Yet, the Winds remain off the radar of many people who enjoy putting on a backpack and walking for days through mountains. Backpackers who go there almost invariably leave feeling they have discovered a mountain paradise (because they have). It was a comfort to see that the effect the Wind River Range has on me had not changed.ĭespite lying just south of two of America’s most beloved national parks- Grand Teton and Yellowstone-Wyoming’s Wind River Range exists in a sort of odd state of exalted partial anonymity. On a cool early morning in August while backpacking the Wind River High Route a few summers ago, I hiked in the shadow of tall mountains to Jackass Pass at 10,790 feet-a spot I’ve stood on at least a few times before, overlooking the incomparable Cirque of the Towers in the Winds-and affirmed a truth about that patch of rocks and dirt: It still possessed the capacity to take my breath away and make my heart speed up a little bit (although the climb to the pass may have had something to do with that).
