time and set up camp in the same area. I fished a little more but couldn't come up with anything suitable for dinner, so I had the standard freeze-dried meal. Bigpoppa did however get to have trout for dinner. The mosquitoes were atrocious at the lake (as they had been at New Fork Park). We had a nice campfire again, I headed to bed fairly late and slept well, we were about 2000 feet higher than the park, but the temp was much warmer that night.”

“Got up packed and headed off. Met a couple of local guys along the trail who were headed in rougly the same direction of the group, they'd been hiking the Winds for 20 years and had hardly ever been to the same place twice (It's a huge range). Made our way down to the second Lozier lake, then made the short, semi-steep climb up to the pass seperating Lozier lakes form Clark lake. The view at the pass was stupendous. You could see the peaks that form the backbone of the continental divide towering thousands of feet above the parks below (this included Gannett Peak, tallest in Wyoming, 13,804 ft.) Took many pictures, then Bigpoppa and I head offtrail toward Thompson Lake (the rest of the group was going down the trail and heading for Peak Lake). We headed straight south from the pass climbing up to a series of gullies that would lead us over to Thompson. The terrain was a bit rougher than we thought it would be from looking at the map. We headed up to a divide from which we could see Thompson. Getting to the lake from here required a descent of several hundred feet. We debated whether we should head down or go back to the trail and catch up with the group. We decided to head down. On the way I heard Bigpoppa call up to me that he had lost Landscapers radio (Which we were carrying to keep in touch with the rest of the group) I started searching for it, Bigpoppa started looking as he made his way back up to where I was. On the way he stopped to catch his breath, he looked down for a moment and there between two rocks was the radio. We continued down to the lake, Bigpoppa did some fishing but the wind was blowing good and nothing was biting. We ate some lunch, then decided to carry on and see what we could see. We climbed up several gullies, making our way southeast, this required much mapreading and routefinding, but we managed to find our way without too many dead-ends. The views were spectacular and it was a great feeling that very few people ever go this far off trail, we didn't see another soul the whole time we we're in that area. Eventually we made our way back out to the Doubletop Mountain trail at No Name Lakes. We then hiked over to the Highline trail and set up camp at Summit Lake. Summit is supposed to be very popular, but we saw noone else while we were there. There were, however, billions of mosquitoes who attacked furiously. Bigpoppa tried out some more fishing, we had a nice fire and then went to bed.”

“We got up, ate breakfast, shooed mosquitoes, packed up and set off South down the highline trail. The trail from here involved climbing up to a bench, then down to a lake, then up to the next bench. At one point I went the wrong way up a use-trail and we climbed a couple hundred feet for nothin' (oh well, more exercise). We made our way to Elbow lake and took a lunch break. Then we continued to the trail over Shannon Pass. We couldn't find the actual trail at first but the way up to the pass was obvious. As we approached the pass the wind howled, I had to stop and put on my rain jacket, the sun was warm but the wind cooled you off in a hurry. At the top of the pass we could see Peak lake and its astounding surrounding, mountains tower above the lake in all directions, including the diamond shape Stroud Peak which stood directly above us to the East of the pass. We got in touch with Wannabp, Landscaper, Trekkngirl, and Sirpete on the radio. They had arrived at the lake on Day 3 and were on a dayhike to check out knapsack col. Bigpoppa and I headed down the pass and could see the other groups tents on the South side of the lake. Soon after we arrived at the campsite, OM, Stovestomper, Radagast and wife showed up. They had camped at Trail Creek Park, and had just come up to the lake over Cube Rock Pass. I tried taking a nap in my tent, but it really heated up in the hot sun. Later the group returned from their dayhike. Before they got back to camp they met the local guys whom bigpoppa and I had met at the pass above Clark lake. We had a nice conversation with them, then we talked about knapsack col. The group that had hiked toward there said that the area was astoundingly beautiful and included a huge waterfall which provided the roar that we could hear from camp. Sirpete pointed to the rockfall along the side of Shannon pass (about 750 ft. high) and said that the climb up knapsack col was similiar but about three times as high. I decided that I didn't have enough chocolate left to make it up such a big climb. Bigpoppa still wanted to go but the rest of us decided to go over Shannon pass the next day and proceed to Island lake. Bigpoppa decided to go along with that. We had a pleasant evening which included incredible alpenglow on the peaks surrounding the lake. I took many, many pictures. The mosquitoes weren't that bad and it was pretty warm that night.”

“We were kidding about turning back before Knapsack Col. We really went over it and down onto Titcomb Basin, up the west side of the continental divide and glissaded down some glaciers, then came back for lunch. JKing.

We probably could have done it if we had started earlier, if I hiked uphill faster and took fewer pictures along the way, and if we had paid more attention to the map and less to the terrain. On the map, the north side of the drainage looked like the way to go. On the ground, we kept seeing cairns and routes that worked so we followed them. We turned back because time was running out, although we made it down a whole lot faster than it took us to go up. The col was looming above us like a big boulder field, the wind was howling, and the appeal of success paled beside the appeal of returning to camp -- especially after a relaxing lunch sheltered from the wind.”

