Invitation to Wind River Range 100 Mile Stage Run

Wind River Range 100

Stage Run

Bridger Wilderness Area, Wyoming

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_River_Range

Dates: August 14-16, 2008
Start time: 8:00 am sharp
Field Limit: none
Entry Fee: none
Aid Stations: none

Boulder Bandits announces its newest adventure: The Wind River 100, a three-day, expedition length trail race, August 14-16, 2008, through the Bridger Wilderness Area of the Wind River Range - starting at Green River Lakes Campground (Pinedale, WY) and ending at Big Sandy Campground (Big Sandy, WY). This adventure will connect one hundred miles of trails in one of the most rugged -- and beautiful -- areas of the Rocky Mountains, including large sections of the Continental Divide Trail.

Traveling Northwest to Southeast, runners will traverse exposed ridgelines and high-alpine valleys, ford ice-cold glacial streams, fend off territorial grizzlies, and feed millions of mosquitoes while blazing past the occasional 65# pack, vibram-soled through-hiker. The route includes multiple crossings of the Continental Divide and loop through the Cirque of the Towers.

Wind River runners will carry all their food and gear on their backs as they run (remember Go-Lite's A.S. did this with an eight point pack, plus food, for 7,000 miles). A three-day stage run, runners will spend two nights out on the trail at altitudes above 10,000 feet with unpredictable weather. The majority of this run will be more than 20 miles from the nearest trailhead, so accidents requiring wilderness rescue are discouraged.

Included in the The Wind River 100 are transportation via Suburban (8), wilderness permits, campground reservations at the start and finish, and the post-run BBQ.

Itinerary:

August 13: Camping at Green River Lakes Campground (North of Pinedale, WY)

August 14: Running Day 1

• Highline Trail (CDT) to Summit Lake, 16.3 miles
• Highline Trail to Little Senaca Lake, 27.5 miles
• Highline Trail to Pole Creek and Fremont Trail Junction, 33 miles

August 15: Running Day 2

• Fremont Trail to North Fork Lake, 46.4
• Fremont Trail to Dream Lake, 54.0
• Fremont/Highline Trail to Washakie Pass Trail, 63.4
• Washakie Pass Trail to Ranger Park, 68.8

August 16: Running Day 3

• Lizard Head Trail to Lizard Head Meadows, 83.2
• North Fork Trail to Jackass Pass, 88.3
• Big Sandy Trail to Big Sandy Campground, 98.0

August 17: Depart Big Sandy Campground

http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=42.999373,-109.56614&z=9&t=h&hl=en

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Wind River Range

Enormous compressional forces in the earth thrusted the block of granite that became the Wind River Range, upward. The glaciations and erosion that followed carved the range, leaving 13,804 foot Gannet Peak, the highest mountain in the Wilderness and in Wyoming. Glacial action left cirques, kettles, U-shaped valleys, hanging troughs, and lakes. The Wind River Range contains 48 summits higher than 12,500 feet and seven of the ten glaciers remaining in the contiguous United States.

Cirque of the Towers

Cirque of the Towers is located ten miles into the Bridger Wilderness on the southern portion of the Wind River Mountain Range. The Cirque is a breathtaking beautiful semi-circle of fifteen, 12,000-foot craggy peaks, which form a portion o f the Continental Divide of the Rocky Mountains. The Divide approaches along the ridge line from the southeast, makes a turn southwest, and wraps nearly of a full circle at the Cirque, before heading northeast on its way to Canada.

Square Top Mountain

Square Top Mountain, named for its nearly flat summit, rises in the Bridger Mountain Range. This range together with the Bighorn Mountains forms a hook like shape through northwestern Wyoming. Glaciers carved the basin formed in the center of the hook.