August 2017 - Day 14 (day 1-of-3 Green River Trailhead)

Thursday, August 17, 2017 - Day 1-of-3 hiking 3 days-2 nights Green River Trailhead:



There are a number of reasons why I wanted to do this August 2017 trip - visit family and friends, 2 Counting Crows concerts, visit Art Museums, hike in Colorado, see the Total Eclipse - but maybe the main reason is to hike up in the Wind River Range in Wyoming. Both Albert Bierstadt and Alfred Jacob Miller have painted in that area, and I will share paintings from each for the 6 blogs I have about hiking in the Wind River Range. The fourth pair are:

Albert Bierstadt - "Wind River Country", 1860 (Denver Art Museum, Denver, CO):


Alfred Jacob Miller - "Wind River Country", n.d. (Whitney Western Art Museum, Cody, WY):


Got up at first light to capture the morning light on The Tetons:


Then a GREAT breakfast at Cafe Genevieve in Jackson, with coffee strong enough to make you feel like you could wrestle a grizzly bear, and win! Then down the road, alongside the Hoback River. A tributary of the Snake River, the entire length of the Hoback is free flowing and unobstructed by dams.:


Up into the Bridger National Forest:



When they say "End of paved road", they really mean it:


Once again, "parking like Woodstock":

but as soon as you hit the trail, it all goes away:


I wound up hiking 15 miles today, in 6 hours 33 minutes, starting a little after 2 PM:

but as you can see, it was almost-flat for the first 12 miles, with all the gain in the last 3 miles:


The beauty in this Green River Lakes area is spectacular:




And some people are really enjoying themselves!



It is great going alongside the river:

with Squaretop Mountain the central point of the landscape:


The hours went by, and the miles went by, and by 7:30 PM the mountains on the east side of the valley were ablaze:


The sun was going down, and it was starting to get dark, when God plopped the PERFECT CAMPSITE down in front of me (pictures tomorrow). Set up my tent, crawled in, and went sound asleep. WOW - Thank you God for this wonderful day!

Music for today was albums from my purple nano:

Stevie Wonder - Songs in the Key of Life, 1976 double-album


Echo & the Bunnymen - Songs to Learn & Sing, 1985 greatest hits album


Annie Lennox - Songs of Mass Destruction, 2007