Wind Rivers Camping

 Some of the guys at Mark's work have been telling him for a couple years that we need to go explore the Wind River Range in Wyoming. We try to camp in one new place each year, so we decided that this would be our place. Best decision ever! I'm obsessed with this are! It is so rugged, and beautiful!

We found a campsite right on New Fork Lake. It was just a stone's throw from the beach, and we loved it.

New Fork Lake at sunset.

This is our campsite, and you can see the lake right across the dirt road.

Friday morning we hiked the Sacred Rim trail. Wow! Just wow! This gave us our first real glimpse of the Wind River Range. We are certain we will be back to explore the area in lots more detail.

Steph-Tricia-Mark

The viewpoint overlooks Long Lake.

So pretty!

I wish the pictures did it justice. We were so high up, and the mountains around us were amazing!

Steph-Tricia

A pano is the only way to get all of Long Lake in the picture. We know how it got it's name. It was definitely long.

Mark did remarkably well with the heights on this one.

We saw this big outcropping of rocks up the hill from the first viewpoint we were at. I remarked that we definitely wouldn't be going on those. Twenty minutes later, there we sat, right on the big rocks. 😂

When we finished our hike, we went back to camp for lunch, and then kayaked across New Fork Lake. On the opposite side of the lake, there is a little channel called the narrows that leads to a whole different section of lake. So beautiful!

 

Steph said, "I am not kayaking across the middle of this big lake." Haha, here she is, kayaking across the middle of the big lake! 😂 There is nothing quite like some good old fashion peer pressure.

Almost to the narrows. Look at those mountains!

The narrows and the start of another big section of lake. 

Stopping at the beach by the narrows.

Behind me is what we kayaked across. I think this might be the farthest I've gone in the kayak. It was 4 miles total.

An eagle sitting above it's nest.

😍😍😍

That night, we tried a new dinner. We did campfire nachos, and they were super easy and good. We have a fire restriction, so we just put our tins on the camp chef to cook them. Worked like a charm.

After dinner we drove over to the campground across the lake. We wanted to check out what the sites were like.

We saw this cute mama deer and her baby just hanging out in the campground.

We walked down to the lake and took pictures of our fun Lost Souls bottles.

That night we played games in the trailer, then went to bed.

The next morning we got up and did another trail run/hike. We drove to Half Moon Lake, and ran from there up to Fayette Lake. I loved Fayette Lake! 

The trail running along Half Moon Lake.

We got to the end of Half Moon Lake and had to cross an inlet of water to get to the rest of the trail.

Lots of wild raspberries along the way.

Our first glimpse of Fayette Lake from the trail above it. The pictures don't do it justice!

Cooling off in the lake.

I went swimming!

Hahaha, look closely! You can never have too many Marks!

Steph cooling off before we headed back down the trail.

Fayette Lake just made us want to explore all the mountain lakes in the range.

We had the kayaks in the back of the truck, so when we got done on the trail, Mark and I kayaked on Half Moon Lake. Steph waited for us on the beach. 

This lake was so pretty!

We kayaked up to the inlet that we had to cross on our hike earlier.

On the way back I jumped off a rock. 😂

These kayaks may have been our best purchase of summer.

After dinner that evening, we drove to the trailhead around the lake, and walked toward the mountains on the New Fork Trail. We saw the meadow area from our kayaks the day before, so we thought we might see a moose. We saw 4 snakes, a rabbit, and a deer, but no moose. Mark did find a moose through his monocular on the Sacred Rim Trail the day before though.

Hiking along New Fork Lake.

Lots of snakes were out.

This was a fun one.

Looking for moose.

A cute little rabbit.

My favorite camping buddies.

Trying to make it back before dark.

Sunday morning I got up early and sat on the beach watching the sunrise. It ended up raining and being too cloudy for much of a view, but it was nice and peaceful.

The start of a sunrise, before the clouds covered everything.

This was one of the most relaxing camping trips we've had all season, and I loved it. I think it is going to become an annual event. So many trails and mountain lakes that need exploring! I can't wait to go back!