Day 65 - The Northern Wind River Range

August 23rd

18.4 Miles

Peak Lake

It POURED last night. So much so there was a small puddle in the bottom of the tent in the morning. We packed up and left the campground and ran into two hiker out for a couple days and we hiked with them for the first two or a miles. They are actually from Glenmoore which is fifteen minutes from where I grew up! It a small world when you can be in Wyoming and run into people who live so close on the other side of the country. Spins and I chose to go around the other side of North Green River Lake then cross over to the CDT. When crossing we looked over to see this:

That crazy looking mountain is called Squaretop which we walked past as we continued to follow the Green River upstream. When we reached the end of the valley we took lunch and then right after it began to rain. We started up switchbacks that took us up 1000' and continued climbing some more. 

We came to a junction where we left the official CDT to go up towards Vista Pass and eventually the Knapsack Col route. In the way up Spins and I ran into a couple heading down and Spins instantly recognized him as someone we met briefly who thruhiked the PCT last year. We headed to Vista Lake and snacked while the rain picked up again. At this point we were at ten thousand feet and crossed around a mountain and followed the Green River yet again up towards a pass which was covered in boulders everywhere. The trail faded out and that's when an issue started and cairns on boulders started to appear so we naturally followed them. We came to a split where cairns lead to the left up boulders on the ridge or to the right in the center of the pit. I stubbornly and confidently said to the center because it looked like that on the map but Spins felt up and to the left was the right way. We went my way...definitely should have went Spins' way. We spent the next hour and a half climbing boulders up the valley because we couldn't/didn't see the trail up and to the left on the ridge above us. It was a hell of a workout and towards the end very frustrating especially when 3/4's the way up we saw the trail. I don't know why I don't just listen to Spins' opinion because 99% of the time she's right. After that tiring debacle we came up to Dale lake which was beautiful and then cruised over and down to Peak Lake right at the base of the Knapsack Col route which we plan on taking unless the weather is bad in the morning otherwise we'll cross a pass and head strait over back to the CDT which is beautiful as well but Knapsack Col has been called the most amazing place on the whole CDT. It does involve scrambling up boulders to the top of the pass at two eve thousand feet though but luckily(but not really) we got some practice  this afternoon due to my idiocy. Maybe we'll get lucky and it won't rain tonight!