By Michael Lanza
It’s hard to frame the experience of walking for days through Wyoming’s Wind River Range in words. The usual superlatives seem inadequate for describing a constant parade of sharp-edged, granite peaks soaring to over 12,000 and 13,000 feet, all reflected in thousands of crystalline alpine lakes. But here’s a truth I’ve learned about the Winds from many trips personally and helping numerous people plan trips there: Backpackers who explore it always leave there feeling they have discovered a very special place—and they want to return, often again and again.
I feel that way after numerous backpacking and climbing trips in the Winds over nearly four decades, including 10 years I spent as the Northwest Editor of Backpacker magazine and even longer running this blog. Having had the good fortune of backpacking all over the country, I unquestionably rank the Winds among “America’s Top 10 Best Backpacking Trips.”
In a very real sense, I’m always planning my next trip in the Winds.
Hi, I’m Michael Lanza, creator of The Big Outside. Click here to sign up for my FREE email newsletter. Join The Big Outside to get full access to all of my blog’s stories. Click here for my e-books to classic backpacking trips. Click here to learn how I can help you plan your next trip.
Chip Roser and Penny Beach backpacking past a tarn off the Highline Trail (CDT) in Wyoming’s Wind River Range.
The options for five-star, multi-day hikes are almost endless in a range that stretches for 100 miles along the Continental Divide, has more than 1,300 named lakes (and at least twice that many lakes total), and spans more than two million acres—virtually identical in size to its much more famous neighbor to the north, Yellowstone National Park. Three spots where I’ve camped in the Winds grace my list of 25 all-time favorite backcountry campsites—and virtually any camp in these mountains would make any backpacker’s all-time list—and several days rank among my most scenic days of hiking ever.
Seeking solitude? With some effort and smart planning, you sure can find it. I have many times backpacked into parts of the Wind River Range, both on and off-trail, and reached areas where we’d encounter just a handful of other people per day—sometimes just a day’s walk from a popular trailhead.
Chip Roser backpacking the Shadow Lake Trail in the Wind River Range, Wyoming. Click photo to learn how I can help you plan any trip you read about at this blog.
This story describes 10 backpacking trips all over the Wind River Range that I have personally taken or are slight variations of trips I’ve taken and shares many photos from these trips (which often tell the story better than words). These trips hit well-known and incomparable spots like the Cirque of the Towers, Titcomb Basin, and sections of the Continental Divide Trail in the Winds, as well as trails and passes you may have never heard of.
These trips range in length from just under 30 miles to nearly 100 miles—with most of them falling into that sweet range for many backpackers of around 30 to 45 miles—and from beginner friendly to serious adventures in remote areas. Many trails in the Winds lie between 10,000 and 11,000 feet and passes crossed by trails generally rise to nearly or well over 11,000 feet.
Chip Roser backpacking the Washakie Pass Trail in the Wind River Range, Wyoming. Click photo to see all stories about backpacking in the Winds at The Big Outside.
Each trip described below has a link to a story about it or that area of the Winds. Reading those stories in full, including key trip-planning details and tips, as well as this entire story, requires a paid subscription to The Big Outside.
See my Custom Trip Planning page to learn how I can help you plan your trip in the Wind River Range or any trip you read about at The Big Outside.
Please tell me what you think of the trips described below, share your questions, or suggest your own favorite backpacking trip in the Winds in the comments section at the bottom of this story. I try to respond to all comments.
Chip Roser just north of Jackass Pass in the Cirque of the Towers. in Wyoming’s Wind River Range.
It’s a tough call to choose one best backpacking trip in the Winds. But after numerous trips all over the range, I’m sliding my stack of chips onto this 41-mile route from Big Sandy Campground, where there’s hardly a moment where you’re not blown away by the scenery. It crosses four high passes on the Continental Divide and meanders past a steady parade of jaw-dropping mountains and lakes you’ll want to camp beside. The trip reaches its climax in the disorientingly vertiginous Cirque of the Towers.
