Yes, I have been working my way thru the video "catalog"....but this scenery is the most dramatic and beautiful I have yet seen. Holy you-know-what...I could die happy after seeing that lake view an min.11:10
Too much to comment on for me. Me and my wife went to Island Lake for 3 nights. Day hikes up Titcombe Basin 2X. Too many people and privacy was a big problem. They need an outhouse there! But the view from our campsite on 2 and 3rd night was the best ever. Next trip we went to Cook Lakes, and it was hot and dry and Cook Lakes showed no fish. It snowed on our last night on the way out at Sweeney Lakes and a large grizzly walked thru our campsite and bathroom ignoring the food bag and my wife doing a morning #1. I am disappointed you did not see Titcombe in all her glory. I hate seeing people, but Titcombe was worth it. Mistake Lake may be Mistaya if I remember correctly. Your narrating in post-editing reminds me of the narrator for Disney Movies like Charles the Lonesome Cougar. Always good music. Good.Entertainment and info in your videos. Thanks for the work involved in getting the videos uploaded.
They absolutely need a backcountry restroom at Island Lake! Probably a few of them! It's nearly impossible to find a spot where you're not in view of someone else's camp. And it's definitely a place where .... you don't lift up random rocks. There's probably a surprise waiting for you! Not sure what time of year you were at Cooks Lake, but we were catching fish there. It was my favorite spot on this trip. It was a bummer that Titcomb was socked in when I was up there, but I hope to pass through there again. The Winds have many great routes! Thanks for checking it!
@@mountainwanderer It was either 2016 or 2017 in mid August. I was told it was a hot dry summer for the Winds. No fry seen around the edges, no rising fish and two days of fishing and nothing. a large group on horseback did not get a bite either. Now I do hear that goldens are much better at ice off, and I regret not fishing the stream coming out of Cook Lake 10170. But I always take a spinning rod to the Winds, and would prefer a fly rod. Anyway I rarely stop and fish before I get to a campsite, so I always end up at a lake. We did the loop in the opposite direction as you did. We had crossed Pole Creek and was on the Highline trail. Missed the turnoff for Cook lakes and ended up at a lake before climbing up Lester Pass. The next day we went back and saw a obscure trail with a broken sign in the brush "Cook Lakes Trail" WE followed that to the largest lake and turned right and went to the end of the lake for a great campsite with a view of the lake.
Thank you so much! This was a really fun trip. maybe a once in a lifetime trip, that just kind of came together at the last minute for me. Hopefully I can get back in there again!
Because of this video I am quitting RU-vid's . I can't compete with this. There is not one bad shot. Best video you have ever put out. Thank for making me retire and feel unworthy. 🙏 I have just 2 questions. why was it called Island Lake? and secondly... How can I get ahold of Joey?
@@mountainwanderer it was impressive. Titcomb is equally as impressive. It was too bad you had the weather. Lots of interesting routes to try to go see it again! Follow the green river up and Go over knapsack col and into the basin. That’s a challenge but worth it!
Wow that was a long entrance hike to camp.... I hope your dogs do well with increased elevation changes as well. Hope you enjoyed your first trip there. Lots of walking 😩😎👍 I'm pooped 😝 The trip with you was absolutely beautiful as always ❤
@@ChristianPaulPhotography I wasn't on the trip, but our group hit Raft Lake a few years. It's on our Sonnicant Lake video. Not sure where we'll go next, but we will definitely go in there again!
It snowed on my at Wall Lake last August. It was a slippery sketch hike to Cook Lakes. Should have back tracked over the pass to Island. I struggle with Island lake these days just wayyyy too many people!
It was my first time in there and I thought that it was incredible! I'm glad I got the most popular area out of the way first. Looking forward to getting to some of the more remote stuff.
Great video. Your group did some serious miles and elevation. My heart is in the Winds too. I can’t wait to get back next summer. Try the east side via Lander and the reservation for fewer people. Excellent videography
Travis, you did a great job videoing and editing this fabulous loop! Except for the side trips to Wall Lake, Nelson Lake and Mistake Lake, this is the first Mountain Wanderer video that I've hiked all the trails in the video. Based on the weather it appears that you were hiking out on day 6 as I was starting a 6 day trip from Big Sandy. Since the snow clouds follow you around, I now know who to blame the nasty weather on.:) Great video!
