Wind Rivers

**BillyBob58** · 07-04-2009, 17:22

Originally Posted by warbonnetguy

ok, cool, i can see why they call it that, lonesome lake, i think that's where or near the place i wanted to check out, cirque of the towers: http://www.waltonsmountains.com/mtns/cot.html

Yep, Lonesome Lake sits right in the middle of the cirque of the towers.

here's the warbonnet peak (in the idaho sawtooth) i got my name from
http://www.summitpost.org/mountain/r...nnet-peak.html

WOW! That is one beautiful peak there! The Sawtooths definitely live up to their name. Well, I thought I had a peak for your logo, but looks like you already have one. I didn't know there was a Warbonnet peak in the Sawtooths.

It reminds me of these peaks http://www.hammockforums.net/forum/a...3&d=1246664028 , above Shadow Lake, on the far right of the 4th pic in post #6 above, if you blow it up some for a closer view. I don't know if this is Sharks Nose or Pylon or Warrior Peaks, or some combo of all (likely). However, in that pic, you are looking at the back side of the Cirque of the Towers, which- with Lonesome Lake- is on the other side of those peaks. In some ways you actually have a better view of the COT's peaks from Shadow Lake on the other side. Of course, what you do is hike up Washaki Creek past Shadow Lake to Texas lake and then OVER Texas Pass( to the far left of those peaks in pic#4 of post#6) and down into Lonesome Lake. Or do it in reverse. Then you see it from all angles. But let me tell ya, for an old guy like me going from sea level to altitude, hiking over Jack Arse Pass to Lonesome L. and then over Texas Pass to Texas/Shadow Lake ( or vice versa) is some serious ba*l busting hiking. All the more reason to be able to settle into a hammock after all day of that!

**BillyBob58** · 07-04-2009, 17:29

Originally Posted by pgibson

............. BillyBob have you been able to hike up there before? It really is a great place and it is nice to have it so close but there are so many places that I would love to hike this thread has got me wanting to add the Winds to that list.

Paul

I have never hiked the Sawtooths. I have only car camped at their base. I think it might have been at a Redfish Lake? Any way, I saw those jagged Sierra/Wind River like peaks and told myself I was going to get in there ASAP. That was 20 years ago and I have not made it yet! I have nearly done it several times ( from MS) but I always end up choosing a known entity, whose trails and off trail I am so familiar and happy with, the Winds.

**BillyBob58** · 07-04-2009, 17:40

Originally Posted by warbonnetguy

paul, are you in Boise?

my wife's family lives in Hailey, just south of sun valley, so i'm there a couple times a year

the sawtooth's are pretty awesome. you should really get back to the warbonnet lakes area. you have to hike up and over a saddle (actually 2 adjacent saddles) (there's a faint climber trail) and the descent on the other side is basically sliding down a 200' scree slope, but it's friggin' awesome. a series of tiny cascading lakes starting at the top of a narrow cirque with big steep walls on both sides. very highly recomended. going up and over that saddle can be dangerous till after the snow melts (maybe later in july) unless you have some crampons and maybe an axe. it's just a short section, but if you fell, you'd slide untill you ran out of snow.

I've got to do this. Is there any reasonable hangin spots? Pics of Bead Lake looked like sthere were some possibilities.

**pgibson** · 07-04-2009, 23:12

LOL, WarbonetGuy. We chated about your fam in Hailey and all that stuff several weeks ago.

lots of great spots up their. A person could hike a diffrent trail to a diffrent lake every weekend and not hit the same one for years. BillyBob. There are only a few lakes in the hole range that would not work to hang at. Hoping to get in on a trip up to the Sawtooths in a few weeks with my new BB 1.1 double

**warbonnetguy** · 07-05-2009, 11:00

Originally Posted by pgibson

LOL, WarbonetGuy. We chated about your fam in Hailey and all that stuff several weeks ago.

lots of great spots up their. A person could hike a diffrent trail to a diffrent lake every weekend and not hit the same one for years. BillyBob. There are only a few lakes in the hole range that would not work to hang at. Hoping to get in on a trip up to the Sawtooths in a few weeks with my new BB 1.1 double

ah yes, i forgot that you were who i spoke with on the phone (i'm easily confused). i do remember our conversation though.

i may be up there in august. was hoping to do a little climbing with my brother in law possibly.

