Wyoming/Montana--Titcomb, Tetons, Granite

14ers in California and Washington state or any other peak in the USA
Forum rules
  • This is a mountaineering forum, so please keep your posts on-topic. Posts do not all have to be related to the 14ers but should at least be mountaineering-related.
  • Personal attacks and confrontational behavior will result in removal from the forum at the discretion of the administrators.
  • Do not use this forum to advertise, sell photos or other products or promote a commercial website.
  • Posts will be removed at the discretion of the site administrator or moderator(s), including: Troll posts, posts pushing political views or religious beliefs, and posts with the purpose of instigating conflict within the forum.
For more details, please see the Terms of Use you agreed to when joining the forum.
steelfrog
Posts: 564
Joined: 6/30/2009
Trip Reports (0)
 

Wyoming/Montana--Titcomb, Tetons, Granite

Post by steelfrog »

OK; I've posted on here about this trip before; have some final questions, regarding itinerary.

So, 10 days from July 17-26; daughter and I have a Death Canyon Shelf permit the last couple days; other than that, open.

I had planned on this (but have since decided maybe Titcomb deserves more time):

Itinerary #1:

Fly into SLC, drive 7 hours to Cooke City MT; spend next three days hiking up Sky Top Lakes drainage, summit Granite; hike back out Aero Lakes.

Then, drive to Palmdale, hike into Titcomb Basin and climb Fremont Peak. 3 days.

Then, drive to Tetons and do Death Canyon loop through American Basin. 2 days

Now, I am thinking maybe a different thought:

Itinerary #2:

Fly into SLC, drive 3.5 hours to Palmdale; start from Elkhart TH that night for a couple hours; then spend next FOUR days in Titcomb, climbing Fremont and maybe up Bonney Pass or something

Then, head to Beartooths (5 hour drive); hike up into Sky Top Lakes Basin, loop around through Aero Lakes on way back; TWO days.

Then head to Tetons and Death Canyon.

Anyone have any recommendations on this one way or the other?

Many thanks!
User avatar
rijaca
Posts: 3387
Joined: 7/8/2006
14ers: 58  4 
13ers: 244 1 2
Trip Reports (1)
 

Re: Wyoming/Montana--Titcomb, Tetons, Granite

Post by rijaca »

A couple of quick thoughts....

It's Pinedale, not Palmdale (no palm trees in WY).

It's ~15 miles one way from Elkhart Park to the lower end of Titcomb Basin. There are good camping spots at the south end of Seneca Lake (with a great view of Fremont Peak), but its ~1/2 mile off trail and kinda tricky to find (but well worth it). Bring lots of bug juice and mosquito netting (you'll need it!).
Fremont.small.JPG
Fremont.small.JPG (224.17 KiB) Viewed 2372 times

Fremont Peak from an overlook on the road to the TH (pic w I-phone taken 7/7/15).
"A couple more shots of whiskey,
the women 'round here start looking good"
steelfrog
Posts: 564
Joined: 6/30/2009
Trip Reports (0)
 

Re: Wyoming/Montana--Titcomb, Tetons, Granite

Post by steelfrog »

Ya I knew Pinedale--the dad gum autocorrect got me.

Yep; I realize the mileage we are talking about on Titcomb, hence the idea to change to more days in this area.

Also, as I continue my research, I'm thinking about in the Beartooths, going up to Black Canyon Lake instead of Aero or Sky Tops. Maybe camp below by the bridge and do BCL as a day hike. I know Scott has been there with Kessler...
User avatar
Vermont Mike
Posts: 197
Joined: 5/7/2009
14ers: 36 
13ers: 32 3
Trip Reports (1)
 

Re: Wyoming/Montana--Titcomb, Tetons, Granite

Post by Vermont Mike »

I agree with adding another day in the Titcomb Basin area. The Wind Rivers are amazing. I did a 2-day out and back to Titcomb last September, made it near the summit of Fremont before turning around due to weather (wouldn't have had a view anyway!). Lots of camping options depending how far you want to go . . . obviously if 3 day you want to get as close to Titcomb Basin or Indian Basin (Indian actually works better for a climb of Fremont IMO) as possible. Good camping lots of areas if you look hard enough; I liked the sites some folks had chosen along the outlet below Titcomb Basin/above Island Lake. Wish I had another day or two as 40 mi out and back in 2 days didn't leave a lot of time for exploring/relaxing. Here's a few photos from my trip that you may find helpful:


