Backpacking In Wyoming ~ The Cloud Peak Wilderness - Big Horn Mountains

Backpacking In Wyoming ~ The Cloud Peak Wilderness - Big Horn Mountains 3 days 2 nights. August 2016, Wyoming Trip part 3. uptrail71: Backpacking, Hiking, Gear Review, and Outdoor Activities.

[@wyomingadventures]

The lakes at the bottom of clouds peak are glacier, sapphire and diamond alot of boulder hopping and if you go this way plan on 6 miles to lake Helen spent a whole day just climbing up Cloud peak and down

[@beverlystewart5518]

Thank you so very much for sharing. Brings me a little bit of the beauty and peace of the area.

[@kevinlewis8642]

Beautiful country area and awesome opening choice of music. Love that song.

[@GreatLakesBackpacker]

Beautiful scenery! I've always wanted to hike out west. Thanks for sharing your trip.

[@uptrail7169]

This was the perfect area with less people and near Yellowstone. They do have some areas for shorter hikes.

[@BluecollarBackcountry]

Ya'll did such a good job. The most insignificant I ever felt in my life was the first time I summited a 13'r in the Colorado Rockies as a young man. Never forgot that feeling.

[@uptrail7169]

Thanks! We are now in our mid forty's. That was a challenge climbing up the rocks to the summit. We have been thinking about going out to Colorado within 2 years.

[@BluecollarBackcountry]

+uptrail71 Don't let the mid 40s slow you down. I'm 60 and still out there every chance I get. If you don't stop you'll never know the difference.

[@massachusettsprepper]

I gotta say brother the views are exceptionally beautiful for sure. This looks like it was a fantastic time. Thanks for sharing.

[@uptrail7169]

Thanks again MP!! This was our favorite trip ever... My wife always wanted to see real mountains and moose. She still wants to see the ocean someday.

[@StateParkers]

stunning. added to our wish list. good job guys

[@uptrail7169]

Thanks! It's an amazing area. July or August is the best time to hike in the higher elevations.

[@southpawbushcraft7522]

What a great trip! Just beautiful!

[@uptrail7169]

The campsite was perfect with the moose. Climbing to the summit was a challenge!

[@Willys-Adventures]

great video man thanks for taking us along i'd love to do a backpacking trip like this one day

[@uptrail7169]

We had very good weather. That always makes a trip more enjoyable! It was so beautiful in the mountains. I wish that we had another day or two to explore some other areas of the Bighorn Mountains.

[@SmellNRoses]

Wow that was awesome. You pretty much had awesome scenery from start to finish. Those moose were really awesome. That was pretty hardcore climb to the top of the mountain!

[@uptrail7169]

Climbing up to the summit was a challenge. It was a little windy, but no rain or snow. Beautiful area with less people made it that much more enjoyable. The moose stayed near our campsite the entire time. On the first night we could hear them walking close to our tent. They are huge and it seemed like they were more interested in eating the vegetation. We never let our guard down.

[@SmellNRoses]

uptrail71 we took a family trip to WY back when I was about 18 or so. I didn't get to do much hiking or exploring due to the nature of the trip, but we did see some awesome stuff. Saw some of the moose, though from a greater distance than what you experienced. If someone has never seen one in person, I don't think they can even fathom how huge they can be.

[@ThaiGirlAdventures]

So cool for watching you hiking , camping and very enjoy you video so much have a good day there.

[@uptrail7169]

Thanks! It's a beautiful area. I still have one more video to edit and then I'll start catching up on watching other videos.

[@Markam248]

beautiful area. super cool seeing the moose. thank you for sharing. Mark

[@uptrail7169]

Thanks Mark! This was our favorite backpacking trip ever. A lot less people with awesome views. We will go back someday!

[@NowThisIsFlorida]

Gorgeous! GORGEOUS! I was really envying you watching this video, you captured some fantastic views. Keep up the good work, you got another subscriber here!

