After spending a few relaxing days in Heber City, where Bob bought a new camera in SLC. We sent the old camera in for warranty repair and we will get it back in 4 weeks. Good idea to buy the warranty! Then it was off to Pinedale WY to backpack in the Wind River Range. We are staying at the Highline Trail RV Park just south of Pinedale near Boulder. Again we found out that we are too early to hike into the Titcomb Basin because of the snow level. We visited the Museum of the Mountain Man in Pinedale, that exhibits western historical pieces relating to the mountain men who explored this region in the early to middle part of the 19th century. Including Jim Bridger’s rifle from 1853, exhibits of the Rocky Mountain Fur Trade between 1820 and 1840, Native American Heritage featuring clothing, tools, and weapons used by the Plains Indian tribes, and one of the highlights of the Museum is the full-scale replica of American Horse’s tipi. Bob even got to feel like a Mountain Man wearing one of their fur coats. I really think he should have lived back then as he loves reading all about their journey into the Wild West. We also visited the Boulder Lake Lodge, located NE of the tiny town of Boulder. It is surrounded by sage brush flats and willow lined snow melt creeks. Here you can stay and rent horses to pack into the Wind River Range and go Glamping for a couple weeks. We definitely want to return here and go backpacking with the horses. Click on thumbnail to view images
The next day we went to the Trailhead to hike to Photographer’s Point in the Bridger Wilderness in the Bridger-Teton National Forest. We drove to the Elkhart Park parking area and took the Pole Creek Trail for about 4.5 miles into the Wilderness through lodgepole pine forest and beautiful alpine lakes. We crossed some snowfields on the way to the Point but once we arrived the views were breathtaking of the Wind River Range and Gannett Peak, 13,809 ft, the highest mountain in Wyoming, named in 1906 for American geographer Henry Gannett. We met a solo man on the trail who planned to climb the Peak but he was turned back due to the snow level. His quest was to climb the highest peak in every State and he had already finished 30, having just done Mt Hood in Oregon. We had lunch on the rock bluff taking in the spectacular view of the mountain range and Titcomb Basin, wishing that we could continue to hike into the Winds but unfortunately the snow prevented us from going further. We eventually hiked back down to the Jeep, having enjoyed a wonderful 9 mile hike to Photographer’s Point, a must see! Click on thumbnail to view images
