Backpacking to the summit of Square Top Mountain, Wyoming, 3564 m. (11,695 ft.) - wading the Green River. July 1991.
Met by Arlen in Casper, Wyoming in July 1991, and then we drove on to the Wind River Mountains in his Jeep truck. We hiked and camped for two nights on from the Green River Trailhead; our first dawn by the Green River, the next at Granite Lake, one of the lakes stocked with Brown Trout by the veteran explorer Finis Mitchell whose classic guide we were following. There are Black Bear, Grizzly Bear and Gray Wolf reported in this area, we heard the wolves at night; we took the advised precautions but didn’t have any trouble: the biggest critter we saw was a moose grazing in the river.
We were hiking shirts-off as there are no insects this early in the summer but the sun was warm and strong at this altitude. Square Top was my first 3500+ m. summit. Once up there, the summit is flat and - on that fine July day - without wind gusts. We enjoyed clear views even of the highest mountains: Gannett Peak, 4210 m. (13,810 ft.) and Fremont Peak, 4189 m. (13,741 ft) plus many other lesser Wind River peaks, also down to our camp in the forest at the side of Granite Lake far below.
Back at our lakeside camp and Arlen hauled a couple more fresh fish from the lake. The next day, after a long day’s hiking down, the RVs and tents back at the trailhead campground looked cosy in the evening sunshine as we passed on our way back to the truck. After a night in Pinedale, we continued eastwards next day back across the Continental Divide and on to South Pass and Atlantic City, Wyoming.
Wishing Arlen a happy 70th birthday this month, he’s still resident in Casper, Wyoming.
These are new scans of my 120/220 Reala negatives, ASA 100. I toted my Pentax 645 camera (takes six AA batteries), a few rolls of film plus an exposure meter and clockwork self-timer in my pack on that hike.