[@uptrail7169]

Thanks! Most of our backpacking is in Michigan our home state, but we do at least one long trip every year. Colorado, Virginia, and the Red River Gorge is what we have narrowed our list down to for this year. We may do one or two of the trips depending on our work schedules.

[@DRAUSSENsein]

I've already said it on your other channel, a great video! :) The landscapes and views over the mountains are breathtaking. Your campsite is very idyllic, very nice nature, including elk-visit for free! Fantastic adventure! Greetings from Germany, Angela

[@uptrail7169]

Thanks Angela! This was our favorite backpacking trip ever seeing the moose, mountains with the campsite next to the lake, and climbing up to the Cloud Peak Summit. You have some of the most beautiful mountains in Germany! Excellent Videos...

[@DRAUSSENsein]

... that's true, we also have some mountains in Germany, outside is just beautiful :)))

[@rogerlamb536]

That is beautiful, I would like to do this hike, it's amazing. Thank you for a great video.

[@uptrail7169]

It's an amazing area, and a challenge to hike up to the summit. You only get a small window for decent weather. They get snow almost year around in the high elevations. About mid July through mid August seems to be the best time to try the summit. I watched a video with some guys that turned back because of a snow storm on July 4th.

[@joeyhooper3]

I should be doing a hike this summer out there. Can't wait. Good video sir

[@uptrail7169]

Thanks and have fun! It's a beautiful area. If possible go in late July or August because it does get cold up there.

[@joeyhooper3]

@@uptrail7169 I'm going with a few other guys who have done it before originally were were gonna go up end of July into the 3 of August but had to move it back to the middle of july to accommodate for another guys schedule. Thanks for the tips though. This last year just camping around meadowlark it was in the 30-40s during the day in like late july. Can only imagine how much colder it gets up too

[@TimWatsonOutdoors]

Wow what a beautiful place. My friend Josh did some Wyoming hiking this year and loved it as well.

[@uptrail7169]

Thanks Tim! This was the best trip that we ever went on. We will go back again someday. A lot more areas to check out in the Bighorn Mountains.

[@luisrolo8876]

I am climbing cloud peak at the end of this month with my friends ! Super pumped and excited. Been living in buffalo for a year but haven’t gotten a chance until now.

[@uptrail7169]

It's beautiful up there! Have fun and it is a difficult climb up to the top.

[@wyomingadventures]

By the way congratulations! Even some local s never make it excellent video you two did a great job videotaping

[@uptrail7169]

Thanks for all of the comments! This was a very beautiful area and we will plan another trip for there in the future. This video was ok and if we come back I'll make a lot better video.

[@HikeCamp]

Great video, love it!! Cloud Peak has always been a bucket list item. Here is the sad part. I live withing 55 miles of the trail head and have not even gone as far as Misty Moon Lake. Mostly because of bad knees 🙁. Perhaps Misty Moon one day but Cloud Peak will remain out of my reach except videos such as yours. 👍👍 Thanks for sharing!!

[@uptrail7169]

Thanks!! The hike to Misty Moon Lake wasn't too hard and with the water levels low it made the stream crossings easy. Even if we didn't climb Cloud Peak the campsite at the lake still would have been well worth it.

[@HikeCamp]

Maybe I will give it a shot late in the summer. Thanks! ATVB ... Max

[@BetweenTheBlazes]

Makes me truly miss the mountains! Tricky to rock jump while filming isn't it! Happy Trails

[@uptrail7169]

Thanks Nate! Speaking about filming. About half way up the mountain my camera slipped out of my hand and fell between some large boulders. It took a few minutes to fish it out. It's never fun reaching into an area because you have no idea what may be in it. The camera still work good only a few more scratches on it. This was an amazing area with less people. We will go back someday!

[@wheelsgonewild1286]

Such beauty.... wow. Is that not as close to heaven on earth as you can get? Thanks so much for taking me with you guys.

