Our Backpack trip to Big Sandy Lake

After months of planning, we finally did it!  With our friends the Zamostnys, we hiked to Big Sandy Lake in Wyoming's wild Wind River mountain range.  What was to be a 3 day trip to include a hike over Jackass Pass to the Cirque of Towers, became a shortened two day trip due to very cold (as in 19 degrees overnight) and snow from previous days of heavy rains.   We still marveled at the incredibly beautiful and majestic area.

Our hike started off with bright blue skies as we hiked the 5 miles to our base camp along the Big Sandy Lake.  Views of the snowy mountains and hiking along the Big Sandy River made this day of hiking, a wondrous event.  Since we knew we would need warm gear, we were packing in 40 lbs. on our backs.  Included were bear cannisters (picked up at the National Forest ranger station), our rated 20 degree sleeping bags (glad we had), and our food and supplies. 

Once arriving at the lake, we set up our camp.  A little challenging to locate tent sites where there was no snow, but we were able to find a site under the trees.  A little sloped as we discovered during the night as we kept sliding on our sleep pads toward the tent entrance.  Danny Z built a great camp fire that night that kept us warm until it was time to climb into our sleeping bags.   We stayed mostly warm and were glad to get up to another sunny day.  Hot coffee warmed us as we all agreed that one night was enough, but we still hiked around the lake and started to climb toward the pass for better views.

Then back to base camp where we packed up and hiked back the five miles to the trailhead.  And again incredible views.  What a great trip and a magnificent place!