**warbonnetguy** · 07-05-2009, 11:06

Originally Posted by BillyBob58

I've got to do this. Is there any reasonable hangin spots? Pics of Bead Lake looked like sthere were some possibilities.

yeah, like pg said, hundreds of tiny lakes, and the hanging options are ample. we didn't camp at the warbonnet lakes, just day hiked over the saddle 2 days in a row. but even those tiny lakes had trees around them, little mini forest ecosystems, very cool. i've got some pics, but they aren't on the pc and i don't have a scanner. lots of forest back in there. from the pics it looks like there are alot of treeless terrain, but it seems like it's mainly the peaks themselves, i don't think you'd have any problem hanging the whole time.

**pgibson** · 07-05-2009, 12:19

Originally Posted by warbonnetguy

ah yes, i forgot that you you i spoke with on the phone (i'm easily confused). i do remember our conversation though.

i may be up there in august. was hoping to do a little climbing with my brother in law possibly.

No Problems,

I know how it can be to have fifty conversations a day by phone, email, txt, and git to were everything runs together in a blur. Y should deffinatly take some time off---right after you finish up my BB---

If you do make it up give me a holler, I don't climb much any more but am always looking for folks to get out and hike and camp with.

And yah all my my photos of up in the Sawtooths are old prints as well, hope to get a new digital this summer for my trips (X)(X)-fingers crossed- But there are so many places up there to camp that if one lake dose not work for you or there is somebody at it you could just keep on the trail for another 1/2 hour and be at any number of spots that would work. Like WBG said many of the peaks them selves have little to no vegetation but around the numerous streams and Hundreds of lakes throughout the range.

Paul

**pgibson** · 07-05-2009, 18:32

Ok I dug a bit and found a few sawtooth pics to share.

Sorry for this one being so big but a small one dose not do it any justice!

Ok that is at Alpine lake-well one of them that goes by that name in the range. Me an my buddy (him in the photo) drove the three hours form Boise to the Iron creek trail head and hiked in 4 miles and about 1500 feet gain with fly gear, a float tube, waders, fins, full SLR with 3 lenses, and fished for the afternoon. He caught those two, one from the tube about mid lake and one from the bank wile I paddled across the lake to take a picture of the water fall on the other side. Mine broke the leader about 5 feet from the bank. Then we hiked out and drove home for dinner. A few days latter we went back and spent the night stealth camping under a tarp on the far side of the lake. We had a doe and her little baby deer just out of spots hanging around camp all night about 20 feet from us the hole time. But no matter what we tried we could not even get a bite.

This is Martin lake

This is Kelly lake, just a little over a mile further down the trail from Martin

Another one of Kelly lake

And one on the trail to Martin and Kelly --My wife and Dog #1
We hiked in to these lakes for an overnighter a few years ago, did not see a single person the hole time we were on the trail and when we came out we checked the trail head register and no body else had been on the trail for weeks.

I will try to find some more to show off some more of the Sawtooths when I can play with my dads scanner.

**Walking Bear** · 07-05-2009, 19:55

What kind of fishing gear is needed to catch some of the fish in the lakes? I would think fly gear but not sure. I would want to take the correct fishing gear if fishing is part of the trip and I think that it should be.

**pgibson** · 07-05-2009, 20:16

We have had the best luck with fly gear. My buddy caught one of the two above with a dry floating grasshopper and one with a stone fly larva while "trolling" in the float tube with probably a bout 75-100 feet worth of line out. I have tried spinners a few times with no success. But lake and reservoirs have never been me most successful fishing spots. I have always had more luck on the river.