“Thanks for the write-up, Bison. One day I'll get to spend some time in the Winds...”

“what an awesome trip, wish i coulda gone.

(man, I hate saying that)”

“I'll try and post some photos tonight or Monday.
Been feeling soooooooooooooo lazy after this trip.”

“Awesome! I'm so glad someone got a good picture of the boulder field. Radagast looks so tiny amidst all those rocks. Is Jennifer behind him and to his right?

That was quite a trek, huh?”

“GIVE ME PHOTOS OF TITCOMB BASIN, OR GIVE ME DEATH!”

“LOL, Jennifer is down there somewhere in the boulders. I was yelling to them how to get up the where om and were.

Follow the carnes! Follow the carnes!

That was one of the more interesting sections of trail.”

“Dang, I must be tired.
Can't type any words that make sense. ;-)

Buck - Sorry dude, I guess it's death for you. The om group didn't go into the Titcomb Basin.”

“Buck, guess you'll have to make a trip up to WY--unless you're just feeling suicidal and using us as an excuse. If you go to the Wind Rivers, you'll want to live forever.

Landscaper, SirPete, Trekkngirl, and I did a day hike almost to Knapsack Col. First, we had to traverse a steep boulder field going down into Peak Lake. Probably wasn't a really big deal for the guys, and maybe for Trekkngirl, but it scared me. We stayed high going--I hated it, too much on the line if you fall. We stayed low coming back. I liked it better until the rocks gave way under Trekkngirl's feet and there was all that crashing noise, and then me screaming. But that girl can scramble, fast. (Scramblingfastgirl...if she ever wants a new name....)

We decided it would be better to go back when we had time to spend in Titcomb rather than try to squeeze it in as a day hike on our way out. I would love to go back again. I would like to do one of the trails that crosses over the continental divide. The Wind Rivers are up there with the Sierras. Really. Shannon Pass was exquisite. Did we mention that it didn't rain on us at all? We attribute that to Bigpoppa's trip planning expertise, and possibly to Om oooommmmming along the trail as well.”

“i second bucks demand - post those photos!!!”

“Cool photos. Thanks.”

“I'm working on mine. For some reason, the trees are black and the sky is a nice deep blue. Pretty disappointing. Too much polarizing filter? Amateur photographer? Yeah. There are several okay ones. I'm going to ask my daughter to help me get them online today or tomorrow.”

“mee too.....just got the scanner up and running, i do a chore, then scan a photo and upload...will probably take me all weekend...

durn....what a grand trip this was..every step of the way...i am still groovin on the afterglows ......
looking at the pics i noticed that most of the peak ecstatic orgasmic moments/views i had....i was experiencing the bliss and not photographing....heh...oh well..i did manage to get some nice photos anyway.”

“oh ya....buck, before you off yourself.....i think snownymph has some pics of titcomb basin on her webshots winds trip of 2002 as well as some of the places we traveled”

“I will be able to post photos on Monday night. I think one of the most wonderful parts was watching the meteor shower and getting a lunar ecilpse to boot!”

“Nice TR Bison, and sweet pics SS! That trip sounded like a BLAST! One question, did sirpete's hair survive the skeeter attack?”

“Sirpete's hair survived the mosquitos, but it was standing on end when I woke him up at 3:30 am for the eclipse and meteor shower, that story to come when I have time to continue the trip report.”

“ya know I hadn't even thought of it till now but the best part about this trip hands down had to be the fact that Buddha bear didn't go!!”

“I'm looking forward to your photos SirPete. I am having technical difficulties.”

“I miss you too pete.”

“sirpete's hair was safe, under his aunt jemima styled do-rag.”

“Sounds like you had a good trip. I'll be waiting to see some more pics.

Sorry I couldn't make it down for this one”

“Did you see any stills out there raddy?”

“not until i made one.

it's a beaut.”

“ziplock and tyvek still? BRILLIANT!”

“don't forget the pika poo.”

“This fell way down so I brought it back up so you guys don't forget to put on the pictures links. I had to print the trip report and will read it on the road. Sounds like I'll enjoy it though. Welcome back all.”

“st this ungodly hour, after doing homework from work and finishing uploading and captioning my photos of this way cool trip.......am posting the link to a webshots album of windoroaming.