Yes, you will likely encounter at least a few dozen other backpackers on the first and last days. But you’ll also find abundant solitude: A friend and I counted just six other backpackers on our second day. The route also offers opportunities to lengthen the hike, exploring a spectacular cirque and scrambling to the summit of a 12,000-foot peak. And unlike the Wind River High Route, it also presents a reasonable challenge and distance for most backpackers. (Note that camping is prohibited within a half-mile of Lonesome Lake.)
See “The Best Backpacking Trip in the Wind River Range? Yup” and all stories about backpacking in the Winds at The Big Outside.
Backpackers watching sunset at a camp in Titcomb Basin, Wind River Range.
After hiking a very full day to reach a campsite in a grassy meadow between the two largest Titcomb Lakes, at about 10,500 feet in Titcomb Basin, two friends and I watched the alpenglow paint the 13,000-footers above us golden. On a separate trip to Indian Basin, several of us summitted a 12,000-foot peak and a pair of 13ers on the Continental Divide, Fremont and Jackson peaks.
This pair of lakes basins sit on the west and south sides of 13,745-foot Fremont Peak, Titcomb at around 10,500 feet and Indian at over 11,000 feet. Camping by lakes in either basin, you’ll gaze up at a towering row of peaks on the Divide. Either Titcomb or Indian can be reached on an out-and-back hike of about 28 miles round-trip (to around the middle of either basin) from the Pole Creek Trailhead at Elkhart Park, outside Pinedale. They lie just a few trail miles apart, meaning you could explore or even camp in both on a trip of two to four days.
See my story “Best of the Wind River Range: Backpacking to Titcomb Basin.”
Justin Glass at a small tarn in the upper valley of Middle Fork Lake on the Wind River High Route.
This high traverse of the entire range really deserves to be called the best backpacking trip in the Winds. But at 96 miles, two-thirds of it off-trail and the vast bulk of it very difficult and fraught with hazards like the threat of rockfall, crossing 10 named alpine passes ranging from nearly 11,000 to nearly 13,000 feet—only one of them on a trail—the high route simply lies beyond the skill set, stamina, and interest of 99 percent of backpackers.
But for those with the chops for a rugged, physically and mentally strenuous, navigationally challenging, high-intensity adventure, it’s also arguably, mile-for-mile, the most jaw-dropping trek through any mountain range in America. While the Cirque of the Towers and Titcomb Basin draw most backpacker attention in the Winds, the WRHR crosses numerous, virtually anonymous high basins just as spectacular as those two.
And needless to say, solitude comes with the territory on the high route. Just show up with your A game.
See my story “Adventure and Adversity on the Wind River High Route.”
Chip Roser above Macon Lake and Washakie Lake in the Wind River Range, Wyoming.
Overlapping the 41-mile route that I dubbed “the best backpacking trip in the Winds” (above), this 35-mile lollipop loop from Big Sandy differs in that it bypasses the very steep, loose, unmaintained route over Texas Pass—and thus, foregoes crossing the Cirque of the Towers—sticking to maintained trails and crossing just two passes, both topping 11,000 feet, Hailey and Washakie.
It also visits numerous lakes, offering a campsite by a lovely lake potentially every night. The ascents to and descents beyond both Hailey and Washakie passes offer classic Wind River Range vistas of peaks stretching to far horizons. You can lengthen this hike with side trips to more cirques where soaring cliffs envelope lakes and even scramble one or more 12,000-foot peaks along the way. Plus, while the trails are busy within a half-day’s walk of Big Sandy, there’s plenty of solitude east of the Divide. If you want the best backpacking trip in the Winds that doesn’t require a steep, hard climb up loose scree, this is your adventure.
All of this route is described in my story “The Best Backpacking Trip in the Wind River Range? Yup.”
Chip Roser above the Cutthroat Lakes on the Doubletop Mountain Trail in Wyoming’s Wind River Range.
