WRHR: Day 1 - Big Sandy to Cirque of the Towers
This trip became another dream come true that started when my friend, Blake, reached out and asked if I wanted to join up with him in a bid to complete a high route through the Wind River Mountains of Wyoming this past summer of 2021. In fact, any backpacking trip to The Winds, as these mountains are so often affectionately called, would have been a dream come true. Popular areas in the range like Titcomb Basin and the Cirque of the Towers among others loomed large on my list of places to see and visit for the same reasons so many others flock there. They just looked like beautiful places to be from all the pictures I'd seen of these areas. But also, ever since I had been a teenage scout and spent a week in back to back summers at the BSA's Camp New Fork at the shores of New Fork Lakes along the western edge of the Wind River range, I had longed to return there to do some backpacking and see more of the backcountry there than the little bit I was only able to experience from day-hiking with my dad up the New Fork trail for a couple of miles at the conclusion of one of those camps. However, due to distance and logistics, it's always been shelved. Why? Well, largely because Utah already has so much to offer that's of course closer to home, thus requiring less time to drive to, less gas to pay for and so on. There's been plenty on my wish list of places to see and hike to and through already closer to home here in Utah with plenty of favorites worth making return trips to that I hadn't taken or made the opportunity to go beyond Utah's borders for any backpacking trips. Until now.
Now the first thing to know is for those who don't already know what a "high route" is. A high route can be defined as a route designed to offer any particular mountain range, water shed, canyon system, etc. the best possible backpacking experience. Of course, best here is subjective. In this case, best refers to being very remote with a lot of fun to be had, of the Type 2 variety that is. A high route is typically a multi-day route ranging from dozens of miles to hundreds. When placed in mountain range, it will typically traverse the range from one end to the other. It can feature as much as fifty percent or more of off-trail terrain to navigate and will stay at higher elevations more consistently, making use of numerous mountain passes as much as reasonably possible.
When it comes to Wyoming's Wind River Mountains, there is actually not a singular route though that would probably be argued by some. Instead, there exists two popular primary high routes for the Wind River Range. There is the one published by Alan Dixon, also known as Adventure Alan, after he and his friend, Don Wilson, hiked it in the summer of 2013. But then just two years later in 2015, endurance athlete and backcountry adventure guide Andrew Skurka expanded on it when he hiked another version he came up with that was even longer and more aggressive and strenuous. He published a guide for that one on his own website.
Dixon's route runs 80 miles between the Green River Lakes Trailhead at the northern end of the range and the Big Sandy Trailhead at the southern end of the range. Skurka's route runs an additional 17 miles for a total of about 97 miles between the Torrey Creek/Trail Lake Trailhead at the northern end and the Bruce Bridge Trailhead at the southern end. Skurka's route features 3 prominent peaks to summit (Wind River Peak, Europe Peak, and Downs Mountain), two which stand over 13k feet and the other over 12k. Dixon's route does not target any peaks. Skurka's route climbs nearly 30k feet in total vertical gain (going northbound) and averages about 619 feet combined gain and loss per mile. Dixon's only climbs a little over 17k (when also going northbound) and averages about 535 feet in total vertical gain and loss per mile.
On account of offering the greater challenge with even more remote terrain, Skurka's route has seemingly become the more popular and sought after route for those attempting to do a high route tour of the Wind River Mountains. As such, one might argue that it is now definitively THE Wind River High Route. Yet, Blake and I still opted for Dixon's version. Why? Primarily for two reasons: We wanted to test our skills and endurance on the less aggressive Dixon route to gauge our abilities for a potential attempt of the Skurka route at a future time. And because we were more confident in our ability to complete the Dixon route in the allotted week we had taken time off of work to complete it in.
One must remember that due to the nature and characteristics of high routes, it takes a lot more time and effort to hike many of the miles, making the average mileage each day shorter than what can be done on more traditional routes and those that stick to well maintained trails. Either way, this was sure to be the longest, most challenging, and most strenuous trip to date for each of us. Prior to this, it had been most of the the Uinta Highline Trail for me as far as length and duration goes and the Beehive Traverse in Capitol Reef National Park for overall strenuousness and rugged terrain.
As with most routes of this nature, we had a choice in what direction we wanted to hike it. I think most who do it go southbound with it because that is how the guide goes. I think that's largely because it allows one to get the longest most monotonous part of the route out of the way at the beginning with its first 17 or so miles keeping you below treeline. With that comes much more gradual terrain to cover when your pack will be at its heaviest on account of having a week's worth of food or more. There is no high pass to gain in that stretch. This in turn allows your legs and lungs to have it a little easier in getting acclimated to what's to come if such is desired. Doing it this direction also saves the iconic Cirque of the Towers for the end, as sort of a grand finale to the route.
However, we chose not to do it the conventional way. Instead, we chose to do it northbound. This was largely because Blake had attempted it with another friend going south bound a prior time but they ended up cutting it short once they reached Titcomb and Indian Basins early on. His friend had apparently overestimated himself and his abilities but at least he had gotten to experience Titcomb and Indian Basins. This time, Blake wanted to be sure he got to see the Cirque of the Towers. It was a perfectly acceptable reason. And so I obliged.
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