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The original was posted on /r/Ultralight by /u/laurk on 2024-08-28 00:18:58+00:00.

What/Where/Who: 

Wind River High Route Loop

NOBO along the CDT to Peak Lake, then up Knapsack Col and along Alan’s High Route back to Big Sandy. 

Blue u/milesformoments and Sprinkles (since we are back on a portion of a long trail 🙂)

Photos: 

Please go follow @milesformoments on instagram for his adventure photography. Here’s what we got so far: 

I have a Fuji X-T3 w/ 27mm pancake. Blue had a Canon R5 with a 24-105 and 70-200 F4…  

When: 

Aug. 17 - 23, (6.5 days)

Distance: 

125mi from the Garmin watch, 107mi on Gaia maps. All mileage and vert gain will be based on the Garmin tracking on our trip. Mileage and elevation gain on Gaia or Caltopo will be less and something to really factor in especially around the Alpine Lakes area. 

Conditions: 

Choice! Mid 60s, Low 40s. Rain in the late afternoon for the first few days. Clear weather while on the high route. Few mosquitos - no net inner for the shelter, just MLD SoloMid XL and ground sheet. I was very happy. 

LiarPack: 

Opening Rants: 

This is an awesome way to see the Winds and not waste time or money shuttling or driving extra. I stole this plan from u/xscottkx maybe with a few minor differences? Last time we made it to Knifepoint Glacier before calling it so I was excited to get back to it. After doing it all, this has a really nice mix of easy-cruiser trail, and difficult-off trail travel. Big Sandy is just under 4hrs from Salt Lake City and also quicker for my friend coming from Seattle so it’s a nice meetup point with good camping, etc. if you can find a spot lol. After checking this off, I am for sure eyeing Skurka’s route for next time. It looks amazing and better in every way with more views, more glacier travel, more difficult and longer off-trail sections, maybe a Gannet summit, etc. but $100 for a shuttle and $90 for the reservation permit and extra driving… all that combined it just wasn’t what we wanted for this trip. Another reason to go back!

I do not recommend you bring your dog on this route. I saw 2 sets of couples that were bailing off the route because their dog’s paw pads were toast before they even got to the hardest boulder fields or even the glacier crossing. Don’t subject your pup to this misery unless you have experience with your pup on this terrain. The High Route is NOT a trail! At the very least bring some dog booties. these are my favorite. Bring at least two sets as they’ll blow out at least one of them in a few days. Aside from the dog opinion, a lot of people I talked to underestimated the boulder fields and Knifepoint Glacier. There were 4 CDT hikers without microspikes, 1 person with nanospikes and 1 person with microspikes. I get it… it’s 13oz for the microspikes for 15-min of your entire trip (if doing Alan’s route), but everyone wished they had microspikes that didn’t. The nanospikes didn’t do as well as I thought. Since I had microspikes I was able to really enjoy this section instead of being scared. After reading all the trip reports of people not needing them… and my experience last time in 2021 with it being freezing up there at the time, I thought maybe this time would be more like the microspike-less trip reports. NOPE. It was slick and getting across the mini glacial river crossings were the real deal. It was just a risk that was too high to not have spikes. Also… I’ll add that all of us were sure footed and fit people with at least one or more long trail thru hikes under our belt and we all felt this way. I was able to take a bunch of photos and run around and have a good time instead of being sketched out. Bring the microspikes if you want to have this section be Type-I fun instead of Type-2. I have not explored a way down off Indian Pass to go around the glacier. Comment below if you have successfully done that, and then people can consider if the vert loss and gain AND the sacrificed fun of not being on the glacier is worth 13oz. 

Blue’s Note: I had the nano spikes and feel like I robbed myself of enjoying a really cool experience by not bringing the more secure traction device.

Day 1 - 16.7mi, 2,860ft: 

Lunch time on Saturday, Aug. 17 at Big Sandy. Ate a sandwich I picked up at the Farson’s Mercantile. Highly recommend this stop on the way in or out from Big Sandy. We jumped on the trail and took signs to Dad Lake and took the CDT NOBO for the next few days. This trail is amazing. Views are great, trail is well graded, and plenty of SOBOs to talk to this time of year. Other than the CDT hikers, there aren’t many people on this stretch like there is in the Cirque so the CDT through the winds is truly a great easier option with use of the Pinedale shuttle system with tons of camping and water and lakes and views along the whole trail. 

