Getting Redemption on the Wind River High Route

This morning, everyone got up around 6am and began to get ready for the day. We didn’t have a crazy early start or anything, but we were walking by 7am. Our morning began with a climb up jackass pass. The top of the pass was only a mile from where we set up camp for the night.

This morning I felt so good waking up by lonesome lake.

Luckily, the climb was super gradual and there was trail the entire way. It was really nice and easy and we were up at the top in no time. Up at the top I was behind Syrup, who accidentally went slightly off trail downhill. 9 Lives called to us when she noticed what he had done, and I decided to backtrack to where she was. Syrup was making his way around the lake on the right side. But the trail was high up on the left side of this point. With the hiking that we’ve been doing recently, I really didn’t want to try my luck going off trail. It just seemed like it was easier to backtrack and get back to where the actual trail was.

Lonesome Lake.

I caught up to 9 Lived in no time and then we continued walking together. And while we are on top of jackass pass, we actually went by a hiker who she knew. His name was Star Lord and they knew each other from the Appalachian Trail among other trails. And he actually apparently knows Sparkle, who I hiked with on the International Appalachian Trail up in Canada. It’s such a small world in the hiking community. We hung out talking to him for a while and then we continued on because it was so cold.

Up on the top of Jackass Pass.

Not long after that we ran into a section hiker Dan who was also doing the wind river high route. We wound up walking with him for a while and talking to him. He’s actually from Cambridge, MA! That’s not far from where I lived in Boston. Dan is an infectious disease doctor at Boston medical Center, the hospital where I had my appendix removed in 2020. It’s quite a small world. I was glad that we got to talk with him. He was finishing his section hike up today. And he actually wound up offering us some food after we mentioned that we’ve been rationing for the last couple of days.

After climbing for a while we got to a cruisy section of trail, heading toward the next pass.

We hiked with him for a couple miles and then got to the junction where the trail turned off for either Big Sandy Trail or Little Sandy Trail. We planned to get on to Little sandy so that we could stay on the high route and cirque of the towers alternate.

At the junction we hung out with Dan and he gave us some snacks. That helped so much because we were definitely low on food at this point. But because of the snacks he gave us we were able to pad our calories a lot. Then I knew that we’d be able to get to town with the rations that we did have.

While we were at this junction Syrup came around the corner. He had heard us talking to Dan and apparently had been there waiting for us. The route that he had taken got him a little bit off trail, but he still managed to get here before us somehow. So we linked back up with him, and then we continued on the little Sandy Trail, which was the cirque of the towers alternate.

Heading toward the final pass along the cirque of the towers alt.

As soon as we left that junction we began a climb up the next mountain pass. It went on for a couple miles, but was fairly gradual in the beginning. Then the climb leveled out as we walked through a valley headed towards the next pass. Just like a lot of the other passes that we’ve done recently, the trail brought us right past a beautiful alpine lake. As we walked around the lake we checked FarOut comments about the climb up to the top of the pasts. There were a lot of comments trying to help you to avoid going through a boulder field and taking a tougher route up.

Views from the top of the last pass. This was one of the easier mountain passes and I really enjoyed myself.

The climb was pretty steep, and you did have to go through a couple fields of boulders. But overall, it was a lot easier compared to the climbs recently. We got up to the top fairly quickly without too much issue. But I did hit my left knee for the third or fourth time and it started bleeding. The last couple days I’ve hit it a few times while we’ve been climbing through fields of massive boulders. It’s pretty bruised up at this point, but this is the first time it started bleeding so much.

While boulder scrambling I hit my knee hard for the 3rd time and it started to bleed.

Once we got up to the top of the climb we did have to go through one final boulder field. We maneuvered through the boulder field and then eventually got back to an actual trail. There are multiple ways to go on these mountain passes. We could’ve climbed a little bit higher and gotten back to trail quicker. But if I’m going to be doing cross-country bouldering and bushwhacking then I’d rather take the most direct route.

Descending the southern side of the final mountain pass. Syrup was up ahead along the switchbacks.

Then we began the descent off the pass. But it was graded pretty well and we were on trail the entire time. Then we got down to a valley area and we lost the trail once again. I’d read some comments that the trail was pretty in and out for the next handful of miles. But at least we were no longer going through boulder fields, so it wasn’t too hard to navigate. Syrup and I wound up finding a place by a creek to stop off for lunch. Then 9 Lives caught up to us shortly after that and we all hung out and ate.

We descended down right by this beautiful lake.

I made a hot chocolate and coffee for lunch. Once again, I’m pretty pretty low on food so I figured I’d drink my calories and eat a couple of snacks. Then we hung out there for a little while before continuing on.

