Wind River Range, 2007

Typical scenery in the Winds taken during our climb of Knapsack Col.

Holy cow! I thought last years backpacking trip to the Wind River Range was the ultimate. I was wrong. This 6-nighter was extreme in almost every way possible: weather, scenery, exertion level...you name it, this adventure had it---except snow. We did get hail, however, so we came close.

Nearly a year in the making, this hike had been on my mind every day since Yumi and I returned from Wyoming last July. My great wife had given me her blessings to return (without her) and I gladly took advantage of her generosity (or moment of weakness?). I'm very glad that I did.

Not only did I get to see country that few ever get the chance to see, but I met two new friends and gave them their first tour of the Rockies they won't soon forget.

I guess the best description of the trip comes from an e-mail Reed sent to a co-worker from the van on the ride back to Wisconsin...

"What an unbelievable trip. Almost impossible to convey. 400 photos on a CD to come. Totally freaking mind blowing place. Standing on a 12,200 foot saddle surrounded by 13,000+ foot craggy peaks with glaciers clinging to their sides, with jade green chain of glacial lakes like a necklace thousands of feet below the toes of my boots. Traversing a glacier at a 45 degree angle with a boulder field straight down. Unbelievable. Hard hard hiking. Near total solitude in the high country. Beauty totally routine. Nighttime thunderstorms like the wrath of an angry god. Everything immense and unfathomably out of scale with my normal frame of reference."

Yes, it was a physically demanding trip. So demanding that even a week after returning home I was still mentally wiped out to the point of not even wanting to go back out west to Glacier National Park with my wife.

Enjoy the trip report and photos