Snowmobiling The Continental Divide Trail, 5: Green River Lakes

Vicki ventures out onto the ice; clearly, the lake gets a bit of
snowmobile traffic; we don't do ice with our 1,000cc two-up;
most snowmobile fatalities are drownings, not avalanches nor
crashes

Evidently the lake sees other traffic also, including the big bear
pad in the middle that needs a mani/pedi

And kitty cats

There being no one else around, we resort to ussies (plural of
selfie)

Thus, after lunch, as we depart

The Green; now heading south on N

Looking to the Gros Ventres, again

Green River valley, in the general direction of Pinedale

To the west, the Wyoming Range, and beyond, Alpine, where
we were a week earlier

Parking lot, some miles north of Pinedale

On S, heading back home

A last look back at the ramparts of the Winds

With a glimpse into the interior big mountains

Nearly home, taking time to up-right a fallen snow person

Snowmobiling The Continental Divide Trail, 4: Green River Lakes

The ride to Green River Lakes has always been my favorite snowmobile ride, and Thursday's ride was easily the best of them all. It was 48 miles, mostly on the CD, from the Warm Springs parking lot to the edge of the lower lake. The skies were clear and the temperatures were almost warm for February. And the whole ride had been beautifully groomed the night before. The were other snowmobiles in the area—the Rapid City club had shown up in the parking lot that morning, with 28 sleds—but clearly they had other priorities. It took us about two hours to get to the lake, and, first time ever, we had the place entirely to ourselves. Never saw another soul. (Did see moose and elk, and bear and mountain lion tracks near the lake). The silence, not to mention the scenery, was incredible. On the way back, we took variants N and S. S would have been better on the way to Green River, since much of the ride faces the Winds, relatively close up. About 120 miles total, and six hours of great riding.

So, what are the Green River Lakes, you ask? The Green River, aka the Colorado River, downstream, rises in the Wind River range, from one of the five glaciers on Gannett Peak. As it leaves the mountains, it passes through the beautiful Green River Lakes. The lakes are surrounded on three sides by high walls and peaks, and back-dropped by Squaretop Mountain. Wyoming has three utterly iconic scenes: Devil's Tower, the Tetons, and Squaretop Mountain rising behind the Green River Lakes. This trail, on Forest Service land (there's a popular summer campground on the lake), is as deep as you can get into the Winds on a snowmobile (or a car, in the summertime). Legally.

Our snowmobile, with it many campaign pennants, 2004-2015

Headed south on the CD, the Absarokas on the left

A bit further on, the Gros Ventres range on the right

From the Strawberry Hut south, all the way to the junction with
the N trail and the bridge over the Green...12-15 miles of
unridden, freshly groomed trail...typical CDT

On trail N, the Green River over there under the snow

Not far from the junction of the CD and N, a warm springs
where a protected fish species lives...the Kendall Warm
Springs Dace

After several more miles of N, you branch onto GL and encounter
a prominent elk feeding area

Thus; hundreds of elk

That close

Approaching Green River Lakes

Up closer

Enlarge and find the two moose in the trees

At the entrance to the summer campground and trailheads

There, finally, on the shore of Green River Lake

Squaretop Mountain...to be continued

Dubois, WY

Wednesday was an administrative day. We drove the thirty or so miles into old friend Dubois (population 900+), gassed, propaned, washed, dumped (through the kindness of the laundromat guy, who also owns the car wash, which had a clean-out...a bit of Western kindness and resourcefulness), provisioned, stimulated the local economy, and took pix for the blog. Dubois is just northeast of the Winds, one of its gateways, and a place we have visited or passed through many times. 

Our base near Togwotee Pass was too far away to do the ride to Green River Lakes, one of my favorite places, so we needed to find a place to park/camp further south, high up, and connected to the CDT system. A look at the map and conversations with NFS personnel and Lava Lodge suggested the Warm Springs parking lot, on Union Pass Road, southwest of highway #26. In normal snow years, we probably wouldn't have tried it. But this year, no problem. We got there, up a few miles of switchbacks, great dirt road, some snow and ice, well before dark. It turned out to be a place we have snowmobiled through many times, a quarter mile from the Line Shack and not too far from the Tie Hack and other places we have over-nighted on previous snowtreks in the area. Never knew it had a name. We were the only rig there. 8,300 feet. No service and no wifi, but plenty of snowmobiles riding through to the Line Shack.

At the parking lot near Lava Lodge, a dumpster on skis

I'll always remember Dubois as the place where
they had a saloon in a cave off the main street,
in the early 70s; locals say it was never a saloon,
just beer storage for The Outlaw; I'm sticking
with my story 

Bigger picture

Outside the game meat processing and hide tanning shoppe;
beware of tanning shoppes in Wyoming and Montana; they
may not be what you think...

The Wind River as it wends its way through Dubois; downstream
it becomes the Bighorn River

Elk and bear cult monuments

Typical local architecture

Board walk on main street

Sadly, there was a New Year's Day fire on main street, damaging
or destroying several of the historic buildings

Nice laundromat and sculpture

Free bike use in town

Nice folks, but not to be doubted

Largest known specimen of the Wyoming
Jackalope; the last breeding pair was killed--
one shot--in 1889, just a year before
statehood

--Posted from the very nice Dubois Public Library

Snowmobiling The Continental Divide Trail, 3

Tuesday we woke up to -6 degrees. All seems well: Vicki's remote sensors keeping the assorted tanks and lines from freezing and us warm enough. After checking propane levels and getting the generator going for a while, we suited up for our last day in this northern part of the Continental Divide trail system, hoping to ride west and south, perhaps as far as Slide Lake, closer to Jackson than here, Togwotee Pass. The day was bright and clear, if chilly, the trails we traveled recently groomed, and with little company, and the scenery gorgeous. Perhaps our best riding so far, despite the setback...

Another beautiful, chilly day; and more mountain scenery

Rack for hanging food away from bears (when they're out)

Heading south and east, along trail W, toward the Gros
Ventres range

Thus, even contemplating carrying on to Slide Lake

The trail does not go ever on from here; in high winter, snow
trails often pass over streams and creeks; sometimes you don't
even know you've crossed a stream

But this one has melted out; sportier one-up machines might
jump or slog this, but our heavily-laden two-up, 1,000 cc,
lumbering behemoth would only sink to the bottom; so we
backtracked and did some other trails

What's a kitty-cat doing out here?

Anyhow, ever more scenery and good riding

And every now and then, views of the Tetons