August 2017 - Day 15 (day 2-of-3 Green River Trailhead)

Friday, August 18, 2017 - Day 2-of-3 hiking 3 days-2 nights Green River Trailhead. Today was New Fork Trail - 11.66 miles in 6 hours 3 minutes (going east-to-west/right-to-left):


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 fifth pair are:

Albert Bierstadt - "Island Lake, Wind River Range, Wyoming", 1861 (Whitney Western Art Museum, Cody, WY):


Alfred Jacob Miller - "Trappers Saluting the Wind River Mountains", 1864 (Whitney Western Art Museum, Cody, WY):


I HAD A GREAT SLEEP LAST NIGHT!! Maybe it was "the long hike and then just go to bed (in the dark)", maybe it was the bed of pine needles ... Early morning tent:

All packed up and ready to go (7 AM):


20 minutes later I had filled my water bottles:


The morning-light on the mountains is pretty cool:


At 8 AM, when I tried to cross Trail Creek, there was NO BRIDGE. I slipped and got my boots and socks wet. An hour later, the sun was out and I was in a clearing, so off-they-came and dried on a rock (after a while I put on my other [dry] pair of socks):

My stay-in-the-sunshine allowed me to drink, snack, and review the trail-book that I had brought along.

Headed up (west) New Fork Trail:

and, just east of Clark Lake, ran into an older woman with a sick dog (his feet were hurting). I was able to give her some advice about the trail I had just done, plus the one yesterday, and I gave her a bottle's worth of my water. Hey, it's what you do, and I was heading for some more streams, anyway.

At 10:30, Clark Lake is beautiful:


Continue hiking up the pass/valley:

until you can look back and get an UNBELIEVABLE VIEW:


Continue over the pass until you can see where you are heading - WEST:



Looking down on one of the Lozier Lakes:


35 minutes later, looking back at Kenny Lake:

I especially like the "dead-tree-on-the-boulder" in the center of the picture!

You keep going west, until you top a pass and the beauty of the New Fork Park/canyon spreads out below you:


Looking north up at the range:


Then an hour later, going further down into the valley:


Got to my tent site around 4, set up my socks-to-dry and my solar-stuff-to-charge, and read and did sudoku and listened to goodsongs (90 songs I grouped into 1 album on my purple nano). This looks like the perfect spot:



Mountain views before turning in for the night:


Not a "good night's sleep", but I poked my head out at 2 AM and saw a TON OF STARS!!!. Thank you God for this wonderful adventure day!