Off Trail and Up High: A Wind Rivers Traverse
Ambassadors, Zach and Cindi Lou Grant, can be found snowboarding and traversing snow covered peaks in the winter, and backpacking, fishing, hiking, climbing and mountain biking in the summer. Their pup, Yoda Bear, often tags along on their many adventures. Read more about their travels on their personal page Backcountry Living. Written by Cindi, and photography by Zach and Kordell Black.
There is a place where our continent is hydrologically divided east and west by a beautiful granite massif. Although the continental divide extends 8,000 miles from Alaska to Patagonia we set our sights on the Wyoming sector, The Wind River Range. This destination has provided Zach and I with a place to retreat and reset before the snow flies each year. This being Zach’s decade year to the range, and with aspirations to ride there, we decided to traverse the whole range north to south staying as high as possible.
We scouted untouched lines, caught lots of beautiful fish, and mostly, Zach Grant, Kordell Black and I walked for a long time. There is a certain priceless clearing that happens to the mind when long days are spent in the wilderness. I see it as a moving meditation but instead of trying to be in my head, I’m trying to be fully present in this incredible place, taking it all in.
As the miles add up we pass through one incredible place after another, we adopt the routine of packing, walking, navigating, and camping every day. We quickly adapt to the endurance of our pace and our heavy packs, the consistency never allows our muscles to tighten up and the daily movement becomes welcome. We would collect the purest water with our MSR pump and our handy Lifestraw from all the abundant water along the way.
The lines we find ourselves surrounded by are incredible and we dream of these couloirs filled with Wyoming powder. The trip is paying off big when we find new ways we will be able to access this range on our splitboards. We create link ups and scree scramble through tight places with winter in mind. We spent most of our traverse off trail, and terrain navigation became the name of the game. One day we got lucky to find a shoe wide ledge that we had to cross 30 feet above a deep lake. We carefully crossed it and assisted Yoda, our dog along to gain access to a small patch of grass we would call home that night. The beautiful alpine lakes pass can be seen in the distance in that photo.
We caught huge Mackinaw and exotic golden trout in the pristine high alpine lakes. Lucky lures and juicy looking hoppers were the ticket to dinner. We found awesome places to rest each night, and the clear skies filled our nights with starry wonderment.
Our dog Yoda Bear did amazingly well for the amount of boulder hopping that was required. He was stoked to get to camp each night and give the paws a rest. His pack got lighter as the days went on and he couldn’t help but chase squirrels into their holes as we hiked past.
One night we spent fishing a lake that has been a favorite of ours for years. In the distance we heard the load calls of climbers in the face of Mt. Hooker and it piqued our interest. As the sun set and the darkness crept in we saw their head lamps on the 1800 foot wall. I stayed up to watch and listen with awe as they topped out around midnight.
One day we went over a col that has never been documented. We called our original link up Tress Pass because it goes into the native reservation. It was by far the most technical part of our trip as we ascended from Sheila Lake to the tress pass. We lowered Yoda dog down carefully into the loose scree chute from where our descent began inside a cave. After we got off the exposed shale face and onto the glacier we looked back in relief and checked it off the list.
As we reached the southern end of the range and our trip was nearing its end we passed by the infamous Cirque of the Towers. All in all with 12 days and 100+ miles behind us we entered back into society with full hearts and focused minds. For us, this was the most refreshing way to mark the end of summer and turn our thoughts to snow, just in time for our best friend, winter, to start the battle of the seasons.