Purchased extremely cheap airfare to Salt Lake City (Utah) several months earlier and drove to Green River Wyoming. Stayed the night in my favorite little Super 8 Motel (huge Wind River photo headboards) and prepared my pack for the next morning start of my 6 day trip. Waking early the following morning, I began my route from Big Sandy to Skull Lake. A cool start at 31 degrees, but a welcome temperature for a heavy-uphill backpack. Located a beautiful alcove among trees near Skull Lake and soon after setting up, the rain began to fall. After the afternoon rain and thunderstorms, I captured some nice shots around the lake and called it a night.

Woke early and captured some nice morning/sunrise shots around Maes Lake and Pyramid Peak. I then began my hike up and over Hailey Pass, which was extremely windy!! Once over the Pass, I could see the beautiful Baptiste Lake region in the distance. I continued down the steep slopes of the Pass and entered the Mount Hooker drainage, which is off-trail and extremely scenic!!! I set up camp again within the protection of trees and took a 2-3 hour nap. After waking and grabbing a bite to eat, I started my trek to Baptiste Lake and Mount Musembeah. Ran into some light snow/hail and had to take refuge under some trees and boulders. The afternoon storm began to clear and I captured some decent shots of the area before heading back to the Hooker drainage via a climb down some cliffs toward the foot of Mount Hooker.

The clouds made for an excellent sunset in front of Mount Hooker and off to sleep I was. Early the next morning, I waas able to get some nice alpenglow on Hooker's solid granite face and then I packed up camp. I hiked down the drainage to Grave Lake (gorgeous!!) and made my way to the Little Wind River and the split to Valentine Lake. Set up camp once again among the protection of the trees (because of the week long strong winds) and took a nice nap after throwing some food in. Woke in the afternoon and scrambled up to Valentine Lake and captured some nice shots above the lake on the summit of an unnamed hilltop.

Captured some nice shots at sunset of Buffalo Head (Mount Payson) and made it back to my tent before a nice little hailstorm hit. Woke early in the morning and captured some incredible shots of the Little Wind River and Buffalo Head among beautiful pink clouds. Packed up camp and made the short jaunt up to Washakie Lake. Set up an early camp and grabbed some food and sleep. Dayhiked up to Pass Lake and Macon Lake near the base of Washakie Pass. By the time I got back to camp, the weather was really turning bad, with high winds and the threat of moisture. Had a colorful sunset that evening and sunrise the next morning, but was having a hard time with getting the right composition for the area.

The next morning, in bad weather, I crawled up and over Washakie Pass. The wind was howling, the temperature was below freezing, and hail was smacking me in the face. Hiked the 15+ miles back to my vehicle and called it a trip!!! Absolutely beautiful landscape here and I will be returning next year for the northern region of the range. Had a little extra time after and drove the 100 miles north to Pinedale and visited the famous Museum of the Mountain Man. Incredible museum with lots of history of the area. The museum was also touting the release of the Mountain Man survival story of "The Revenant" starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hardy due out next year.