[Cdt-l] Jackson to South Pass alternate

[Chris Willett]

Hi All,

I'm going to be on the CDT this summer starting around mid June from
somewhere up north. Maybe the border. I didn't especially like Yellowstone
on my section hike back in 2005 and would like to cut it off completely, or
mostly, by heading down the Teton Crest trail and eventually to Jackson.
Coming out of Jackson, though, I've got a few questions which maybe someone
can answer.

1) I'm planning on going through the Gros Ventre on the Granite Highline
trail, but then linking up into the Winds at the Green River/Lakes TH is a
bit of a problem: The Green river is in between me and it. There is an old
road on the west (and then north) side of the river for a while, but it
seems to fade away. The terrain makes it look like bushwhacking wouldn't be
too hard, but maybe not?  Any suggestions for entering the Winds from
Jackson?

2) Although its tempting to go out at Elkhart Park for resupply, I'd like to
go from Jackson all the way to South Pass City. I don't have any really good
way to estimate the distance, but suspect that it is around 200 miles. Does
anyone have a more accurate estimate? 200 miles is fine for me. 250 is
doable. But beyond that I'll start to have problems.

3) In the Winds, has anyone been over into the Alpine Lakes region? This is
a mostly trail-less region to the east of Titcomb Basin. A climbing book
that I have lists a traverse down that side of the area and it looks
appealing, but I haven't heard of any hikers taking it. So, maybe just for
climbers?

Thanks,

Suge