This 43-mile loop from the New Fork/Doubletop Mountain Trailhead at the New Fork Lakes also illustrates how finding solitude in the Winds does not have to come at the expense of the splendor these mountains are known for.
It links up the Doubletop Mountain and Highline/Continental Divide trails to traverse classic Wind River Range high, alpine plateau backcountry, passing many lakes and delivering sweeping views reaching to the Continental Divide. It crosses four passes—none of them presenting a very long or arduous ascent—and explores secluded lake basins that feel like hidden Shangri-las. It also entails less than a mile of moderately difficult scrambling through large boulders on a trail in a narrow canyon.
And if we had added up the total minutes that we were within sight of other people over five days of bluebird weather in the week before Labor Day—arguably the best week of the year to hike in the Winds—it was probably less than two hours.
See my story “Backpacking Through a Lonely Corner of the Wind River Range.”
See “5 Reasons You Must Backpack the Wind River Range,” “The Best Backpacking Trip in the Wind River Range? Yup,” “Backpacking Through a Lonely Corner of the Wind River Range,” “Best of the Wind River Range: Backpacking to Titcomb Basin,” “Adventure and Adversity on the Wind River High Route,” and “A Walk in the Winds: Dayhiking 27 Miles Across the Wind River Range,” and all stories about backpacking in the Winds at The Big Outside. Like most stories about trips at this blog, reading those in full requires a paid subscription to The Big Outside.
It’s hard to frame the experience of walking for days through Wyoming’s Wind River Range in words. The usual superlatives seem inadequate for describing a constant parade of sharp-edged, granite peaks soaring to over 12,000 and 13,000 feet, all reflected in thousands of crystalline alpine lakes. But here’s a truth I’ve learned about the Winds from many trips personally and helping numerous people plan trips there: Backpackers who explore it always leave there feeling they have discovered a very special place—and they want to return, often again and again.
I feel that way after numerous backpacking and climbing trips in the Winds over nearly four decades, including 10 years I spent as the Northwest Editor of Backpacker magazine and even longer running this blog. Having had the good fortune of backpacking all over the country, I unquestionably rank the Winds among “America’s Top 10 Best Backpacking Trips.”
In a very real sense, I’m always planning my next trip in the Winds.
Chip Roser and Penny Beach backpacking past a tarn off the Highline Trail (CDT) in Wyoming’s Wind River Range.
The options for five-star, multi-day hikes are almost endless in a range that stretches for 100 miles along the Continental Divide, has more than 1,300 named lakes (and at least twice that many lakes total), and spans more than two million acres—virtually identical in size to its much more famous neighbor to the north, Yellowstone National Park. Three spots where I’ve camped in the Winds grace my list of 25 all-time favorite backcountry campsites—and virtually any camp in these mountains would make any backpacker’s all-time list—and several days rank among my most scenic days of hiking ever.
Seeking solitude? With some effort and smart planning, you sure can find it. I have many times backpacked into parts of the Wind River Range, both on and off-trail, and reached areas where we’d encounter just a handful of other people per day—sometimes just a day’s walk from a popular trailhead.
I’ve helped many readers plan an unforgettable backpacking trip in the Wind River Range.
Want my help with yours? Find out more here.
Want my help with yours? Find out more here.
Chip Roser backpacking the Shadow Lake Trail in the Wind River Range, Wyoming. Click photo to learn how I can help you plan any trip you read about at this blog.
This story describes 10 backpacking trips all over the Wind River Range that I have personally taken or are slight variations of trips I’ve taken and shares many photos from these trips (which often tell the story better than words). These trips hit well-known and incomparable spots like the Cirque of the Towers, Titcomb Basin, and sections of the Continental Divide Trail in the Winds, as well as trails and passes you may have never heard of.
