William Civitillo was selected as a winner of one of the original Huckberry Explorer’s Grants by Nat Geo Adventurer of the Year Alastair Humphreys, to receive $1,000 and a full complement of gear from some of our favorite brands winner of one of the original Huckberry Explorer’s grants. William’s proposed adventure would bring him, and two buddies into the Wyoming backcountry for ten days of backpacking and exploring through the Wind River Mountain Range. The following is in William’s own words. 

Hunter, Tyler and I met at Teton Valley Ranch Camp (TVRC) during the summer of 2004, and for the next four years, we spent our summers together learning how to saddle, ride and wrangle horses, fly fish on the Wind River, and backpack through the beautiful wilderness that surrounded us. It’s been 7 years since the three of us were in Wyoming together, but somehow we found ourselves back in Wyoming on the same trails that brought us together in the first place, with no less of a thirst for adventure than when we first arrived at TVRC 11 years ago.

On July 7th, we embarked on an adventure that we had only dreamed of, made possible through the support of Huckberry’s Explorer’s Grant. Not only were we be able to travel back to Wyoming to spend time together, we embarked on a 10 day long backpacking expedition through the Wind River Mountain Range with the goal of a 10 x10 Challenge.

1.    10 consecutive days of hiking
2.    10 sunsets/sunrises photographed
3.    10 animals photographed
4.    10 lakes swum in
5.    10 hikers interviewed
6.    10 fish caught via fly fishing
7.    10 peaks summitted
8.    10 tailgrab pics on those 10 peaks
9.    10,000 feet of cumulative elevation gain
10.  100 miles hiked

The Pre-Trip Beer

With our final evening before the trip, we figured the only logical thing to do was to enjoy our last beer in civilization. While we savored our last few sips of the local Snake River Pale Ale, joking about what we would do if we ran into any bears on the trail (“Send in the drone!”), we noticed that our coasters had a sobering reminder of what we were attempting and the dangers we actually faced. “Bragging rights only happen when you make it home.” While we certainly never hoped to call in Teton County Search and Rescue, it was definitely reassuring to know that they were out there, to help us out if we ever needed them.

Day 1: Entering the Wilderness

(The Green River Lakes Trailhead to Three Forks Park – 14 Miles)

With our spirits high and legs fresh, we woke up bright and early to drive from Jackson to the Green River Lakes Trailhead. Upon our arrival, we loaded up our packs with fresh water (ultimately weighing about 67 pounds each), and set off down the trail leaving civilization behind for the next ten days. We had packed enough food and supplies to be self-sustainable for the entire trip, so though we’d plotted out a course of how we wanted to tackle the range, we were completely free to choose where we wanted to go and where we wanted to stay. In this way, we could properly embrace the freedom of the wilderness.

“The farther one gets into the wilderness, the greater is the attraction of its lonely freedom.” – Theodore Roosevelt

Eager to start checking off items on our challenge list, we took a break for lunch after our fifth mile, where I decided to jump into the green river lake for my first glacier swim! Little did I know just how cold it would be…

I was in no way prepared for the 35 degree water, and I quickly realized that the lake that I was swimming in was almost entirely glacier runoff from snow that was melting from this past winter. I had no trouble leaving the chilly water behind and we set back off on our way. On one of our breaks, we took an opportunity to dry our socks, and enjoy the scenery that surrounded us.

One of our first unexpected obstacles that we would see many other times on our trip, was a raging river where we were expecting to find a small mountain stream. As a result of heavy snowfall this winter, the buildup of excess snow had increased the height of the glaciers that we were planning to traverse, and as a result of the snow melting, the runoff had created large streams and rivers along many of the trails that we had hoped to use. After some recon, we came to the conclusion that the only safe way to cross would be to ford the river, and to spare our boots from begin soaked, we took turns using our only pair of crocs to wade across the river. Thank goodness for those crocs! We arrived at Three Forks Park around 8 pm and after a quick camp setup, dinner and bear-bag setup, we passed out, after a long first day.