[@uptrail7169]

Thanks Wheels! It was a lots of work hiking up to the summit. It's very rewarding with the views and the feeling of being so high up. We took it all in for about 30 minutes before the rugged journey back down.

[@wheelsgonewild1286]

and rugged it was for sure...

[@Hikergy16]

I’ll be headed there this year! Great video as always.

[@uptrail7169]

Thanks! Have fun! I loved this area. I would like to go back and make a new video there someday. This older video was ok, but I would make a better one next time. Try to go from mid July to August if possible. They have had snow there on the 4th of July.

[@Hikergy16]

@@uptrail7169 Awesome man! Thanks for the heads up, I think I’ll try for August this year.

[@chriso5374]

Great video. Just got back and unfortunately I only made it to Lake Helen due to miscalculations and underestimating the last trail before Lake Helen. I guessed Lake Helen to be 5.5 to 6 miles and the N. end of Mistymoon around 7.5? I ran out of gas and took way,way too long. Returning in June for another go. I find out the wrong backpack and too much weight was a serious DUH on my part. Again great video and beautiful pics.

[@uptrail7169]

Good Luck on your next try. 👍 I've lightened my pack a lot over the years since this trip.

[@potatothorn]

moose and you saw a pika up there! what a spectacular area, very similar to the Sierras. rough climb good job getting up there! looked like Whitney up top except you had no trail we had a nice clear path through the rocks, you had a total scramble Wow. I wonder what the moose think about the cows//// What a great trip thanks for taking us along.

[@uptrail7169]

The distance between the cattle and moose at our campsite was over 6 miles. That's a good thought! The climb up the mountain was a challenge. In the video you see a guy and his dog. At times he would put his dog in the backpack for climbing. All that you could see is the dogs head. He was a nice guy and camped near us. It was neat to see different wildlife that we don't have in Northern Michigan. The campsite on the lake was perfect, but windy with almost no trees.

[@potatothorn]

uptrail71 really cool trip. i was wondering if the dog could make all of that!

[@Wanderlust598]

I did Lake Angeline. Didn't have time for that hike, but will be back up there one day.

[@uptrail7169]

It's a good challenging awesome hike!

[@kylestephenson3244]

This is my favorite place in the world! I've packed up there several times. We usually camp at lake Helen. The fishing is amazing. Lots of brook trout and lake trout.

[@uptrail7169]

This is a very beautiful area! We will go back to the Cloud Peak Wilderness again someday for a backpacking trip.

[@kylestephenson3244]

I still have a lot of family around there so I make it back up there about every other year.

[@wyomingadventures]

Do you mean brook and cutthroat trout? I have been on clouds peak 5 times and bomber twice beautiful mountains my home

[@kylestephenson3244]

@@wyomingadventures yes there are a lot of cutthroat too but a lot of the lakes up there do have some big lake trout in them. You have better luck in the evenings.

[@wyomingadventures]

@@kylestephenson3244 no lake trout in that drainage system. Yes lake trout in lake solitude, and some of the paint rock drainage. Besides a couple lower lakes having splake and mackinaw. Lake trout aren't a very common stocked fish up in the big horns. Just check out the Wyoming game and fish stock report. I have fished all these lakes many times. Like I said I live here have spent many years up there

[@Gr8WhiTe1990]

This is awesome! The trailhead is about an hour from where I live, but i've never done this hike. I'd like to tho! Thanks for sharing your experience!

[@uptrail7169]

Nice! I would do the hike sometime after the 4th of July.

[@Nerding4Nature]

Amazing scenery!! Great shot of the moose. Might I suggest the ursack for subalpine backpacking. It's a kevlar bag that's way lighter and more convenient than a bear canister. No more bear hangs on scrawny trees. It's not particularly cheap though.

[@uptrail7169]

This was an amazing area! We actually planned this part of the trip about 2 weeks before going. They only have a few bear in the park and don't require a canister. The little tree worked good enough at least for maybe the small critters. lol The guys camping near us kept the food bag in the tent. I'm not that crazy!