We started on the CDT to consume the 3 out of the 7 days of food we had before jumping on the high route. Some great swimming and fishing along the way. We got rain around 6pm and stopped before we got into camp and it made for a great sunset. We were just trying to put in as many miles in as possible with the half day we had and we got it done. 

Day 2 - 17.7mi, 3,050ft:

More of the same. Beautiful views and cruiser trail. Lots of good fishing along the way. The rain came in around 8pm after threatening for a couple hours prior. Once it did come it stayed for a solid 3hrs. The SoloMid XL did the trick. I listened to my book and had my ramen before bed. The simple life!

Day 3 - 19.5mi, 4,350ft:

More climbing today but also the best section along the CDT portion. The creek between Jenny Lakes area is such a treat and descending down to Peak Lake and fishing there was a highlight. This night was clear and windless so we had a front row seat to the SUPER MOON so naturally cowboy camping had to happen. I kept the shelter half ready just in case but never needed it. The fishing here was hard but worth it. Some cutthroat-rainbows in the outlet stream. Overall, even with the heavy food carry, I think we nailed the slower ramp up to miles on easy terrain. It set us up well for the high route starting tomorrow. 

Day 4 - 16.2mi, 4,900ft:

Around Peak Lake we went, and up and over Knapsack Col, then making our way back South through Titcomb Basin. We leap frogged around a group of CDT hikers that were really nice and ended up sticking around for about a day. The morning had a little rain going up Knapsack but nothing to write home about. The shakedry Gorewear was pretty nice for this. Really breathable so just having it on for the wind and inconsistent light rain was easy. A nice pick over the sil-nylon jacket I could have brought to save a couple ounces. Knapsack was nothing significant per usual. Just a fun, beautiful adventure. I was familiar with this section since it was my third time here in 4 years. We had such beautiful weather through Titcomb Basin. Sure, Titcomb is popular for the Winds but SHEESH she’s beautiful. You don’t need to go far for Patagonia style views if you’re from Utah like me. We found one flattened tent in the basin. Food in a few ziplocs still in there and a whole backpack and the tent was a 3 person mountain hardwear brand new thing that was pitched poorly. Looked like it had been there a few days. Maybe the person got heli-vaced out? I have seen something just like this from my previous time on the high route back in 2021 during that massive wind and snow storm on Labor Day Weekend. More on that here:

That trip, I heard 9 different helicopter rescues around us. Since we were only a day out, I packed out the whole set up and left a note. Never found the person. This time we were 3 days out so we just re-staked the tent really well including some additional guy lines and rocks hoping maybe they will come back from their summit of Gannit or in a few days to get their gear. I need to reach out to the Forest Service to let them know if it’s still there to pack it out. There was no pad, no sleeping bag… just a couple bags of food, a backpack, and the tent. Weird scene and so strange to see it again. 

Anyway… Titcomb lakes are amazing. Great swimming and lunch spots. No fish for me though! Onward we went up and over Indian Pass. The view of Harrower Peak in the Indian Basin is stunning. Once in the boulder fields over Indian Pass, we finally get a view of Knifepoint Glacier once you round the corner and drop a couple hundred feet. I entered a bit higher on the glacier to make it quicker this time around. Again with microspikes it’s cruiser and fun. Such amazing photos here. The rivers of ice melt were bigger than I remembered and not easy to cross if you don’t have spikes. Just a beautiful and cool section. I love it. Then more boulder fields to Alpine Lakes Pass. This view from here is amazing. Just staring down the barrel of Alpine Lakes (the crux of the route IMO) with no trail in front of you or behind you. Just a real badass place. It was about 5pm now and the crew was tired. We rolled into camp before 6pm and fell short of our goal of camping at the second Alpine Lake, but I knew what was ahead. The navigation of the first alpine lak…

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