Realizing that there will be unfamiliar people reading this, many of whom might be curious about who the lucky man is that has captured the heart of a certain Jamie Glenn, I feel it necessary to forewarn you all: I am nerd. It really is that simple. There is no term more fitting for a guy, such as myself, that can not only describe the difference between a black chinned sparrow and a black throated sparrow but is actually happy to have garnished such knowledge. I am a nerd, not just for knowing that, but actually caring to know that and vast amounts of seemingly useless information regarding birds, fish, bugs and other critters. This morbid curiosity about rather dull information also extends into other areas such as geography and earth sciences. The reason I'm unfolding this to you is to give adequate preparation for the rest of this blog post, as the topic of this post is my favorite place to frolic and let my dorkiness shine.

Ahhh, the Wind River Mountains. The place that has captured my heart, and where I always long to be, (in the company Jamie of course). I've been to mountains throughout the West, and there are none in my mind that compare to the Winds. It's the highest range in Wyoming, with the continental divide running over a hundred miles through the central spine of the peaks. It's also the only range in the US that have tributaries that end up running into the three largest rivers in North America (Columbia, Colorado and Mississippi Rivers). It, along with the Tetons, Yellowstone and Glacier NP also has all the native wildlife that existed when North America was first colonized by Europeans, including wolves and Grizzlies.

This was my 5th trip to the Winds in 7 years, and this time around we had a good group for the quasi annual trip, consisting of 3 Glenns (Tanner, Duncan and Jamie), 2 Lewis' (Nate and myself), and friend (Ann Mason), and we had a good trip planned. Yes, I thought (with the precious limited mental capacity that I have) that I had really planned this trip out, having studied my maps, google earth, and read information on the area for the previous six months. We went into Range through the Trail Lake Trailhead, and started hoofing south on the Glacier Trail, which is very busy with outfitters, as this is the trail people take to summit the highest mountain in Wyoming- Gannett Peak. The picture above is one that awaited us early on the trail, back when we were still happy and smiling...........before the switchbacks.

This was a happy time on the trail. The elevation gradient was very manageable, the sun was out, fresh mountain air satiated our lungs and to our surprise we there was not ONE mosquito to be found. It was amazing! We had heard warnings about mosquitoes this year, which wasn't a big surprise considering above average snowfall with a late spring to the high country causing puddles and ponds throughout the range. It was a happy time without the skeeters, but we didn't, however, enjoy the lack of skeeters as one might expect, due to the surprise presence vast numbers of a Cretaceous Period holdover: Giant Blood Sucking Pterodactyls (GBSP for short). Massive swarms of GBSPs seeked to latch onto any unprotected flesh and suck the blood from our bones, and I mean ANY unprotected flesh. The unfortunate thing was, unlike mosquitoes, the GBSPs are not repelled at all by DEET even at concentrations of 100%. The fact that repellent had no effect, along with their sheer size, proved that they were not mosquitoes.

The troops persisted through the constant swarms GBSPs, and made progress up the trail. Sometimes the progress was faster than others. The progress when the picture posted above was taken was pretty slow, as the trail was rough. Ok, the trail plain sucked. Somehow, even after garnishing seemingly vast amounts of information from detailed topographic maps and Google Earth, the elevation gain and loose rock on the switchbacks was a bit of an eye opener. Not only an eye opener, but a foot pounder and a leg destroyer. Of all the hikes in the Winds I've taken, this one was by far the toughest. The flip side was that it was also one of the most rewarding.

After a couple of agonizing miles of switchbacks, we finally made it above the timberline where the gradient was more mild, but where the weather deteriorated. Good thing wildflowers were everywhere, as they made the scene sublime, and some of them even matched the color of the sky.

Of course, there is always the flip side of a storm, and was we lumbered down the other side of the pass through a forest previously ravaged by a wildfire, a huge rainbow appeared as the skies began to clear.

One of the greatest reasons I love the Winds. This range has more lakes than any other range in the United States, which not only adds to the beauty but provides one of the greatest treasures of all......skinny dipping! Just kidding....

....it's TROUT. Last year my camera was out of commission for the better part of the trip after taking a drink in a lake, which kept me from being able to take a picture of the biggest fish I had ever caught. AAARRRGGGHHH! Nobody believed me, so I went out and bought an underwater camera! Sweet! This poor cutthroat fell for a particular fly (take a good look) that caught many fish this trip. I will tell you that fish are a little harder to catch on film as they don't like to pose for pictures and have a tendency to fight for their lives, but I did snag a couple of good pics such as this guy. This trip there were no bruisers to be had, and most of what we caught were foot long cutts and brookies. The fish also attract Bald Eagles and Osprey, which I see on every trip.

After fishing and playing at the lake that was pictured above, we headed back to camp, when Mother Nature decided to toss us a high altitude curve ball. Well, it wasn't really a curve ball, but she through vast amount of pea sized hail at us. LOTS of HAIL as shown below.

After that, we had beautiful skies the rest of the time, which was a wonderful blessing. Remember that fly above, look what else it caught....

Yup, that's my ear. A gust of wind came when I was casting, and blew my fly into my noggin. Not quite my favorite thing to catch. Unfortunately, I didn't have any forceps on my, and as the barb on the hook nailed some auricular cartilage, the hook didn't want to release it's grip, so I had to walk around like that until we were able to grab some tweezers from the first aid grip.

All in all, the trip was spectacular. Spending a week with Jamie in the Winds was as wonderful as I imagined. I saw many birds that only I would find interesting, incredible wildflowers, Peaks draped with snow, beautiful lakes and sunsets and many fish fillets. I can't wait for next year, when we go later in the year when the huckleberries are out and the bugs and GBSPs have died out.

And Jamie, I love you more than you love me, times infinity!