Wow, we were really kicking the same rocks this year... or at least close to the same rocks. The temperature swings were something else! It was really hot the first few days... but then cooled way down.. It was a hell of a first experience in the Winds!
The temperatures can vary a lot and rain, snow and hail is not uncommon. One August trip the low was 19. I should have mentioned that the animated map with the map moving is really cool. Also tell your fishing friends that in 2015 I stopped by the A Frame information center at Elkhart Park and was told that the week before a world record golden trout was pulled out of Island Lake: 18 pounds!
I didn't realize it until I released this video, but Timber was on a KSL Outdoors show. We ran into that crew as we were leaving Cook Lakes. They are the ones who told us to stop at Lake Nelson and that they were catching Golden Trout out of there... WRONG!
Absolutely loved this video! Stunning!! Congrats on making it to the Winds. Even in the stormy conditions you encountered, the video demonstrates how the Winds are a visual overload. Was for me. Regret the socked in conditions in the Titcomb basin area for you but gorgeous nevertheless. That was similiar to my experience in the Winds this August too. Looks like we were in the same neighborhood at about the same time. Drove through the Elkhart Park trailhead parking lot after my 10-day Green River Lakes "expedition" and the TH parking lot was way more crowded, for whatever reasons, than GRLs. For me: Backpacking/hiking? ✔ Fly fishing? ✔ Rain/storms? ✔✔✔ Snow? 🚫 Crowds? 👌 Smoke?✔✔. Elevation? ✔✔✔. Scenery?✔✔✔✔. Really curious about how you did the animated map. Curious...where did you have the post-hike burger? Thanks for letting me enjoy some of the Winds I didn't get a chance to see this summer. Next year for sure.
You're right, it is an amazing place! Watching so many videos on it, I knew that is was already, but being there is different! I felt that the trails were all graded so well, it was very hiker friendly. Obviously graded for pack stock. That would've been incredible to run into you out there! We were in there at the same time as Brian Delay too (another you tuber I watch). I am really looking forward to going back and visiting some of the more remote areas. For my map animation, I use Apple Motion. Post hike burger was at the Brewery in Pinedale. Damn good!
@@mountainwanderer Bryan and I shared a campsite one evening as he was arriving at GRLs and I was leaving so got a chance to see him in person. Thanks for the Apple Motion information and yes the Brewery is a great place for a pre or post hike burger 🍔 and beer 🍺, or 3. Hope to return their next summer.
@@mountainwanderer Good to know! Seriously, great video, Travis. I really enjoy your productions. Last year I spent 5 days just north of Dubois, WY backpacking and and camping that area of the Winds. Stunning. The Grizz in the area were a little frisky for my liking but that's just part of it, I reckon.
We didn't see any sign at all when we were there. Most likely due to the amount of people passing through though one group said they saw a young black bear.
@@mountainwanderer I have a trip planned for the last two weeks in August this year. Glad to see the bugs weren’t super bad even though the people were. Ha.
@@mountainwanderer thank you 😊 That sounds bout right for the size !! My boy is smallish,,, just at the top of the knee's. And seems ok on what I give him which sounds very identical to your amount 🌝 Although I have to bribe him sometimes with chopped up bits of beef jerky a little bit of warm water for sauce. And any dinner scraps. Maybe I worry too much about his calorie intake. But he gets excited outside, loves the trail life much like ur dog....he's 5ish. He's Malamute, Staffordshire Bull terrier, Australian cattle dog and Chow Chow mix. He's very friendly towards people and most animals, but I have to watch him around big game he's been known to bring down a full size bull by himself. Which could spell trouble for us. I generally keep him on a spring-loaded retractable leash while hiking just in case we run into elk bear or something else. A friendly skunk would be my worst fear LOL !! Anyway really enjoy your videos short sweet to the point and show a lot of area that I'm just dying to see. We live here in the Southwest, very very different !!!
My dog Timber also gets jerky while on the trail. Our rule is, if I have jerky, we both have jerky... and he holds me to it. I'm pretty lucky that he sticks to the trail when we're hiking. I hold him off of the trail when we pass people, mostly because I don't want him scaring people just based on his appearance and size. He loves people though. Happy hiking with your pup, if he's got any kind of malamute fur, the southwest has to be pretty hot him for them.