I tried to caption the photos so that they would incorporate the trip report, the details....ahh...ya had to be there ...i loved it. peak lake was the peak place...the cowboy was also a peak experience....always fun to meet new tt'ers ...it was all good...

aftermath...the crew that shared a vehicle with me...brave souls...were patient as the events before and after the backpacking trip "unfolded".... before, we went to jackson and thru yellowstone for some thermal field viewing and sniffing and some nice vistas of the tetons...i have some photos next to the winds album on webshots if you care to catch a glimpse ..

after the hike...we headed into pinedale for a hot shower, a feast of really good food at Stedmans (i think)and Then we headed to the Cowboy bar, where we shot pool, drank lots of liquor, there was a fantastic local band named Boni-jello that played music we all could sing along with and trekkngirl and i got asked to dance ...not by any cowboys, but some drunk mechanic with a baseball cap and no boots...hah..i guess we stuck out, not wearing boots or tight jeans and stuff.....it was fun anyways. we were intoxicated enough to get up and dance with ourselves when they played CCR's green river...since we were just at green river.

we all commented on how loose our clothes were after the hike, but by the time we hit pinedale and slc and city food...we were all filled out again boarding the plane.
i forgot to take out a small pocket knife i had in my toiletries pouch at check in...i was caught and forced to surrender the weapon...lol...it was a cheapie.that is the closest brush with the law i have had since the seventies and the hippie days.....i forgot it was in there...honest.

i love the wind river range...bigpoppa chose a great route and we were blessed with perfect weather and lots of celestial activity.
oh yeah , the link...you have to cut and paste...i am falling asleep
om shanti om
enjoy~~
http://community.webshots.com/album/176384697fzLsLy”

“ps..for some reason, right now .if you view the album as a slideshow, the trip report captions and my edits do not appear, so if you want trip details and descriptions, ya have to scroll thru them...if ya dont care...slideshow is cool too.”

“Link the om's pictures

Thank you for taking the time to post these toni! I even look like a hiker in a few of them. I need to get off my butt and post a few more myself.

My Fav Picture.
Ha ha, after the visit to the Cowboy Bar, Trekkngirl and om steered me back to the room, one on each side, much like this picture, holding me up. Rad & Jenn tolerantly led all us 'very happy' folks ahead. I'm sure they were thinking "I hope no one thinks we are with THEM". ;-)”

“great pics Om, especially the sunrise on the moon. Awesome.”

“great pic's thanks a lot”

“Did Bison ever post his pics?”

“ss,

actually, we followed you... prodding y'all like cattle. (there wasn't any of THAT kind of prodding!)

yee-haw!”

“ya...what buck said....where are everyone elses pics?...how bout the big water slide?

SS, out of ALL the beauty we saw..THAT is your favorite picture?? LOL

sirpete....the kids at work were taking a look at the pics and the one of you and your lovely scarf with bigpoppa was not loading....you and the world simply must see it...i reloaded it last night and seems to be working ok”

“Did Bison ever post his pics?"
Buck
06:48:32 PM
08/25/04

My pics are crap, I don't have but a couple that I would even bother to get scanned.”

“om - the beauty is all in my friends....

and stinky happy backpackers finishing a great trip. :-)”

“I guess not!


Awesome!! Pictures and trip!!”

“Hey Bison, what went wrong with the photos? If they suck, just blame the lab, that's what I do. Did you shoot some Velvia? Did you use a tripod? Did you bracket? Let's talk, man.”

“Om, I love your Peak Lake picture. That's my favorite. SS must be a people man.

Bison, it's awful, isn't it? Some of mine I like. But some just don't look like I what I thought I saw. Practice, practice, practice. And talk to Buck. And go back and look at them when the trip has dimmed a little and you aren't comparing the real beauty to the photo.

I will get my pictures on. Some day. The ones I like.”

“"Did you shoot some Velvia? Did you use a tripod? Did you bracket? Let's talk, man."

Buck
11:15:01 AM
08/26/04

All of the above, but I think I was just inexperienced with the polarizer, it did give me some much better shots, but they're vignetted. My Sunset/Alpenglow shots were all junk too. I bracketed, I tried with filters, without filters, on various settings and various exposures, I made notes of everything, but not a one came out properly exposed, probably because I know nothing about metering and couldn't get the proper exposure with a brighter background and darker foreground. I meant to bring along the manual for the camera but I forgot it. At least I have some ideas about what went wrong so I can edumicate myself in those areas.”

“Hey Bison, shoot. Well, chalk it up to experience, that's how we learn, especially if you took notes. Shooting digital is much more forgiving, or negative film. Slides are tough, especially Velvia 50 which has very narrow exposure lattitude. Did you shoot in full manual mode or something? I would think that even in auto mode you should've had some that came out pretty sweet. I tend to use either aperture priority mode or shutter priority mode a lot and then bracket by opening up each shot a half a stop or so. That gives me a series of like three shots of the same scene and I can pick the one that nailed the exposure properly. With Velvia the slightest variation can make or break a shot. Next time you're out here we'll definitely hook up and we'll compare notes. Also, are you being humble? Your shots may be fine but you're extra critical? If you wanna post some, or e-mail them if you'd like, and maybe I can help with some suggestions? Not that I'm a great photographer, but I've made so many mistakes myself that I can recognize them pretty easily by now, ha ha!”

“As soon as I get a chance I'll get the ones that I think are alright scanned and post some. Looking forward to your comments on them.”