[@Nerding4Nature]

On the bright side, and bear that came along would have probably chosen to hang out at their site. The mini tree hang would keep the pikas and marmots out of it too.

[@EvansBackpackingVideos]

Really great video! I liked the shots of the moose. The climb looked challenging and the views were dramatic. It must have taken a long time climbing up and around those rocks and boulders . . . .

[@uptrail7169]

The moose never left the area around our campsite. You don't want to get brave around them. They are huge! The climb up and back down from Cloud Peak took up most of the day. The air was thin and cold. With no actual trail to the top it was mostly rock climbing all the way up. The best chance for decent weather is from mid July through mid August. They get snow almost all of the year in the high elevations. This was an awesome area for backpacking with less people and we will go back again someday.

[@EvansBackpackingVideos]

As a teenager back in the 1980s, I backpacked in the Bridger Wilderness in Wyoming. I haven't been back to backpack in Wyoming since, even though I've been back for other reasons a lot of times. Wyoming--a great place!

[@SalineScott]

That looks like an awesome hike. Really rocky near the end. Bet that was a great work out with the weight you had on your pack.

[@uptrail7169]

I had my winter pack for the hike to our camping area. We used small front packs for the rugged hike up to the summit. It was a long drive, but worth it with the amazing views.

[@ChrisBamman79]

Wow what a ridiculously beautiful place! Special Moose haha

[@uptrail7169]

This is a beautiful area and we will go back to hike some other trails someday. Way too much to see in only 2 or 3 days.The moose stayed in that area the entire time. On the first night they walked up very close to our tent eating plants and leaves.

[@BenjiBatavia]

Ich mag auch wandern

[@JaxxDrinkwater]

I had to come watch this video after your highlight video.

[@uptrail7169]

Thanks! This was a well planned trip for us. Camping at 10,000 feet helped us adjust to the thin air before attempting the summit on day 2.

[@shcmoly]

Welcome to the Rockies flatlander, I was born in the midwest but my home is Colorado.

[@uptrail7169]

Thanks for watching! We have been thinking about going out to Colorado this summer.

[@AndyOnTheMountain]

Killer hike Bob! What's the elevation like in Cloud Peak? I'm going to have to check out this area next spring or summer. Andy

[@uptrail7169]

Thanks Andy! The summit is 13,167 ft. It was cold and windy on the summit that day. I show the map in the beginning of our planned route. I would highly recommend the route plan for summiting Cloud Peak. The best time to go is in July or August. They get snow in the high elevations almost year around. Amazing area that we will go back to. Maybe Colorado next summer.

[@TheWasatchGearReview]

Great video! Ever been in a rain storm in that tent? Mine leaked like hell!

[@uptrail7169]

Thanks! Most of the time we use our hammocks. For this trip I bought this cheap tent since we knew that trees may be a problem for hanging hammocks . I'm sure glad that we didn't have to test it in a rain storm. lol We got lucky! We had a tent like it in the past and never had a problem getting wet. It was made cheap and broke after using it a several times. This trip was planned at the last minute and next time I'll purchase a good tent. We have already talked about that.

[@TheWasatchGearReview]

uptrail71 Just didn't want you to find out the hard way! Have a fid one!

[@HappyHikers]

WOW! I must visit here!!! This is extraordinary!! Beautiful!!!!!!! Thanks so much for telling me about it! Thanks for recording it!! Two questions: 1. What do you film with? It’s incredible quality! 2. What are your three favorite hikes? Thanks!!!

[@uptrail7169]

We had plans to visit Mount Rushmore and then decided to go about another hundred miles or so to this area. It's amazing and what we did in my opinion is the best area of the Big Horn Mountains. I've been using the Sony cx240 camera since 2015. It's a cheaper camera that Sintax77 recommended back then. This video was a little shaky, but the color is very good. The camera does lack some in the darker scenes. Favorite trail was this adventure. Smoky Mountains was great also and Pictured Rocks 43 mile lakeshore hike is awesome.