At this point, we only had about 6 miles until we reconnected to the CDT red line. I was pretty excited for that and definitely looking forward to the ease of being back on the trail. We’ve been navigating almost exclusively using Gaia for the last 250 or so miles.

Descending through the valley as some dark clouds rolled in.

The next hour or two the trail was pretty well defined. Every now and then it would disappear, but it was fairly easy to find. I was hiking out in front and was feeling really good. But once we were a mile or so from the red line, that’s when the trail started to get a little wacky. We went through a forest which had a ton of blow downs. And it was clear that the trail had been rerouted through this area.

I passed by a camp along the trail with some horses. Apparently people ride in on horseback to carry heavier gear.

When I was looking at the map, my phone was indicating that I was off trail. But I was very clearly on a well used trail, which was taking me around the blow downs. There was lots of horse poop, which I thought was a good sign that I was heading the right way. But at one point, I looked at my phone and noticed that I was off far off trail. I was making my way to some random junction off the trail. But I decided to read the comments and noticed that this alternate trail did connect back to the red line. Some people had said they went this way by accident, but that in reality it actually avoided a lot of marshy trail with blow downs along it. Apparently this alternate route was more direct and easier to walk on. I was glad that I went this way by accident just following the natural trail. I wound up getting back to CDT redline shortly after that. For a brief moment, it was nerve wracking being so far off trail and just hoping that the path I was on was going to lead me back to the red line. But fortunately it did.

A small pond that I walked past.

Then I sat at junction for a while, waiting for everyone to arrive. I was a little bit nervous, wondering if everybody else went the same route or if they didn’t read the comments and stayed on the blue line. The cirque of the towers route, which is the blue line, apparently was very slow going with lots of blow downs.

I sat there at the junction for about 15 to 20 minutes, wondering where everyone else was. Part of me was wondering if everyone got up ahead of me and if I was now just killing time waiting for them. But not long after that 9 Lives arrives. That was quite a relief and it was nice to see somebody else. Clearly she had gone the same way that I did. Then the two of us sat there for a while waiting for Syrup. But he didn’t arrive and we really we weren’t sure what to do. Apparently he had been at the top of a hill on the phone with his parents the last time 9 Lives saw him. So we figured he was just a little bit behind because of that and decided to continue on.

It felt really good to officially get back to the CDT!

Now we were officially on the CDT red line which was great. And the trail was so well graded and manicured. It was ridiculous. We’ve been suffering on some crazy trail for the last couple hundred miles. Now it looks like we’re going to be back to smooth sailing for a while.

Right when we got back on the red line, we did have a brief climb. But it was so well graded. It was only a few hundred feet in a half mile which wasn’t bad at all. Everything that we’ve been doing the last few weeks has made it so that small climbs just don’t bother me anymore. Up top I got brief service, but I wasn’t in the mood to stick around and use my phone. So I just continued long.

Then after a few more miles of walking, I stopped at a creek to grab some water. 9 Lives caught up and we decided to take a break there to wait for Syrup to catch up. But even after sitting there for 20+ minutes, he never caught up. So we really weren’t sure what to do at this point. Luckily she had told him where we intended to camp for the night. So we figured that in the worst case scenario we could all meet up there.

We were about 5 or 6 miles from a trailhead with a ranger station and a campground.  That’s where 9 Lives had told Syrup that we would be camping tonight. The walk to that site was almost all downhill and was some of the flattest and easiest hiking that I’ve ever done. I felt spoiled rotten after all of our time going through the wind river high route. I was absolutely flying down the trail listening to music. It was so nice not having to focus on every last step you took and just to be able to walk.

Once we got back on the red line the trail was almost perfectly flat and manicured.

Around 6pm I passed by a trailhead and noticed there was a trail register there. So I went to go sign the register book while I waited for 9 Lives to catch up. And to my surprise, Side Quest had signed the trail register at 3:57pm! We assumed he was behind us because he had done the rest of the wind river high and we bypassed about 17 miles of it because of our limited food rations. But it turns out he was ahead of us! I also saw the name Sparkle in the logbook. I hiked with Sparkle for two months up in Canada on the international Appalachian trail last year. I knew she was behind me on trail recently, but apparently she passed me at some point because we did the Teton Crest Trail and the wind river high route. She signed the logbook just barely an hour before us so hopefully we’ll get to see her today. That’s so exciting. We got so close in Canada, bonding over some of the hardest most excruciating hiking of my entire life.

When I arrived at this trailhead I saw the trail register, indicating there were tons of friends up ahead along the trail!