Day 2: The Big Ascent

(Three Forks Park to Peak Lake – 8.5 Miles)

After some delicious freeze-dried breakfast skillet and an unsuccessful attempt to dry our socks and boots, we got back on the trail and began our long ascent up to Peak Lake. Starting at 8,200 feet of altitude, our goal was to make our way up to over 10,700 feet in elevation finishing at Peak Lake which sat at 10,515 feet. We began with a slow incline to Vista Pass, where we started our serious ascent. With our first snow at 9,400 feet, we began to see more and more snow as we went.

After the excitement wore off after our first snowball fight, we began to realize that the snow had it out for us, and somehow consistently decided to block whatever path we chose. However, after our first few ginger steps through the uncertain icy footing, we realized that falling through the snow wasn’t so bad, and grew bolder and eventually even forgot that we were even hiking on snow.

Equipped with sticks and one ice pick, we slowly ascended up Peak Lake Pass, carefully planning our ascent around rock patches and through deep swaths of snow. Aside from a few slips, and breakthroughs, we managed to scale the pass, and make our way up to a stunning view of the surrounding mountains. After several more hours, we made it to Peak Lake, and our first major impasse.

With hopes of passing around Peak Lake to set up camp on the far side, we realized that the high runoff from heavy snowfall brought the level of the lake nearly 4 feet above the trail on the left which would require us to walk several hundred yards in icy water while balancing our packs above our heads. Since the only other option was to hike across a glacier that sat over the water on the right, we decided to call an audible and set up camp on the near side and take a look at our map. No doubt this ended up being one of the most beautiful campsites that we stayed in the entire trip. Another couple of hours of hiking brought us to our destination: Peak Lake!

Day 3: The Changeup

(Peak Lake to Little Seneca Lake – 10.5 Miles)

Knowing that we would have to change our plan dramatically due to the high waters of Peak Lake, we woke up early to a beautiful sunrise, and ate breakfast as we watched the sun slowly creep down the sides of the mountains that surrounded us. As our modified route, we decided to summit the Cube Rock Pass, that would lead us down in to the valley alongside the glaciers that we had originally hoped to traverse. Climbing the Cube Rock Pass, was easier said than done. Without question, the steep wall of rocks and snow was the riskiest climb that we faced the entire trip, and the wall took us over 3 hours to summit.

Even though the view from the top was beautiful, it was stifled by a strong case of altitude sickness that forced us to hold up on top of the pass. After some rehydration and food, we managed to push on through Shannon Pass (of course with some solid ‘glecading’ action – i.e. glacier skiing with your boots), heading further south down the Highline Trail.
By the end of the day, we had passed the Upper and Lower Jean Lakes (both completely froze over), had crossed the Freemart crossing (an extremely sturdy bridge in the middle of the wilderness that looked like it was built for a truck crossing), and finally arrived at Little Seneca Lake at 8:45pm.

Day 4: Unexpected Surprises

(Exploring Little Seneca – 2 Miles)

With three massive days of hiking under our belts, we decided that we could use a serious rest day full of fly fishing, frisbee, sleeping, swimming, drone flying, and, of course, some intensely competitive rock bocci. However, when we woke up, we were surrounded by hoards of mosquitoes waiting outside of our tent. This was our light introduction to fly territory…

After arming ourselves with bug spray and rain gear to keep the flies out, we ventured out for the day’s activities, starting with some culinary inspiration. Freeze dried, chipotle bacon and egg wraps… DELICIOUS! As we began our activities for the day, we realized that this was a popular spot for visitors and we began to see small groups hiking down the trail. In our conversations with the fellow hikers, we learned that little seneca lake had also risen because of rainfall and unless you wanted to wade 3 feet into the water to get past the lake down the trail, you had to climb up and down the steep hill that lined the lake.

