|
|
|
View previous topic :: View next topic |
Author |
Message |
Lizard
Joined: 11 Jan 2003 Posts: 200 Location: Phoenix, AZ
|
Posted: 9/27/2011, 1:36 pm Post subject: Wyoming Rockies and Southern Utah |
|
|
|
|
Hi Arizona Hikers,
Been awhile since I last posted. Thought I'd let you know what I've been up to.
Recently I had the chance to cross a whole bunch of stuff off my bucket list at once. I took the week prior to Labor Day off to head up to Wyoming, and checked out a bunch of places on the way.
Sunday Aug 27
After waking at midnight, I drove north from Phoenix up to Wyoming. Along the way, I passed through the outdoor playground of Kanab, UT. Having visited Zion and Bryce this spring, I decided to make a detour to a less known area, at Cedar Breaks National Monument. This is a very lovely area, and easy enough to check out in a few hours. There’s only a couple miles of trails.
Sunday August 28-Friday Sept 7th
After a night in Evanston, WY, and a morning checking out the Mountain Man museum in Pinedale (well worth a visit), I reached the main event in the early afternoon – the Wind River mountain range. I’d spend the next six days here.
The first day was spent on a long traverse around the base of Squaretop Mountain. This was an amazing welcome to the range.
On the far side of Squaretop, the highline trail started heading for the treeline.
The third day was the most adventurous. On this day, I left the marked trail in the vicinity of Peak Lake.
My offtrail route here made a beeline for Knapsack Col. This high pass (12051 feet) is a typical access point for some of the highest peaks in range. This was the most beautiful stretch of the trip, but also the hardest, involving endless talus climbing, snow traversal, and avoiding a tricky cornice at the top of the Col.
I picked up marked trail again in the Titcomb Basin. The Titcomb Basin is one of the most spectacular places I’ve ever been. It’s an endless series of lakes below the Continental Divide and the highest peaks in the range. Just plain awesome.
From Titcomb Basin, I followed marked trails south, then north along the Highline trail. This was a more popular section of the hike, and it’s easy to understand why. It is wonderful, scenic country, easily comparable to the best places in the High Sierra.
From Summit Lake on the highline trail, I made a detour west along the Doubletop Mountain and Palmer Lake trails. This took me through some more lovely, high alpine country, though not quite as spectacular as the Titcomb area. Eventually, the Palmer Lake trail descended way down to around 9000 feet near New Fork Park. This was a setup for a last hurrah, as the trail then climbed 1800 feet over Porcupine Pass. This made for an epic ending to the hike.
The next morning, I headed out of the mountains and drove up to Jackson Hole. I was done with the backpacking portion of the trip, but I still had a ton of places to visit as a tourist/dayhiker. I’m going to confine myself to a single picture per area, as this post is already way too long.
On September 2nd and 3rd, I stayed in Jackson Hole, and checked out Grand Teton National Park.
On the afternoon of September 3rd, I drove down to Moab Utah. This put me in position to visit Arches National Park the next day.
I finished up Arches in the afternoon of September 4th(it’s a smallish park), so I drove over to the Island in the Sky district of Canyonlands National Park.
The next morning, after a final night sleeping under the stars, I visited the Needles district of Canyonlands.
Finally, on the drive back to Phoenix, I couldn’t resist a quick detour to Monument Valley.
_________________ "Men wanted for hazardous journey. Small wages, bitter cold, long months of complete darkness, constant danger, safe return doubtful. Honor and recognition in case of success.”- Sir Ernest Shackleton, newspaper classified. |
|
Back to top |
|
|
desertgirl
Joined: 19 Jan 2003 Posts: 3350 Location: Chandler, AZ
|
Posted: 9/28/2011, 10:24 pm Post subject: |
|
|
|
|
Looks like a great trip there! Some day I have to get up to Wyoming!
_________________ Photos: http://www.pbase.com/desertgirl/galleries
Life is but a dream ...there is no end to what you can dream! |
|
Back to top |
|
|
wanderingsoul
Joined: 19 Jul 2004 Posts: 2285 Location: Gilbert AZ
|
Posted: 10/3/2011, 9:11 pm Post subject: |
|
|
|
|
Beautiful pictures and sounded like a wonderful trip. I'll have to get myself back to Jackson Hole and Yellowstone one of these days, its been a long long time since I went. _________________ Wanderingsoul (Michelle)
Positive Thinking Is the Spark that Makes Dreams Happen~~~Unknown |
|
Back to top |
|
|
GeorgAz
Joined: 04 Jan 2003 Posts: 815 Location: Scottsdale
|
Posted: 10/4/2011, 6:13 am Post subject: |
|
|
|
|
Wow! Cool! Needles and Canyonlands always blows me away! Great trip! Thanks! |
|
Back to top |
|
|
GTG Was lost but now am found
Joined: 30 Dec 2002 Posts: 2387 Location: Peoria, Arizona, originally from Rocket City, USA
|
Posted: 10/4/2011, 4:07 pm Post subject: |
|
|
|
|
Nice trip Lizard, good to see you around here again.
GTG _________________ Good things come to those who walk. |
|
Back to top |
|
|
Back to top
|
|
|
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum
|
|