On the way back down we see a moose at the upper end of the lake and end up chasing him down the trail. One of the ways I support my Trout Bumming lifestyle is to work as a fly fishing guide. Were not impressed with the camp sites we find in the area and decide to head to the north end after lunch. There is supposedly an easy path to the north end about 175 above the lake but we cant find it so we drop back down to the edge of the lake and follow the rough path there. Wind River Range Backpacking Video. Most of the day was off-trail. My favorite fly in the Winds is a #8 or #10 Cathy Becks Super Beetle.
Golden trout eggs from California were first introduced to Cook Lakes in the Wind River Range by the U.S. Forest Service in 1920. To me, this means using WAG bags for human excrement. I came here to escape the Dalllas heat and BPL inspired me to go to Wyoming instead of Colorado this summer. | Store We lose the path through a wet area but find it again later. The North Fork Popo Agie begins at the outflow of Lonesome Lake at the very foot of Mitchell Peak. The shallow end of the lake represented perhaps half the total acreage, yet I saw no sign of cruising or rising trout. In 3.7 miles, turn right onto Fish Hatchery Rd./NF 411. The Wind River Range is rightfully famous for its scenic alpine lakes and its stillwater fishing, but it also forms the headwaters of some of Wyomings most important watersheds. Much of the North Fork Popo Agie is inside the Wind River Indian Reservation, but you can hike to the headwater areas inside the Popo Agie Wilderness. However, its only a huge problem for the unprepared. If youve ever seen these planktonic crustaceans (also called water fleas) in an aquarium, youll see they are often bright orange. We cross a swampy area and then to the west side of East Torrey Creek. The WGFD hosts a searchable database of all the lakes they stock at wgfd.wyo.gov including number of fish, size, species, and dates. Even when you do spook a trout, leave the fly out there for another minute, and another will come along and find it. What Color Lure To Use for Deep Water Fishing? Here is upper Titcomb Lake from a ridge of Mistake Lake: I have found that I really really enjoy the work. Depending on the time of year, we fish several different rivers, lakes and mountain streams in the area. Day 1: We follow the Bomber Basin/Glacier Trail south into Bomber Basin, on the east side of East Torrey Creek. High alpine lakes are a hard-earned privilege. The wrap-up: We were all glad we did the trip but agreed that we dont want to do that again. 
Get access to more than 30 brands, premium video, exclusive content, events, mapping, and more. and uncivilized remote areas so I choose to guide in During this period, Mitchell and his father Henry stocked more than 2.5 million trout in 314 different lakes in the Wind River Range, using milk cans and horses to carry trout into remote lakes. His book Wind River Trails: A Hiking and Fishing Guide to the Many Trails and Lakes of the Wind River Range in Wyoming (1975) has hand-drawn maps of lakes, streams, and peaks, and details on more than 50 trails. Once we finally get through that we can see that we are near the end of Upper Ross Lake, though still way above. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-i6Rh-dbvkY&index=2&list=UUntAbFS5jsqgid6Ybqc0Izg. Much of the east side lies within the Wind River Indian Reservation, and fishing requires a tribal fishing permit and recreation stamp available at sporting good stores in Lander or at the Shoshone & Arapaho Fish and Game Office in Fort Washakie. First, I experienced some great fishing for Rainbows on Ross Lake (big rainbows)and cutties from Hidden Lake. We follow a path along the lake to a huge granite outcropping just before the outlet. It looks like theres a way to get around it but its very risky, with a mistake sending one sliding down into the lake. Ross Lake is a lake located just 37.4 miles from Pinedale, in Fremont County, in the state of Wyoming, United States, near Dubois, WY. All of them were brilliant yellow-gold, with broad red stripes, brilliant scarlet fins edged in white, and rose-colored gill plates. Have heard there are big fish but people have said Lake Nelson is better fishing. You must be logged in to reply to this topic. Sign up for Outside+ today. Lifestyles | About Us Create a personalized feed and bookmark your favorites. He was twice elected to the Wyoming House of Representatives (1955 to 1958) but he never campaigned. The largest Bighorn herd in the US lives on Whiskey Mountain, which overlooks the town. We definitely had solitude. -Hike provided by Ron Adkison, author of Hiking Wyomings Wind River Range (FalconGuide). the Wind River Mountains of Wyoming. Please be mindful of our values and boundaries and review our Community Guidelines prior to posting. I like wilderness I used Big Sandy Lodge (big-sandy-lodge.com) for a gear drop on my recent trip. Rules like these were introduced mainly to avoid introducing