I haven’t been to the Wind River Range for about a decade, but one memory persists from my last trip with my young son — it was a day hike from our camp near Big Sandy to a high lake below a very impressive peak. I wasn’t even sure of the peak’s name until I looked it up this year: East Temple.
East Temple sits on the backbone of the range, quite a distance from any trailhead. I plotted a route to the peak from the same trailhead as before, but this time as a single-day hike to the peak and back. To give myself the whole day, I drove up from Northern Utah the night before and camped near the Big Sandy Trailhead.
Starting out I noticed some signage that indicated a trail problem — apparently a couple of weeks ago there was a big wind storm that knocked down hundreds of trees across the trail. The Forest Service was advising that it would take twice as long to hike the first 6 miles into the Big Sandy Lake. Not wanting to abandon the trip, I pressed ahead, and spent an inordinate amount of time crossing over/under/around downed trees. Wow!
My route was the well-trod trail to Big Sandy Lake, then on a lesser trail past Clear Lake and Deep Lake, where I had to leave the trail for the peak ascent. Researching the area on SummitPost, I decided to come at the peak from the horseshoe ridge to the west. The lower part of that ridge had some cliff bands which necessitated some route finding and a few class 4 moved with exposure. I was relieve to reach the main peak backbone about about 11,000′ elevation, for the final push to the peak at 12,539′. The views of the range were incredible!
The wind was ferocious at the top so I had to be careful near the incredible vertical drop off the east face. I was worried that the wind would pick up my 4-lb camera which I had set up on a rock for a rare self-portrait.
I made my way back the more conventional approach directly west to the Elkhorn Pass, and back to the trailhead passing Temple Lake just below the trail highpoint. I was 11 hours traveling in total, just under 23 miles of hiking.
Resources:
- The drive in to the Big Sandy Trailhead is well documented but still a long drive on a gravel road.
- There are a few primitive camping sites near the trailhead, along with a formal USFS campsite with pit toilets and site fees.
- Hiking Track
Lessons Learned
- I should have checked trail conditions on the Bridger-Teton National Forest web site, and I would have known to expect a longer hike, or possibly changed to another venue
- I carried only my Core Hiking Gear on this adventure
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