Bob & Cindy's 2010 Travel Web Site
Location Links
The Green Lakes is an area outside of Pinedale, Wyoming. Getting to it proved to be a challenge ... it's about 30 miles of good road that then turns into 18 miles of very bad road. I'm talking "shake the cabinets off" kind of bad .... the worst washboard I've driven on for long stretches, muddy spots to slip and slide in, and narrow - don't pass areas also. It took and hour and 20 minutes to get to where we settled in, but at the end it was a beautiful spot. Check it out ... the ultimate boondocking site with no one around and total peace and quiet. We loved it except for the bugs!!! That's another story.
Green Lakes & Teton Canyon Areas
Just above this camping spot was Green Lake .. right in the heart of the Wind River Range. The river coming out of that lake is the Green River which flows south through Wyoming and Utah to meet up with the Colorado River. Trout were grabbing insects, we saw antelope and pronghorn sheep on the hillside but no bear or moose.
The pine beetles were here too and next year these trees will be grey .. another area that will take 30 years to come back.
On the trail around Green Lake .. the signature landmark is named Squaretop Mountain.
Around on the other side, obviously faulting with Wind River Mountain Range in the background.
Classic Rocky Mountain scenery.
Bald eagle on the trail.
Osprey nest ... lots of the guys around.
We had planned to stay in this area for 8 days but after 5 days of fighting the flies and mosquitoes .. we just gave it up .. just about as bad as we've seen it (especially the mosquitoes). So we headed up to the Teton area, played golf a couple of days, ate out and restocked and did laundry. Then we went up to Teton Canyon.
Hike up into the Alaska Basin, wildflowers were at their peak.
More views from Alaska Basin hike.
We started up the Devil's Staircase but saw a storm coming and decided to head back ... this was a "puffer" but we missed getting another 1000 feet higher where the wildflowers were supposed to be "the best".
I forgot to mention that we hooked back up with our Austin friends, Latrell and Jean Bellard who were also camping in the area. It's great to hike with friends, a very enjoyable experience .. also sharing stories over wine, good meals, and campfires.
A juvenile moose was wandering in the campground one morning, nosing into the back of trucks and licking dew off the picnic tables.
Our last hike before leaving the Teton campground brought us up to the top of Grand Targhee ski resort where we started a trail that took us over to a saddle where we had magnificent views of the backside of the Teton range.
When we got to the saddle we stopped to have some snacks and take in the view ... perfect weather for this hike
Mountain Man! (ha)
View from the trail overlooking more wildflowers and looking down on where the campground was and a view up the Alaska Basin which is where our first hike was.
Tons of wildflowers were on this hike .. we always love the columbines, especially the multi-colored ones.
This is our fourth time to visit this area and it's really wonderful with the views and noticeable absence of tourists who are all over on the other side of the Teton Mountain Range ... the best part (next to these views) was when we came down and had beer and a late lunch at the ski resort!