These trips range in length from just under 30 miles to nearly 100 miles—with most of them falling into that sweet range for many backpackers of around 30 to 45 miles—and from beginner friendly to serious adventures in remote areas. Many trails in the Winds lie between 10,000 and 11,000 feet and passes crossed by trails generally rise to nearly or well over 11,000 feet.
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Chip Roser backpacking the Washakie Pass Trail in the Wind River Range, Wyoming. Click photo to see all stories about backpacking in the Winds at The Big Outside.
Each trip described below has a link to a story about it or that area of the Winds. Reading those stories in full, including key trip-planning details and tips, as well as this entire story, requires a paid subscription to The Big Outside.
See my Custom Trip Planning page to learn how I can help you plan your trip in the Wind River Range or any trip you read about at The Big Outside.
Please tell me what you think of the trips described below, share your questions, or suggest your own favorite backpacking trip in the Winds in the comments section at the bottom of this story. I try to respond to all comments.
After the Wind River Range, hike the other nine of “America’s Top 10 Best Backpacking Trips.”
Chip Roser just north of Jackass Pass in the Cirque of the Towers. in Wyoming’s Wind River Range.
The Best Backpacking Trip in the Winds
It’s a tough call to choose one best backpacking trip in the Winds. But after numerous trips all over the range, I’m sliding my stack of chips onto this 41-mile route from Big Sandy Campground, where there’s hardly a moment where you’re not blown away by the scenery. It crosses four high passes on the Continental Divide and meanders past a steady parade of jaw-dropping mountains and lakes you’ll want to camp beside. The trip reaches its climax in the disorientingly vertiginous Cirque of the Towers.
Yes, you will likely encounter at least a few dozen other backpackers on the first and last days. But you’ll also find abundant solitude: A friend and I counted just six other backpackers on our second day. The route also offers opportunities to lengthen the hike, exploring a spectacular cirque and scrambling to the summit of a 12,000-foot peak. And unlike the Wind River High Route, it also presents a reasonable challenge and distance for most backpackers. (Note that camping is prohibited within a half-mile of Lonesome Lake.)
See “The Best Backpacking Trip in the Wind River Range? Yup” and all stories about backpacking in the Winds at The Big Outside.
Want to read any story linked here?
Join now to read ALL stories and get a free e-book!
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Backpackers watching sunset at a camp in Titcomb Basin, Wind River Range.
Titcomb and Indian Basins
After hiking a very full day to reach a campsite in a grassy meadow between the two largest Titcomb Lakes, at about 10,500 feet in Titcomb Basin, two friends and I watched the alpenglow paint the 13,000-footers above us golden. On a separate trip to Indian Basin, several of us summitted a 12,000-foot peak and a pair of 13ers on the Continental Divide, Fremont and Jackson peaks.
This pair of lakes basins sit on the west and south sides of 13,745-foot Fremont Peak, Titcomb at around 10,500 feet and Indian at over 11,000 feet. Camping by lakes in either basin, you’ll gaze up at a towering row of peaks on the Divide. Either Titcomb or Indian can be reached on an out-and-back hike of about 28 miles round-trip (to around the middle of either basin) from the Pole Creek Trailhead at Elkhart Park, outside Pinedale. They lie just a few trail miles apart, meaning you could explore or even camp in both on a trip of two to four days.
See my story “Best of the Wind River Range: Backpacking to Titcomb Basin.”
I’ve helped many readers plan unforgettable backpacking and hiking trips.
Want my help with yours? Click here now.
Want my help with yours? Click here now.
Justin Glass at a small tarn in the upper valley of Middle Fork Lake on the Wind River High Route.
The Wind River High Route
This high traverse of the entire range really deserves to be called the best backpacking trip in the Winds. But at 96 miles, two-thirds of it off-trail and the vast bulk of it very difficult and fraught with hazards like the threat of rockfall, crossing 10 named alpine passes ranging from nearly 11,000 to nearly 13,000 feet—only one of them on a trail—the high route simply lies beyond the skill set, stamina, and interest of 99 percent of backpackers.
