DATE:
October 15, 2015
TRAILHEAD:
Trail # 041, Wyoming Range
ITINERARY:
Forest Road # 10126
Trail # 041
DISTANCE:
14 miles roundtrip
ELEVATION:
3,500 feet (1,000 ft two track and 2,500 ft single track)
DIFFICULTY:
Strenuous
MAPS:
Bridger Teton National Forest: Big Piney Ranger District
ESSENTIALS:
- Legs
- Lungs
- A good bike
- Lots of water
- GU
THE TRIP:
This one has been on my tick list for a few years, and it felt great to finally check it off. The Pinedale area doesn’t have a huge amount of developed mountain biking, and I discovered this ride while trolling the internet looking for documented rides in the Wyoming Range. I came across a great write up by Cody Fuez on his blog, Hi-Adventure, and knew I had to do it.
With a long stretch of pristine Indian Summer weather and good, dry conditions, I decided it was time to attempt this ride. I ran the idea past my buddy, Blaine. He’s just the right amount of fit, motivated, and crazy to enjoy a long day of grinding gears up the side of a mountain for a massive run down to the valley floor. He of course said, “Yes!” Before heading out, I downloaded Cody’s .gpx file from his blog post and loaded it up on my GPS. This proved essential to staying on track through out the day and eliminated any route-finding woes.
11,378 ft. Wyoming Peak and Mount Coffin from the road.
The ride begins on the Greys River Road and follows Forest Road #10126 to its junction with Trail #041. Forest Road #10126 is in relatively good shape and passable with a high clearance vehicle. If you want to ride only single track, save yourself 1,000 ft and park at the start of Trail #041.
Trailhead sign
The trail starts off at a steep 15% grade before laying back to a more gentle 8% grade. The tread is narrow, but good quality dirt with short passages of rocky, shale sections.
The view looking west from the trail.
The trail alternates between steep, exposed alpine meadow and flowy track through thick trees.
As we approached the summit, we encountered short stretches of shale that made for difficult pedaling with tired legs.
The summit of Wyoming Peak.
Nearing the summit, the trail steepens and becomes more rocky.
View from the summit of Wyoming Peak.
NOTES:
This is a big ride and difficult due to it’s length and elevation gain. The trail is at times exposed, but not very technical through out. We chose to ride full suspension bikes due to our preference for maximizing performance on the downhill. However, there is no reason this trail could not be ridden on hardtail bikes.