The Wind River Range and Lander, WY

We ate some cinnamon rolls we picked up, drank coffee then started to look for a ride. We were offered a ride from a guy at the Dodge dealership back to the trailhead. From Elkhart, we took the Pole Creek Trail. We ran into Rambler, and found out almost everyone was near us. We headed to Photographers Point, an awesome view of the Winds. We got to Elklund Lake, headed over to Pole Creek Lakes, down to Chain Lakes, where we ran into the Crew crossing Pole Creek. We chatted with them before they split towards Bell Lakes while we continued on the Highline Trail. We rounded Barnes Lake, went to Horseshoe Lake, then as the sun was setting, headed to George Lake, hoping for a campsite. None were to be had, so we took the junction to Edmund Lake and found a flat spot amongst blowdowns.

We decided to try for the Cirque of the Towers, since we weren't able to do the other cool stuff we wanted. We continued to Edmund Lake and realized we were in a really ugly part of the Winds. We headed away from Macs Lake to North Fork Lake. We had crossed the creek and were taking a break when we saw the Crew coming our way, but we were too cold to wait for them. We arrived between Pipestone Lakes when we saw Lost & Found. We chatted a bit then pressed on. We passed Halls Butte, Sandpoint Lake, around Bobs Lake to Raid Lake, with magnificent views of Dragons Head and Pronghorn Peak. We passed Cross Lake, crossed Silver Creek heading to Washakie Creek. Instead of heading to Marms Lake, we crossed country over a meadow heading to Shadow Lake. We had wonderful views of the Cirque as we raced up to Texas Lake. We found a spot to set up camp and make our dinner.

We woke up early knowing we had ground to cover. We quickly scaled Texas Pass and generally followed a path down to Lonesome Lake. We met a rock climber and chatted a bit before climbing Jackass Pass. The Cirque was impressive, but honestly the views were better on the other side. We worked our way to Big Sandy Lake, then south to Deep Lake. Passing Haystack Mt., we heard shouts as climber scrambled all over the cliff sides. We climbed up to Temple Lake and steeply up Temple Pass. We paused for a break, then tried looking for the trail. We saw Yas up ahead and walked with him the rest of the day. We followed Little Sandy Creek to the lake, where we found Evan setting up to take a nap. We passed around Little Sandy Lake, completely losing the trail that didn't exist. We climbed steeply to a saddle then down into cattle country. Yas kept going as we stopped for a break. We came to a trailhead, then followed a jeep track out to Station Creek, where we passed a BLM campground. We walked along the road, making cows scatter and watching antelope sprint in the sage. We walked all the way to the Sweetwater Bridge Campground, where we planned to spend the night. Yas passed us on his way to find a place to camp.

Woke up cold. The tent was covered in ice! We hoped our new pump wasn't damaged. We tried our best to get warm as we walked. We stayed on the road, following Yas' footsteps. We walked in and out of Bridger National Forest and cattle fields. We crossed the Little Sweetwater, headed to the East Sweetwater River, then to Mill then Jack Creek. The walk was fairly monotonous, until we hit Pine Creek, which had beaver dams up and down it. The river had flooded the road, so we had to walk upstream to find a way across. We found some berms and used those to get across. The rest of the way was easy and we got to the highway by noon. Hitching was difficult and where we were standing was windy. After an hour, some rock climbers picked us up and dropped us off at McDonald's. There was a no vacancy sign at the motel where we wanted to stay, but we asked anyway and there was a cancellation. We asked them to let us know if we could stay another night, as they were booked. We then gorged ourselves at McDonald's, showered, laundered and resupplied. We went out to see Inception at the theater, then retired to our room.

ZERO DAY! A little sooner than we expected, but the Winds kicked our ass! We checked out the NOLS headquarters in town, then got gloves for DP at the Wild Iris Outfitter. Then we loafed around all day until we got a message from Mike that just about everyone was in town! We had dinner at the Gannett Grill with Mike, Naomi, RT, Joker, Lost, Evan, Heaps, Dan and Anna. Yas left this morning, Tim and Nina were having dinner with his folks, and Found was having dinner with his. It was nice catching up with everyone!