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Subject: 7/25, day 90, 15 miles, 10,500'
Left Big Sandy Lodge at 10 am in a drizzling rain. The rain lasted most of the day. Even after it stopped, it sprinkled several more times.

The rain couldn't dampen our enthusiasm for the Wind River Range though. We went from one spectacular mountain to the next. All along the Continental Divide. It ended in late afternoon when we climbed to a 10,500-foot plateau. There we got the full view of the mountains we had seen - all at once.

We met Boy Scout Troop 200 from Orlando, FL coming out. There were 40 scouts strung out over miles so we got to talk to lots of the scouts and some of the leaders. We were impressed with their manners and trail etiquette. I think they turned on the Southern Charm for us. I asked several if they enjoyed the mountains. They all grinned from ear to ear and answered, "Yes, ma'am."

Late in the evening we met a couple with 2 llamas. They were surprised we had come from Big Sandy Lodge that day. We didn't tell them we left late in the morning. They were very familiar with the trail in the area. We left in a hurry as it began to rain again. Later we wondered if the woman was the author of the guidebook we are using.

... Gottawalk

Subject: 7/26, day 91, ~18 miles, 10,800'
We continued to walk through a landscape that looked like Scotland. Rocks strewn through green hills and dotted with lakes. Many of the lakes were quite large. Also many had no name or were named in groups.

Again we had a stream ford before 8 am. Brrr. We were already cold, so we hiked fast to warm up. At another early morning stream we did our laundry. It mostly dried today.

We met a family from Boston who had been hiking for 11 days. They were going the opposite direction that we are. They said we were in for really great scenery. We told them the same.

We were trying to set ourselves up to climb Lester Pass early tomorrow morning. We planned to climb 2 passes of 10,800 feet after 6 pm. Ken goofed in his planning. There was a third pass of 11,000 feet right after the first 2. We made all 3 passes, but ended up camping at 10,800 feet. A cold night will follow.

... Gottawalk

Subject: 7/28, day 93, 10,130', 23.5 mi.
Last night when we went to bed we were treated to a sound and light show. Thunder & lightning seemed feet away and were accompanied by rain and hail. Again, we were slow leaving our campsite at Trail Creek Park (meadow). This was our coldest morning yet so I started hiking wearing 2 hats, fleece and bandana snug around my chin and gloved fingers tucked in my armpits. A half-mile later we have to wade across Trail Creek which was too big to rock hop. We followed the creek down between two magnificent granite walls waiting for the sun to rise higher to warm us. Trail creek merged into the Green River which was already big and a milky green color from glacial silt. We followed this river below the walls, through meadows and finally down to Green River Lakes, the first which was milky green and the second, larger lake was a deep turquoise green. Lots of people were enjoying the lakes.

We then climbed above the outlet Green River. We went over Gunsight Pass and the river meandered through a valley on its way to joining the mighty Colorado River.

The entire day was spent in prolific wild flowers and an idyllic setting. Not bad. Everyone should spend time in the Wind Rivers.

... Gottawalk