But for those with the chops for a rugged, physically and mentally strenuous, navigationally challenging, high-intensity adventure, it’s also arguably, mile-for-mile, the most jaw-dropping trek through any mountain range in America. While the Cirque of the Towers and Titcomb Basin draw most backpacker attention in the Winds, the WRHR crosses numerous, virtually anonymous high basins just as spectacular as those two.
And needless to say, solitude comes with the territory on the high route. Just show up with your A game.
See my story “Adventure and Adversity on the Wind River High Route.”
Plan your next great backpacking trip on the Teton Crest Trail, Wonderland Trail,
in Yosemite or other parks using my expert e-books.
in Yosemite or other parks using my expert e-books.
Chip Roser above Macon Lake and Washakie Lake in the Wind River Range, Wyoming.
Hailey Pass-Washakie Pass Circuit
Overlapping the 41-mile route that I dubbed “the best backpacking trip in the Winds” (above), this 35-mile lollipop loop from Big Sandy differs in that it bypasses the very steep, loose, unmaintained route over Texas Pass—and thus, foregoes crossing the Cirque of the Towers—sticking to maintained trails and crossing just two passes, both topping 11,000 feet, Hailey and Washakie.
It also visits numerous lakes, offering a campsite by a lovely lake potentially every night. The ascents to and descents beyond both Hailey and Washakie passes offer classic Wind River Range vistas of peaks stretching to far horizons. You can lengthen this hike with side trips to more cirques where soaring cliffs envelope lakes and even scramble one or more 12,000-foot peaks along the way. Plus, while the trails are busy within a half-day’s walk of Big Sandy, there’s plenty of solitude east of the Divide. If you want the best backpacking trip in the Winds that doesn’t require a steep, hard climb up loose scree, this is your adventure.
All of this route is described in my story “The Best Backpacking Trip in the Wind River Range? Yup.”
Read all of this story and ALL stories at The Big Outside,
plus get a FREE e-book! Join now!
plus get a FREE e-book! Join now!
Chip Roser above the Cutthroat Lakes on the Doubletop Mountain Trail in Wyoming’s Wind River Range.
Doubletop Mountain-Highline-New Fork Trails Loop
This 43-mile loop from the New Fork/Doubletop Mountain Trailhead at the New Fork Lakes also illustrates how finding solitude in the Winds does not have to come at the expense of the splendor these mountains are known for.
It links up the Doubletop Mountain and Highline/Continental Divide trails to traverse classic Wind River Range high, alpine plateau backcountry, passing many lakes and delivering sweeping views reaching to the Continental Divide. It crosses four passes—none of them presenting a very long or arduous ascent—and explores secluded lake basins that feel like hidden Shangri-las. It also entails less than a mile of moderately difficult scrambling through large boulders on a trail in a narrow canyon.
And if we had added up the total minutes that we were within sight of other people over five days of bluebird weather in the week before Labor Day—arguably the best week of the year to hike in the Winds—it was probably less than two hours.
See my story “Backpacking Through a Lonely Corner of the Wind River Range.”
Planning a backpacking trip? See “How to Plan a Backpacking Trip—12 Expert Tips”
and this menu of all stories with expert backpacking tips at The Big Outside.
and this menu of all stories with expert backpacking tips at The Big Outside.
See “5 Reasons You Must Backpack the Wind River Range,” “The Best Backpacking Trip in the Wind River Range? Yup,” “Backpacking Through a Lonely Corner of the Wind River Range,” “Best of the Wind River Range: Backpacking to Titcomb Basin,” “Adventure and Adversity on the Wind River High Route,” and “A Walk in the Winds: Dayhiking 27 Miles Across the Wind River Range,” and all stories about backpacking in the Winds at The Big Outside. Like most stories about trips at this blog, reading those in full requires a paid subscription to The Big Outside.
Let The Big Outside help you find the best adventures.
Join now for full access to ALL stories and get a free e-book!
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