fecal matter to lakes and streams, but we can do much more to avoid our own water-polluting potential. To this day I dont know the name of the lake, and couldnt point to it on a map. This particular area of Wyoming is very rugged, pristine and filled with wildlife. Fires are allowed in some areas of the Wind River Range in designated locations. We arrived at the shallow outflow end of the lake, and hiked along the boggy shoreline aiming for the deep end. Tent spot on the terrace just above the lake. These lakes provide so much opportunity to learn visuallyto see the trout and see how they react to your movements and your fliesthat I cant imagine a better classroom for aspiring fly fishers. Info: Wind River Ranger District: (307) 455-2466; www.fs.fed.us/r2/shoshone. $150 (based on availability). I have found that I really really enjoy the work. The trout have only a few months to feed heavily, and the lakes are relatively infertile, so in most instances they will fall for a Parachute Adams or a Foam Beetle as long as theres no line splashdown, and the fly is anywhere in their field of view. Head out on this 10.8-mile out-and-back trail near Dubois, Wyoming. A single Daphnia is too small to imitate with a fly, but goldens seem to react positively to bright orange scud patterns, eggs, or a dark Woolly Bugger with a small bright bead on the front. Generally considered a challenging route, it takes an average of 7 h 3 min to complete. Its tough but its good. Dont be that person who pitches a tent in the fragile terrain right along the shoreline of a scenic lake. Below the Mile Long Lake outlet we find a really good path leading to the upper end of Upper Ross Lake. Switchback central In most of these wilderness areas you are required to camp at least 200 feet from a lake or streamsome signs dictate mile. At the bottom end is a broad flat area near the inlet of Ross Lake where many people have camped before. Day 2: We awake to a temperature of 30 and a mix of sleet and freezing rain with a few snowflakes thrown in. the road ahead is narrow and rough, with rocky stretches and potholes, but it's passable to low-clearance vehicles.
Can you fish in Upper Ross Lake? The people you see with fishing rods strapped to their backpacks are often there primarily for other reasons, and many of them are poor anglers. day $275 / full day $375 2 person - 1/2 day $375 / It seemed like our group leader Casey Sheahan had been to this lake many times, and the place was something of a family shrine, so I planned on keeping it that way. $425 2 person - full day $475. Create a free account on Fishbrain to know the exact BiteTime (fishing forecast) for any fish, explore fishing spots, and save relevant baits to prepare for your next fishing trip. There are more than 2,000 lakes in the Wind River Range, and more than 500 of them contain trout. In both elections, he received 90% of the vote. In some years, there are complete fire bans in Shoshone National Forest and Bridger-Teton National Forest. Cody, WY 82414 You couldnt pound in a stake, so we secured the tent flys with some loose bowling ball-sized boulders, and rearranged them when we left. I saw some amazing scenery, but I had to do a lot of last minute changes to my hiking plans because of the high snow, which made it nearly impossible to cross the continental divide. )~~, (1050) , 100 , 9. (Ben Annibali photo). We werent eating nearly enough for the amount of work we were doing. Shoshone National Forest https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMpLLone6Sw |
Loads of wildflowers in July. When you research your own Wind River Range adventure, you will likely read much about mosquitoes. You dont have to carry all your gear yourself. After descending we find the path again. provided by your guide max of 2 anglers per guide The next day we started in the creek running into Pyramid Lake. spell dr usa caster park north bristol center removal brandon jacksonville valley spiritual east hex healing falls They didnt say the name of the lake, and I didnt ask. (LogOut/ 1/2-day $75 full day $100 drift boat or float tube At the Big Sandy Trailhead, you will follow the Big Sandy River toward its snowy sources. 808 Meadow Lane Avenue 
The Union Pacific Railroad rehired him in 1940, but Mitchell continued to hike, climb, fish, and photograph the Wind River Range. The Middle is accessible from the Popo Agie Falls Trailone of the few places where youd want to start fishing close to the trailhead. We started with dry flies at the deep end of the lake, and although nothing was rising, it didnt take long to catch our first goldensstout, thick little trout that rose vertically, appearing first as specks perhaps 30 feet down in the clear water below us and coming all the way to the surface just for our flies. mill charles lake ohio park state lasr campgrounds How to Catch Catfish: 5 Methods You have to Try. Tips, tactics, gear reviews for everything from bass and bluegills to stripers and bluefish - if it's fishing related, we cover it. Give a Gift
