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Geoff Weatherford (geoffw)  > Wyoming Trail Hiking > Big Sandy Trailhead - Wind Rivers WY, 9/2/05
On September 2, 2005 I took a long weekend trip in order to hike in the Bridger Wilderness area. This is located in the Wind River Range of Wyoming. Please go to my trail blogging site (opens a new window) for a full description of the trip.
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Geoff Weatherford (geoffw) > So, when you turn off onto the dirt road, you leave all civilization behind. Looking down this road, hat's all BLM land, so you can do whatever you want on it. This road, interestingly enough, follows the continental divide for quite a few miles (I mean, it follows right on top of the continental divide). If you look to the east a little, you see.....
Geoff Weatherford (geoffw) > This. That's a small section of the Wind River Mountains and Bridger Wilderness area. And, except for a very few small parcels of land along the very bottom of that stream you see between here and the mountains, that's all BLM and National forest (and not many dirt roads). So, you can get on a horse here, and just go where ever you want.
Geoff Weatherford (geoffw) > This was pretty much the only sign on the road. I came from HY 28 and I'm headed towards Big Sandy Opening (it's a REALLY REALLY humongous set of large meadows).
Geoff Weatherford (geoffw) > Getting closer : ) Area in the middle is pretty much where I'm headed. Mostly all open range. So you had to watch out for cows, elk, deer, pronghorns, cowboys, etc., on the road.
Geoff Weatherford (geoffw) > OK. Remember the sign that said "Big Sandy Opening?" This is it : ) A very large set of meadows/prairies up in the mountains. My truck is headed the wrong direction, but the camera is pointed towards the campground (several miles away) and the mountains that I'll be taking the trails into.
Geoff Weatherford (geoffw) > This big set of meadows/park/whatever is all National Forest. And, it was hunting season. So, every so often I'd see a hunting camp set up. Here's an old timey one (horses; probably hobbled). Others I saw had trailers and ATVs. Now, I need to point out a difference here. Note how I said "every so often". Well, what that meant was I'd see a hunting camp once ever mile or two (or more). If I'd been in Colorado, "every so often" would mean see a hunting camp once every 50 yards or so. There's a difference.
Geoff Weatherford (geoffw) > And here is the trailhead/campground. My campground is actually over in the trees at the far end of the meadow.
Geoff Weatherford (geoffw) > Here I've zoomed in a little so you can see all the cars parked at the actual trailhead. I think a little explanation is in order here. You might think that this looks very crowded. But, acutally, there were very few people around. All the cars are for backpackers that have headed up into the wilderness. This is the 2nd most popular trailhead, so that's why so many cars are parked here. But in reality, there were empty campground sites and you did not see many people in the back country either cause it's so big. Almost evey car is from out of state. I met a big group of college kids from Prescott, Arizona.
Geoff Weatherford (geoffw) > Here is my campground site. Not very crowded. The camp sites on either side of me were empty.
Getting closer : ) Area in the middle is pretty much where I'm headed. Mostly all open range. So you had to watch out for cows, elk, deer, pronghorns, cowboys, etc., on the road.
> Getting closer : ) Area in the middle is pretty much where I'm headed. Mostly all open range. So you had to watch out for cows, elk, deer, pronghorns, cowboys, etc., on the road.
Getting closer : ) Area in the middle is pretty much where I'm headed. Mostly all open range. So you had to watch out for cows, elk, deer, pronghorns, cowboys, etc., on the road.
Camera: Olympus Corporation (C770uz) |
More details: exif |
Original size: 3000px x 2245px |
Current: 400px x 300px |
Other sizes: Small • M • L |
Keywords: trail hike hiking mountains wyoming trails hikes national forest rocky mountains bridger national forest bridger wilderness big sandy trailhead big sandy
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