Backpacking in the Gros Ventre Wilderness, Bridger Teton National Forest, Wyoming

[blaze]

A few shots from our recent five-night backpack in the spectacular Gros Ventre Wilderness. We discovered this route in Douglas Lorain's book Backpacking Wyoming.

Our itinerary:
Day 1 Sat. 8/4 - Granite Creek Trailhead to Jack Pine Creek. Flight delays meant we couldn't get to our originally planned destination (Shoal Falls)
Day 2 Sun. 8/5 - Jack Pine Creek to Shoal Lake. Back on schedule...
Day 3 Mon 8/6 - Shoal Lake to Brewster Lake. This involves off-trail navigation and a steep, loose scramble, as described in the book.
Day 4 Tue 8/7 - Brewster Lake to Chateau Lake.
Day 5 Wed 8/8 - Chateau Lake to a site at ~9,500' on the Swift Creek trail.
Day 6 Thu 8/9 - Back to the starting trailhead and out.

Shoal Lake

Looking for the way to scramble up and over the wall on the left

Morning light on Brewster Lake

Brewster Lake

Wildflowers in profusion

High country - day five

Milky Way from Swift Creek

Lorain gives this route ratings of 10 for scenery, 8 for difficulty, and 8 for solitude. There were frequent happy exclamations of "Yeah, it's a ten!" =)

A slideshow of the above shots and more can be found here. I will continue adding shots as time permits.

Jonathan

 

[alexmtn]

Great shots of gorgeous scenery. Thanks for sharing them!

Alex

 

[iAmKrzys]

Not sure how I missed this post but the pictures look really great!

 

[Rhody Seth]

Wonderful shots. That wildflower one is just great.

 

[Grey J]

Amazing photos Blaze! You have a a good eye for composition.

 

[Puma concolor]

Fantastic photo trip report! Thanks for sharing.

I hiked about 97 percent of the way to the summit of Jackson Peak a number of years ago before turning back on hard packed snow on the summit ridge due to having inadequate footwear that July day. Still a great memory. Beautiful area.

 

[Pappy]

Great pictures.