If you are in the area, visit The Rise of the Sinks in Sinks Canyon State Park, where the Middle Fork of the Popo Agie River reappears after flowing into a limestone cavern a quarter mile upstream. RC got out his brand-new Tenkara rod and got his fly wet. I also do guided photography tours! I make a wrong turn and lose the path at a boulder field, thinking its where we need to climb up and around the outlet of Crystal Lake. The journey starts when you zoom in on the satellite view in Google Maps. The only thing thats changed is themselves. There are no real secrets for people willing to do some research, and then take a very long walk. Thats what I found on my most recent trip into the Winds in July 2021, when I took two of my adult children and several of their friends into the Wind River Range. His photos were some of the first ever published from the spectacular mountain range, and he became well known through his speaking engagements and slide shows, which he used to promote conservation in the Winds and throughout Wyoming. For your campsite, use a Thermacell Backpacker Mosquito Repeller. Phone: (307) 455-2466 The best times to visit this trail are July through October. Most high alpine lakes in the Wind River Range were historically barren. Take the left fork, which is signed for Ring Lake Ranch and RF 411. TO TRAILHEAD: From Dubois, WY, head south on E. Ramshorn St./US 26/US 287. At the south end, snowmelt in the Popo Agie Wilderness creates the North and the Middle forks of the Popo Agie (pronounced puh-POE-zha, meaning beginning of the waters). The trail is mostly level until the last couple miles where it drops about 2600. Boy Scouts, youth groups, families, and organized schools all use these mountains to recreate and to teach and to learn. There are lots of trees on the ground, hidden by wet knee-high grass. the Much route-finding and boulder-hopping but the weather was great. There is a path for much of this, though it disappears through a burned area and then dumps you into yet another small boulder field.
While my first trip into the Winds was a story of accomplished, experienced anglers hunting large, elusive trout, those types of expeditions are the exception rather than the norm. This years trip in Wyomings Wind River Range was 7 days in the Fitzpatrick Wilderness, in the northeast area. All Rights Reserved.
Our premium articles include in depth journalism and insights from the Backpacking Light editorial team. Nancy Pallisters great book describes the route (#42 in 2nd edition) as 22 miles but most is off-trail so we expected some tough slow hiking and thats exactly what we got. Get full access to Outside Learn, our online education hub featuring in-depth fitness, nutrition, and adventure courses and more than 2,000 instructional videos when you sign up for Outside+ Come join us for the trip of a lifetime! We decide to stay there instead of continuing a bit farther to the possibly-more-scenic peninsula. We pitched our tents after dark that night where the stream flowed out of a lake, and fell asleep with the sounds of trout sloshing and slurping in the outflow. The so-called trout pool here is something to see, even though theres no fishing allowed. Proseks boots werent up to the mileage. We stowed our rods and hiked past a fortress-like headwall to where the highest lake in the watershed was nestled in an alcove strewn with lichen-painted boulders and wildflowers. This is a link to a collection of videos and pictures from the trip. Both of these basins were gouged-out by glaciers and it really showed, with the characteristic U-shape and lots of grooved granite slabs. Disconnect. Day 6: Our destination is the camp sites a little north of the Ross Lake outlet. The 142-page, pack-size book includes many of Mitchells own black-and-white photographs of lakes, peaks, and glaciers, plus a few of Mitchells Fishing Camp. He did all this without ever owning a compass. It begins raining lightly during the night. I recount my own introduction to the Wind River Range not to encourage you to find this one particular lake, but as a prototypical example of what you may find for yourself, starting with some intellectual effort, and ending with some physical suffering. Our group included Sheahan, who at that time was the president of Patagonia, Patagonia founder and owner Yvon Chouinard, artist James Prosek, and Sheahans good friend Mike Moore. Get the top Fly Fisherman stories delivered right to your inbox. Very slow going. From the top of the knob we can see what is apparently some of the bomber wreckage by the creek below. All rights reserved. Follow the road south for several yards to a fork just beyond the cattle guard. After the plaque was installed, Mitchell climbed the mountain seven more times. To get started, click the link below to visit mymagnow.com and learn how to access your digital magazine. Too many trees to get a picture of the waterfall, in fact we cant easily get close enough to even see it.