With this in mind, we made sure that every group that passed headed to the submerged trail knew how to get around it. We were happy to be the stewards of the trail for the day (even though we only saw four or five groups the entire day), but one traveler surprised us in his methods for keeping his gear dry. After we told him about the underwater trail, he went on his way to check it out, and upon seeing the submerged trail, he promptly took off all of his clothes, tied them to his backpack and briskly walked through the water to the other side where he continued walking off into the distance. We were surprised to say the least… The wilderness is never short on surprises.

Day 5: The Big Ford

(Little Seneca Lake before the Chain Lakes – 14.5 miles)

We woke up early on the fifth day, well rested after a relaxing day, and ready to crush some serious distance. With an ambitious goal in mind, we started fast, passing Seneca Lake, Hobbes Lake, and Eklynd Lake. And when we hit Photographers Point, we barely even paused to soak in the beautiful valley that stood in front of us.

However, after Photographer’s Point, the path became confusing. We slowly realized that the trail that we were taking was primarily meant for pack horses, and we eventually stopped seeing any human footprints on the trail at all. Becoming more and more uncertain, we kicked up the pace to make it to the next trail crossing so that we could pinpoint where we were on the map, however, when we finally reached a set of beautiful wildflower meadows, we realized that we had hiked over 3 miles off course, and the only way to get back in the direction that we were going was to retrace our steps for 3 miles and head back in the opposite direction from where we had been going.

By late afternoon, we had been hiking for nearly 8 hours, had traveled over 12 miles to Mary’s lake, but we had only achieved 6 miles of real progress. We didn’t give up on our goal, however, and kept pushing on to get as close to our target campsite as we could.

In our final push as it was coming up on evening, we ran into one large group of hikers that we managed to get some useful intel from. They told us that there was a river coming up that was flowing higher and harder than it usually did because of the excess runoff that had no good path around it. With the only option being wading through it, they warned us to be careful as it would come above our waists and some of their group had fallen in. With that in mind, when we arrived at the river, we linked arms, and slowly waded across the 60 yards of fast flowing water. After a few tense and uncertain moments, we managed to make it across to set up a late camp at 8:45.

Day 6: Beautiful Vistas

(River crossing to Horseshoe Lake – 9.5 Miles) 

We woke up the next morning, sore and blistered from the day before, and got off to a slow start with the hopes that the later we began hiking, the drier our gear would be. When we left, there was still water being squeaked out of our boots with each step.

Our hike on day six involved rolling hills and beautiful lakes, with each pass opening up to a more beautiful vista than the one before it. As we passed by the Chain Lakes, we saw plenty of Brookies (Brook Trout) rising to eat flies, and as we passed Barnes Lake, we spotted beautiful waterfalls twinkling in the sunlight in the distance. Unfortunately, we were witnessing all of this through a dense fog of mosquitoes and black flies. However, after the first hundred bites, and after swallowing the first 10 that got in the way of our necessity for oxygen, we somehow got used to the bugs, and were able to focus on the more beautiful vistas that surrounded us. We made surprisingly good time to our destination of Horseshoe Lake, mostly because we didn’t need take off our boots to walk through the rivers and swamps that we passed through (they were already soaked…).

Once we arrived at Horseshoe lake, we walked all the way around the shores and set up our camp near a beautiful outcropping of rocks near the middle of the lake. With camp set up and an early dinner devoured, we decided that it was time to open our surprise packages. Background: At the beginning of the trip, when we were packing our bags, I asked Hunter and Tyler to each carry a small black package in their packs without knowing what it was (I carried my own as well). These packages each added 2 lbs to our respective packs, but I promised them that this would be worth it. My idea was that on the 6th night of our trip, we would each open our surprise packages and celebrate our trip thus far in the woods. As we opened our packages, we each discovered:

–  1 chocolate chip cookie dough protein bar
–  1 bag of Jolly Rancher Bites
–  1 375 ml bottle of Jim Beam Bourbon Whiskey
–  1 cigar
–  1 Gerber Utility Knife
–  and of course 1 tootsie pop

The result: an epic game of cribbage.

