Wind River Range Backpacking, 2026

Long Lake and the cirque below Mount Victor This is our fourth trip to the Wind River Range, but instead of starting at Elkhart Park, we started from the Boulder Canyon trailhead. The trip was centered around spending two nights near the south side of Long Lake, which is the lake we saw from our day hike last year. I wanted to hike the “orange” trail past Long Lake from the other side, intersecting our day hike from Hayes Lake last year to the Mount Victor cirque. Salt Lake City We all flew into Salt Lake City, with me arriving in early afternoon, and Dan and the boys coming late the same evening. I chose the same vehicle as the last several years, a Jeep Grand Wagnoneer. It’s slightly larger than what we need, but there doesn’t seem to be a smaller SUV large enough to hold four or five of us and our backpacks. It was 100 degrees when I landed, and didn’t seem to cool off much by the evening. I got food at REI and the Smith’s next door and headed over to the airBnB. It had a garage…