The book sold thousands of copies over the decades and is widely available from used booksellers today. Dont camp in low-lying areas, and wear long pants and hooded, long-sleeve shirts treated with permethrin. Make sure to check this page before fishing for the most up to date rules and regulations for the current season. Accomplices this year were RC and CC, both also on last years trip. Hours: 8:00 a.m.4:30 p.m. MT (Monday-Friday) Photography Tours click here. Whether youre a fisherman, climber, photographer, or backpacker, we all owe a debt of gratitude to the original mountain man of the Wind River Range. We cant get around it along the creek so we climb up to go around the top and stay high for awhile. We saw 4 people today 2 dayhikers that passed us on a round-trip to Bomber Falls, and two backpackers above the Falls headed north. available for walk & wade as well as hike & fish Nice scenery, LOTS of switchbacks. Disclaimer Please use your best judgement when determining where you can fish, and make sure you follow local regulations. I wondered if we had walked all the way here to catch golden trout that didnt exist. Managing Menhaden: The Most Important Fish in the Sea, 2021 Fly Fisherman Father's Day Gift Guide, How to Remove Wind Knots and Snarls from Leaders and Tippet, Fly Tying Paramore's Thunder Thighs Hopper, Rigging Your Tackle - Loop to Loop Connection, Ive found that alpine trout love the shallows. Learn what hours to go fishing at Upper Ross Lake. 2022 Outdoor Sportsman Group. Some lakes with good inflow and outflow streams now have naturally reproducing trout populations descended from trout stocked by state and federal agencies, and by individuals like Finis Mitchell. I spent a month in July Backpacking and Fishing the Wind River Range. The hike is very difficult if youre backpacking. Login or become a member to post in the member forums! And come back a week or two later to find everything is just the same as they left it. This feature requires an active Backpacking Light Membership. I like wilderness All Fly Fisherman subscribers now have digital access to their magazine content. There is no water in that area so CC and I go back down to the lake to get 10 liters of water to last us through tomorrows hike out. I saw some great territory in an off trail basin off the Pole creek trail. For golden trout, things are a little trickier. Finis Mitchell had a stroke in 1982 but continued to hike solo throughout the Wind River Range. addition - full day $125/each private pond access - We never do see any Bighorn Sheep.
These public lands are yours, and the water is always icy. Check out our Fishing Times chart to determine when the fish will be most active. Its 50 feet away and headed almost straight at us but apparently doesnt see us until we yell. Bring plenty of water. In the meadows its easy to spot trout in the flat water, and casting is a breeze. My theory is that golden trout in the Winds feed deeper than most alpine trout because thats where the Daphnia are. The walking isnt much easier over here still lots of deadfall and wet areas. Here I caught my first golden trout. We find a place out of the way amongst some big rocks. When I go to bed I discover my air mattress has a leak. Lake is still frozen, This lake is one of the most beautiful Ive seen. This was another long and exhausting day, covering only about 3.5 miles. 
And this is the view of the peaks near Photographers Point about 4 miles away from Elkhart Park: Here are some time lapses done with my gopro hero 3 silver addition of sunrises on a number of basins: Pyramid Lake was obviously very productive, with caddis all over the submerged rocks, and 18-inch+ cutthroats rising freely like cattle in a feedlot. day $250 / full day $350 2 person - 1/2 day $350 / The state continued to harvest eggs from wild stock until 2007, when they began using captive broodstock at Story Hatchery near Sheridan, Wyoming. Nice Pictures and video. They were everywherein the shallows, in the deep water, and of course around structure like sunken boulders and drowned logs. It begins snowing a bit before we wade across the outlet, which is one of the diciest crossings weve ever done. kangaroos neale cleland ewe loch wester Follow the good, wide gravel road south. Still, this isnt a match-the-hatch situation youd expect to see on tailwaters and spring creeks, where there is a ton of food to choose from. So dont make the same mistake we did and plan for an 11 mile hike thats actually 13. There are numerous outfitters in Pinedale, Dubois, and Lander who will pack you or your gear in/out of the mountains for a fee. We are all exhausted after going only 4 miles. A Membership is required to post in the forums. One of the ways I support my Trout Bumming lifestyle is to work as a fly fishing guide. The first time I fished the Wind River Range, I was invited to go with a group of guys who had a secret golden trout lake.
It really is that beautiful. Its about 1 mile so we think this will be a pretty easy day. The lake was flat as a window. and uncivilized remote areas so I choose to guide in We began the trip almost a week earlier with breakfast at the Cowboy Cafe in Dubois so it seems fitting. Beautiful long day hike. Brutal initial climb on beautifully terraced trail from 7200 to 10200, nice long walk across high meadow, something on order of 500 drop to Ross Lake. We finally arrive for real at the boulder field below Crystal Lake and decide to follow the path along the lake instead of ascending and going around as Nancy Pallister advises. full day $475. Hope to come back one day. The range is also a major source of the namesake Wind River, where Torrey Creek and Bull Lake Creek drain the east side of the Continental Divide. Day 3: We follow a path along the south side of Bomber Lake toward the inlet and then ascend along the creek up into the woods. First of all, this trail is NOT 10.8 miles out and back. In 1977, the University of Wyoming awarded Mitchell an honorary Doctor of Laws degree for outstanding service in environmental awareness and conservation.
