Stories of my travels to the tops of mountains and the bottoms of reefs.
Reading Time: 20 minutes Jim Creek Lake avoids all the attention that the rest of the Wind River Range receives. Should it? And can you even get to the trailhead given the terrible roads in the area?
Reading Time: 32 minutes Hiking to Granite Lake! I liked this trip enough that I changed plans during it to save some lakes as leftovers for another time. That said, I think if I’d taken any friends with me, they would no longer be my friends. The good news is that I have like 0 friends, so it wasn’t a problem. I wonder why that is?
Reading Time: 4 minutes The Mill Iron Ranch has exceptional food and company. We’ll be back.
Reading Time: 7 minutes Paintbrush Pass is an easy hike for people who get lost easily but are in shape, and it offers stunning views of the Cathedral Group. Being in the Tetons, it’s always going to come with crowds.
Reading Time: 16 minutes Blue Miner Lake and Sheep Mountain had great views, but were they worth the interminable, waterless climb?
Reading Time: 13 minutes Grizzly Lake offers some nice fall colors, but isn’t worth the hike in any season. A trip to the first pond on the hike might be worth it.
Reading Time: 28 minutes Simpson Lake holds a great deal of value: the walk is easy, the fish are plentiful, and the people aren’t to be found. It also has some fantastic history and decent scenery.
Reading Time: 16 minutes Jade Lakes, Rainbow Lake, and Upper and Lower Brooks Lakes are easily accessed and quite tame as a day or overnight hike. There are some important downsides to the area, however.
Reading Time: 11 minutes Lost Lake is a very short hike to a picturesque, colorful lake. It’s good for people who aren’t in shape, or for families with little children.
Reading Time: 16 minutes MacLeod Lake (also spelled McLeod and Macleod) is a scenic lake in a rocky bowl best accessed from Swift Creek Trailhead by those who win competitions climbing the Empire State Building and by those who just hate their lives and want them to be a little bit more miserable.
Reading Time: 2 minutes A lesser-used lake that’s a bit out of the way, but it still has nice views of the mountains.
Reading Time: 14 minutes What a blessing. The most value/mile of any short hike in the Winds or Cloud Peak Wilderness.
Reading Time: 2 minutes Boulder, CO—Scientists at the University of Colorado School of Geophysics have overturned a long-held world record for planetary heat here on Earth. While the record was previously held by Iran’s Lut Desert, it’s been definitively relegated into the realm of sweaty has-beens.
Reading Time: 4 minutes A quiet place with beautiful views in Grand Teton National Park? We were shocked to find out that such a thing exists.
Reading Time: 3 minutes The wreckage of United Flight 409 is an easy nature walk that most everyone should do!
Reading Time: 8 minutes Titcomb is a nice trip, though not my favorite. This trip was marked by poor weather which added a little bit of charisma to the place, though it being deserted is what made it truly memorable.
Reading Time: 12 minutes This hike covered both the Cirque of the Towers and Temple Basin. Which do you think is a better place to visit?
Reading Time: 6 minutes Upper Silas Lake is one of the few hikes in the Winds that can be an honest, easy day-hike. You won’t be rewarded with staggering scenery, but it’s better than being stuck in town, and the fishing is still fun!
Reading Time: 9 minutes Little Sandy Lake is an adventure, but is it a good one? The road to the trailhead doesn’t want you to know the answer to that question.
Reading Time: 9 minutes Slide Lake is one of my favorite day hikes that anyone in moderate physical fitness can do. It has some unique features along the trail (a giant waterslide and Fishbowl Springs) and decent views the entire way.
Reading Time: 12 minutes Clear Lake is a beautiful lake surrounded by cliffs. It can be done as a day hike but is best accomplished with enough time for one to fully take in the concept of eternal damnation. Everything else in this post is tops!
Reading Time: 16 minutes Pyramid Lake was rumored to have golden trout, so we decided to tackle it and look at the Hooker, too.
Reading Time: 15 minutes This 26-mile hike can be made into a much better hike than I had, though I wasn’t equipped with the appropriate knowledge to make it really fantastic at the time. It’s great for people who want good fishing with camping locations which are downright hospitable.
Reading Time: 26 minutes We did Elkhart Park to Green River Lakes in just under 4 days, but it’s probably nicer if you do it in 5. You’d be an absolute loon to do this trip the opposite way around. While many people utilize Knapsack Col, we used the CDT in order to fish for golden trout and to see extra lakes.
Reading Time: 6 minutes Donald Lake has excellent fishing for brookies and is a very low-use area of the Wind River Range. It’s also one of the easiest hikes you can do and only has a low number of miles. Most people looking for a hike of this distance will probably want to do this as an overnight hike in order to maximize time at this picturesque lake.