[@HappyHikers]

uptrail71 I’ve always wanted to see Mount Rushmore!! Have you seen the kids movie “Ritchie rich” I watched it as a kid and they go to Rushmore and ever since then I’ve wanted too!! I just video with my iPhone but I would really like to upgrade to a nice camera like yours because the colors are unreal! Thanks for the tips!! I’m going to seriously plan towards doing this hike!!! Does any of this section cross with the CDT?

[@uptrail7169]

This area is about 100 miles east of Yellowstone and way less people. This was another reason for picking the Cloud Peak Wilderness and we went on a Monday through Wednesday. We did see a few people, but nothing like the National Parks. Mount Rushmore is neat and I also made a video for it. National Treasure the part 2 also had Mount Rushmore in it at the end.

[@HappyHikers]

uptrail71 that’s so cool! I feel so overwhelmed by all the hiking options out west! There are SO many places to go!

[@StateParkers]

this time tomorrow Melody and I will be at the very tip top of Texas camping out at Guadalupe Peak.

[@uptrail7169]

That sounds like a neat area. This is the first time that I've watched videos from Texas. Only if it wasn't such of a long drive for us to Texas and Arizona. Two areas that we would love to visit!

[@juiceski30]

I was there yesterday.

[@uptrail7169]

Nice! I would love to go back there someday.

[@Maintenance63]

I'm curious, why didn't you use trekking poles? Thank you.

[@uptrail7169]

My pack weight now is almost at ultralight and it's a lot easier without them for filming. When we go hiking without the camera I do sometimes take the trekking poles. For this trip in Wyoming my pack weight was more and it would have been a good time to take the poles with, but I did good without them. My wife should use them, but she won't in the videos since I'm not using them.

[@Dakota.Covers]

uptrail71 thanks for the input. So, do you feel that the poles would have been helpful on Cloud Peak?

[@ralphsammis7330]

How come you didn’t even get winded? Are you in that good shape or did you do voice over? Excellent video in every way! Thanks.

[@uptrail7169]

Thanks! My voice in this video is real and we did do a lot of practice hikes before this trip. It was our first time hiking at elevations this high.

[@craigherbert6640]

I wouldn't even waste of time to filter that water they got up by the summit what possibly could be in it but I guess it's better to be safe than sorry

[@wyomingadventures]

I have drank water all my life up there just watch were I get it from make sure no cattle are there and I would say if you don't know about water filter it

[@wyomingadventures]

No you don't have to worry about bears I have spent 36 years up there only see bears 3 times

[@wyomingadventures]

And no wolves up in the big horns. Coyotes yes. Mountain lion yes.

[@jdubvdub]

Great video. I was in the Big Horns August 19-24, 2016. I hiked the entire solitude trail counter clockwise, then climbed Cloud Peak and hiked out on the last day. Ended up around 80 miles I think. Absolutely amazing place. I went 3 days without seeing a person! I guess that's why they call it the solitude trail. I had the same map as yours, and it is not very accurate. I got turned around several times. Take care! Anyway, here is a video I made of my trip. kzbin.info/www/bejne/lZWynWCticZ0ec0

[@uptrail7169]

We climbed to the summit on the 23rd and hiked out the next day. We may have crossed paths somewhere. It was hard to leave such of a beautiful area. WOW! 80 miles is a lot in that area. I'll check out your video!

[@jonathanwalters2976]

uptrail71 I went over Geneva Pass and past lake solitude the day you summited. I camped right next to that waterfall with two other guys that's in your video. You probably passed them on your way out.

[@uptrail7169]

I remember seeing some people next to the waterfall camping. I think that they had hammocks, but not sure. We thought about using our hammocks, but instead we brought our tent with the small trees in the area.