He made it a habit to stay in the mountains while the election was in process, and only returned to the state capital while the legislature was in session. I avoided the crowds by camping at the inlet and its many waterfalls. Fishing regulations in Wyoming can change throughout the year. Stopped for lunch at the Cowboy Cafe. It does prove to be one of our easier days, though it still took about 5 hours to go 2 miles. In 0.3 mile, turn left to stay on Trail Lake Rd. The fishing was amazing if a person was willing to go a little bit off trail. Contact Us | Links, Ross Lake in lake float trips both full and 1/2-day trips At the Green River Lakes Trailhead near Pinedalea major access point on the northwest side of the rangeyou will begin your hike along miles of the Green River. Born in 1901, Finis Mitchell lost his job at the start of the Great Depression and started his own guiding and outfitting business called Mitchells Fishing Camp (now Big Sandy Lodge), which he operated between 1930 and 1937. Golden trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss aguabonita) are native to the Kern Plateau in Californias Sierra Nevada mountains, where they became isolated from ocean-going rainbows about 20,000 to 30,000 years ago, and evolved into perhaps one of the most beautiful trout subspecies in the world. Home Forums Campfire Member Trip Reports Wind River Range July 2014 Backpacking and Fishing Video, time lapse, and Pictures. I entered the east side of the range from Dubois (hiked the Ross Lake area) and the west side of the range from Pinedale and the Elkhart trailhead. However, the twentysomething adventurers I hiked with were ranged from novice to first-time fly fishers, and for them, the size of the fish was irrelevant. By 1955, golden trout were widely proliferated across the Wind River Range, and the Wyoming Game and Fish Department began using Surprise Lake (also in the Wind River Range) as a source of broodstock for its stocking efforts. There are no golden trout, and the glacial lakes there may represent the poorest fishing in the Wind River Range because the fish are generally small. If you follow the Continental Divide Trail from here, you will pass the very source of the Green River, grunt and groan over Knapsack Col, and then descend into the famous Titcomb Basin. It also contains three distinct wilderness areasthe Bridger Wilderness, Fitzpatrick Wilderness, and Popo Agie Wilderness. These fish were definitely the best fish that I've ever tastedfatty and red meat like Alaskan salmon: I just had to go to Titcomb Basin even though I normally avoid crowds. The trail was difficult but the views were amazing. We encounter a medium-size (probably black) bear near the creek. Whether youre fly fishing, spinning or baitcasting your chances of getting a bite here are good. The Wind River Range is massive, and encompasses multiple jurisdictions, including the Shoshone National Forest, Bridger-Teton National Forest, and the Wind River Indian Reservation. And at this elevation you dont have to worry about river closures, hoot owl restrictions, or warm water temperatures that can spoil a fishing trip. Day 7: We continue north on the Ross Lake Trail, climbing switchbacks through a steep area to a big meadow on the flanks of Whiskey Mountain. The New Fork River also starts nearby at the outlet of Lozier Lake. We cross on a pile of logs. All trips include rods, reels, flies, line, Ross Purnell is the editor/publisher of Fly Fisherman. Want to report conditions for this trail? Its one of the few times Congress has named a landform after a living American, and the summit plaque shows a record of Mitchells previous 11 ascents. I dont mind revealing to Fly Fisherman readers exactly where we were, because the Cirque is mainly a rock-climbing destination. With a switch to deeper strategies, we immediately started getting bigger golden troutold males with long kypes describing many years of spawning maturity, and powerful females with small heads and thick bodies. Please provide us credit when referencing our material. They should not be confused with the so-called golden trout raised in so many state fish hatcheries in the East, which are artificially bred, genetically mutated rainbow trout (aka palomino trout, banana trout, or lightning trout).
But this lake shattered that paradigm. The next day we hiked many more miles, past little creeks where we filled our water bottles freely, along the shorelines of several other lakes where we could easily spot the shapes of cruising trout, and finally we dropped our packs in a glorious cirque where a pyramid-shaped, 1,000-foot pinnacle of granite rose from the depths of an aquamarine lake. Here we find paths leading to the outlet and some much easier walking. Drop into a series of glacier-gouged domes and knolls and end at the northern arm of 2-mile-long Ross Lake. Wind River Ranger District