Hiking Wyoming's Wind River Range by Ben Adkison

Author:Ben Adkison
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781493034642
Publisher: Falcon Guides
Published: 2018-03-26T16:00:00+00:00

ALTERNATE ROUTE: TIMICO LAKE TRAIL

From the junction south of Barnes Lake, at 9,770 feet, follow the Timico Lake Trail eastward, descending slightly into an expansive meadow. A good campsite lies south of the trail in a grove of pine above Fall Creek.

The seldom-used trail, with occasional moderate uphill grades, stays above the northwest banks of the creek, alternately entering stands of spruce and whitebark and lodge-pole pine or opening up into willow-clad meadows. Fall Creek ranges from a wide, placid stream in the meadows to a cascading roar of waters charging through miniature gorges.

The once-forested slopes rising southeast of Fall Creek were charred in the 1988 fire, but the blaze stopped its northward advance at the creek. Here travelers can appreciate the contrast between green forest and blackened snags.

Upon reaching a large, soggy meadow, the trail becomes obscure as it curves around the meadow’s northeast margin. Beyond the meadow, ford the stream—an easy, shallow wade for backpackers and pack stock alike. The trail then closely follows the southeast banks of the creek for 0.4 mile, entering another broad meadow. Massive 11,000- and 12,000-foot mountains encircle the upper reaches of the valley ahead.

About 2.3 miles from the Highline, the Fremont Trail (see hike 19: Fremont Trail— North Fork Lake to Pole Creek) joins in at 10,220 feet. North Fork Lake lies 4.8 miles southeast of this junction via the Fremont Trail.

The Highline Trail continues south from its junction with the Timico Lake Trail, descending 50 feet in 200 yards to a trouble-free ford of Fall Creek. Soon thereafter is a fork in the trail in the northern lobe of an expansive meadow. Follow either trail; they both require another ford of 15-foot-wide Fall Creek. The two trails rejoin after 0.75 mile at the meadow’s southern margin.

From the juncture of the two forks, a steady 200-foot descent leads past meadows and snags to the north shore of crescent-shaped Horseshoe Lake (brookies) and proceeds west. Soon the trail curves around the west shore but then leaves the lakeside and ascends among rocky knobs, staying well above the trout-inhabited waters. At length the trail leads back to the water’s edge at a wide ford of Fall Creek, in a pond below the lake’s outlet.

Beyond the ford the trail curves around the lake’s south shore. Within a stretch of 0.3 mile, take care to avoid two right-branching spurs of the Horseshoe Lake Trail, both of which lead south to the Boulder Lake Trailhead.

A steady ascent of 200 feet ensues, following a confined draw to the narrow waters of 9,679-foot Lake George, which also supports a brook trout fishery. The Highline closely follows the lakeshore for 0.4 mile and then ascends southward, away from the shore, to a junction with the North Fork Trail along the western margin of a linear meadow. That trail also leads to the Boulder Lake Trailhead through a landscape of rocky knobs and charred snags.

Bearing left at that junction, follow the Highline as it winds past meadows, granite knolls, and minor draws south of Lake George.

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