When 9 Lived showed up, I showed her the book and we both got so excited. Previously, we were planning on only going another few miles and stopping off at this campground by the ranger station. But now that we knew that Sidequest was in front of us we were filled with energy and excited to push further. I loved the idea of hiking late into the night to hopefully catch up to him.

And I flew across the trail at this point heading towards the ranger station. We were thinking that maybe Sidequest would be there, but I was hopeful that at least some of our friends would be there.

When we arrived, we were shocked to see Syrup standing there! He was there with a bunch of other hikers Sparkle’s, James, Ghost Hawk, Hundo, and Corona. I ran up to Sparkle and gave her a huge hug. It was so nice to see her again after so much time. We were each other‘s rocks up in Canada doing some of the hardest hiking that I’ve ever done in my life. Both of us were pretty seriously injured at this point in time so it was not easy. I was so grateful that we had each other in those times.

I was shocked to see Syrup and was so curious how he got in front of us. But apparently he had done that weird bushwhack by accident. He wound up getting pretty far off trail and just bushwhacked all the way back to the red line. So he actually never even passed by the junction where we took our break. He got up ahead of us while bushwhacking through the woods. It seemed like he did not have a great time, but I was just glad that he was ok and that we were all back together. We filled him in on the fact that Sidequest was up ahead of us along the trail. And we basically told him that we wanted to hike late into the night to attempt to catch Side Quest. If we couldn’t catch Sidequest at least we could set ourselves up to get into town tomorrow morning rather than late tomorrow afternoon.

If we had stopped for the day at this campground, we would have 20 miles to do tomorrow to get to the road where we can hitch into Lander. But if we hike for a few more hours tonight then we will probably be able to get into Lander before 11am. Syrup really wanted McDonald’s breakfast in town so he was down to push out a little bit further tonight.

The pit toilet that we hid underneath as it rained.

Hiding underneath the pit toilet to eat dinner. In true hiker trash fashion.

We wound up hanging out at the trailhead for a while and made dinner there. The rest of the people hiked on, but we said we would be just behind them and hiking into the night. It started to rain lightly around this time so we sat under the overhang of a pit toilet to eat our dinner there. In true hiker trash fashion.

Then just after 7pm we started hiking again with the goal of doing at least 10 more miles for the night. Even without caffeine or anything I was actually feeling really excited and energized. Sometimes I love the impulsive choices you make while thru hiking. Even though we’ve been so tired lately, I was still excited to push ourselves a little bit tonight just so we can get into town earlier tomorrow. I just want to hang out in town and actually rest.

Heading out of the campground to do some night hiking!

When we left the campground I was feeling super energized and just blasting music. All of us were flying along the trail and we were making fantastic time for those next handful of miles. The trail was so nice and easy and flat. It was super easy to follow and was just mindless hiking. We didn’t catch up to anyone for a while, which I was surprised by. I was expecting to walk past some tents. But I guess a bunch of hikers decided to hike into the evening too. It wasn’t long before it got dark and we continued walking. Then around 9pm I finally saw a bunch of headlamps in the distance.

The sun began to set as we hiked into the night.

At first, I thought it was just 9 Lives. Then I realized that there were some other headlamps reflecting onto her. And after a little while, I caught up to a group of five hikers hiking in the dark with headlamps on. It was quite the site for sore eyes.

9 Lives was  walking with Sparkle, James, Hundo, and Ghost Hawk. Sparkle and James had decided to camp right around there where I caught up to them. They just didn’t want to hike as late into the night and wanted to start earlier tomorrow. Hundo and Ghost Hawk walked a little bit further with all of us.  Then they stopped off somewhere too. And then it was just the three of us hiking together once more.

It was great watching the sun set as we hiked into the night.

Originally we had just planned to do 10 more miles for the night but we wound up doing closer to 12 miles. That’s just because there weren’t really many places to camp, so we had to do an extra mile or two. But that meant that we got our mileage for tomorrow down into the single digits. That meant it was gonna be a pretty leisurely day into town tomorrow.

We hiked until just after 11pm. Then we stopped by a creek to get water and were trying to find a marked campsite. But there were tons of blow downs and it was dark so it was really hard to find the campsite. We wandered around for a while looking for it before we eventually found it. But it was a super nice site with room for probably six or so tents.

It’s crazy to think it’s that hard to find a campsite that is right off the trail in the dark. It’s just really hard to see in the forest at that time of night. Eventually we found the site and stopped there. Everyone got their tents set up for the night. I got inside and got comfortable. It felt so good to finally lay down. It also felt so good to finally get a big mile day in for the first time in a while. We did about 33 miles today which felt so easy compared to what we’ve been doing lately. And now tomorrow we only have 9 miles to the road to get into Lander.