Seneca Lake
Image

Indian Basin (left), Titcomb Basin (right) from partway up Fremont Peak
Image

Good view of the route up Fremont, taken from Indian Basin (naturally the summit cleared up by the time I was down there . . . grrrr)
Image
User avatar
spiderman
Posts: 808
Joined: 9/26/2011
14ers: 58  3 
13ers: 27
Trip Reports (1)
 

Re: Wyoming/Montana--Titcomb, Tetons, Granite

Post by spiderman »

I'm curious what the snow conditions are on Granite this year. I assume that there will be minimal or no difficult snow on the Sky Top Lakes route. It should be a 2-day hike if the conditions are good and you are a strong hiker.
User avatar
PatsSox09
Posts: 192
Joined: 1/29/2007
14ers: 13 
Trip Reports (2)
 

Re: Wyoming/Montana--Titcomb, Tetons, Granite

Post by PatsSox09 »

spiderman wrote:I'm curious what the snow conditions are on Granite this year. I assume that there will be minimal or no difficult snow on the Sky Top Lakes route. It should be a 2-day hike if the conditions are good and you are a strong hiker.
A buddy of mine did Granite 4th of July weekend via the SW couloir. He said long day, 24-26 miles over 6100' gain using a shortcut, slightly loose rock, but that's about it; August conditions in the Northern Rockies in early July. They didn't use any gear and didn't face any problems.
steelfrog
Posts: 564
Joined: 6/30/2009
Trip Reports (0)
 

Re: Wyoming/Montana--Titcomb, Tetons, Granite

Post by steelfrog »

Thanks folks!
User avatar
jdorje
Posts: 1388
Joined: 6/16/2010
14ers: 12 
13ers: 27
Trip Reports (16)
 

Re: Wyoming/Montana--Titcomb, Tetons, Granite

Post by jdorje »

Pinedale's got some mean pizza.
"I don't think about the past, and the future is a mystery. Only the present matters."
User avatar
spiderman
Posts: 808
Joined: 9/26/2011
14ers: 58  3 
13ers: 27
Trip Reports (1)
 

Re: Wyoming/Montana--Titcomb, Tetons, Granite

Post by spiderman »

Thanks for the beta, PatsSox (great name, btw)! I second your thoughts on Wind River Pizzeria, Jdorje. They don't even look at you too funny when you walk in there with a week of hiking odors...
User avatar
Kent McLemore
Posts: 215
Joined: 7/30/2006
14ers: 11 
13ers: 6
Trip Reports (2)
 

Re: Wyoming/Montana--Titcomb, Tetons, Granite

Post by Kent McLemore »

+++ Vermont Mike's Indian Basin recommendation. I day hiked into Titcomb (beautiful but quite a few people) then camped in Indian Basin. Saw 2 people in 3 days. Fremont is a blast.
-km
User avatar
Presto
Posts: 1863
Joined: 6/26/2007
14ers: 58  6 
13ers: 308 21
Trip Reports (6)
 

Re: Wyoming/Montana--Titcomb, Tetons, Granite

Post by Presto »

Fremont is a good climb. If you can tack on another day for climbing, Mt. Helen is VERY WORTHY (the last bit to the summit is really cool). Happy trails! :-D
As if none of us have ever come back with a cool, quasi-epic story instead of being victim to tragic rockfall, a fatal stumble, a heart attack, an embolism, a lightning strike, a bear attack, collapsing cornice, some psycho with an axe, a falling tree, carbon monoxide, even falling asleep at the wheel getting to a mountain. If you can't accept the fact that sometimes "s**t happens", then you live with the illusion that your epic genius and profound wilderness intelligence has put you in total and complete control of yourself, your partners, and the mountain. How mystified you'll be when "s**t happens" to you! - FM
steelfrog
Posts: 564
Joined: 6/30/2009
Trip Reports (0)
 

Re: Wyoming/Montana--Titcomb, Tetons, Granite

Post by steelfrog »

Thanks for the suggestion; I realize that Helen and Fremont etc are higher and on the Continental Divide, but some of those mountains on the east side of the basin look fun as well; I wonder if anyone has any recommendations for an east side climb? Seems like the views of the CD would be epic from an east sider...
Post Reply