Day 7: Exploring the Horseshoe

(Exploring Horseshoe Lake – 1.5 Miles)

As you might imagine, when we woke up the next morning, we were in the mood for a rest day. But, we certainly made the most of it! We began the day with some freeze-dried breakfast, and began fly fishing on our rocky point. While the fishing in the morning wasn’t so successful, when we tried again that evening, the fish were biting like crazy, and we nearly caught (and released) a brookie with each cast!

The rest of our day included a chilly swim, a delicious sausage quesadilla lunch, and some frisbee tossing in a nearby clearing. While exploring the nearby areas, we discovered some horseshoes likely from old pack trips — enough to start our own game! And to top the day off, we finished by making some delicious sausage and meatball pita pizzas! With refreshed limbs and some beautiful time-lapses of the lake and surrounding mountains, we went to bed sad to see that our trip was slowly nearing its end.

Day 8: A Ridiculous Photo Shoot

(Horseshoe Lake to Blueberry Lake – 6 Miles)

With most of our serious mileage behind us, we started our day with some scrambled eggs, hopped into our unusually dry socks and boots, and trekked south towards Blueberry Lake. Early into our hike, we summited one of the peaks on our list, and realized that we hadn’t taken any pictures of our “tailgrabs atop mountains,” so we decided that it was due time for a photo shoot. We might have also taken our shirts off…

With a relatively easy hike ahead of us, we took our time, but quickly it became apparent that the weather wasn’t planning to hold up, and so we increased our pace in an effort to beat out black wall approaching us in the sky. While we made a good effort to outrun the storm, it still managed to catch us, and we were forced to hunker down in a low grove while the gusting winds, torrential downpour, and thick hail passed over us in waves for the next two hours.

After what seemed like forever, the storm finally let up, and we finished our hike, and set up the tent just in time to avoid a second wave of freezing rain and extreme winds. With cribbage at hand, the second storm seemed to go by relatively quickly, and we found a window to cook dinner before climbing back into the tent to sleep.

Day 9: Tracking a Moose

(Exploring Blueberry Lake – 3.5 Miles)

With a short distance between us and the trailhead, we decided to use the day to explore the surrounding woods to see what we could find. Sadly, Tyler had developed such bad blisters on his feet that he opted out of our impromptu expedition, so we left one of our bear maces with him and his camera and set off.

With no special direction in mind, Hunter and I wandered through the woods stepping over dead trees, looking for wildlife. Initially, we came across what appeared to be a modern day hideout for ‘Injun Joe from Huckleberry Finn. We saw a campsite with an old fire pit, and a sleeping area with blankets, pillows, old cans of food all hidden under the shelter of a large boulder. Luckily, it looked like it had been vacated a long time ago, so we continued on our way.

Another thing we started noticing was that on the hundreds of aspen trees that surrounded us, we found moose hair. In the same area, we even stumbled across an old moose skeleton. Assuming that we might be lucky enough to see a living moose, we continued on our way, ducking around corners and always making sure that if we saw one, we’d have the protection of a tree if it were to charge us.

Unfortunately, after an hour of searching, we weren’t able to find more than a few hairs and some moose tracks, so we headed back to the campsite. With our final swim, we discovered that the water was teeming with small minnows, all too small to catch with our fly rods, but potentially big enough for us to spear and cook up for an appetizer for our dinner! After another hour of attempted spearfishing, we gave up and cooked up the remains of our dinner food into nine massive pita pizzas which we somehow finished off.

Day 10: Back to Civilization

(Blueberry Lake to Boulder Lake Trailhead – 3.5 Miles)

With an early rise, and an easy trek out to the trailhead, we finally made it back to civilization, and were welcomed by Tyler’s brother, who had massive deli subs waiting for us at the trailhead. While I’m not sure how he dealt with our stench, we drove back into Jackson Hole, having thoroughly enjoyed an amazing adventure in the Wind River Mountain Range. [HB]