Pinedale, Wyoming is located in western Wyoming approximately 78 miles south of Jackson Hole and 100 miles north of Rock Springs along Highway. 191. The town is nestled on the western flank of the Wind River Mountain Range and is a small community with a western flavor. It has a population of about 1,500 people and is at 7,175 feet in elevation. The surrounding mountains tower to more than 13,000 feet and the highest mountain in Wyoming, Gannett Peak, towers above.
Fishing is a popular activity on the many lakes of the Wind River Mountains
Pinedale is located on the eastern flank of the Greater Yellowstone Eco-system and is home to more than 100,000 big game animals including Continental America's longest big game migration route and a crucial link to the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem The largest publicly-owned big game winter range in the GYE. The largest mule deer herd in U.S. and one of the west's last best sage grouse habitats. Deer and antelope outnumber residents by ten to one and are commonly seen year-round. Elk, mule deer, antelope, wolves, moose, grizzly and black bear, and many other wildlife species call Sublette County home. The Upper Green River Valley is also a world-class fishery – Life Is Good!
Sublette County in Western Wyoming is the gateway to the Wind River Mountains, the Upper Green River Valley, The Gros Ventre Range, and the Wyoming Range that includes two rugged wilderness areas, the spectacular Bridger Wilderness and Gros Ventre Wilderness are pristine unspoiled places where man is only a visitor. Over 1300 lakes, including Fremont Lake and Half Moon Lake dot the region and are said to be some of the best trout fishing outside Alaska. Throughout Sublette County you will find spectacular scenery, wildlife, fishing, hiking, horseback riding, photography, and so many more exciting adventure opportunities.
Fly-fisherman casts a tight loop as well as a fine reflection in the calm waters of Green River Lake
This rural farming and ranching valley have only about 7,000 residents throughout 4883 square miles. The county is 80% public land including Bureau of Land Management, State, and the Bridger-Teton National Forest.
Fishing here is legendary The New Fork River starts high in the Wind River Range as a glacial stream before flowing into the New Fork Lakes, just north of Pinedale. From the lakes, it flows as a small stream down the Green River Valley and behind the town of Pinedale. While it widens after merging with Duck Creek, it is still a small, stream that provides excellent habitat for German Brown Trout. The Green River starts as a small glacial stream high in the Wind River Mountains. Like the New Fork River, it dumps from the glaciers into a pair of large lakes in the northern region of the Winds and emerges suddenly as a fast-flowing, freestone river with a deep emerald color that appropriately gives the Green its name. As it flows through the valley, it widens, slows, and begins to wind its way south. The good bank structure provides holding ground for wild Brown Trout, while the freestone qualities created at the headwaters hold a strong population of hard-fighting Rainbow Trout. Many high mountain lakes of the Wind River Range are home to five-pound golden trout and the morainel lakes at the base of the Wind River Mountains are home to many giant Lake Trout. Due to the afore mentioned plethora of wildlife The Green River Valley is a hunters nirvana.
You don't have to look to far around Pinedale's Sublett Countay to see left overs of its pioneering past.
Gannet Peak is the highest mountain peak in Wyoming and has 5 rugged glaciers on its flank, the largest glaciers in the American Rocky Mountains. It is remote and considered an exciting alpine mountaineering challenge due to its inaccessibility and moderate difficulty. This trip is best tackled by experienced climbers with great stamina well acclimated to high elevations. Gannett Peak is the longest round trip of any climb, including Danali in Alaska. The hike is at least 40 miles roundtrip and an almost 9,000 foot vertical climb.
Average summer temperatures are in the 70s-80s and winter about 15 degrees F. Average rainfall is about ten inches per year. Pinedale is your base camp for adventure into the beautiful Wind River Mountains, and right on the way to Yellowstone National Park, the Tetons and Jackson Hole!
Whether you are searching for golden trout, bagging Gannett Peak, plotting a new route up Pingora in the Cirque of the Towers, or just heading in for a quick day hike to enjoy the beautiful wildflowers, you are sure to find this area to be a special place, and will want to return again and again. If you're looking for fewer crowds, western hospitality, and fantastic scenery consider visiting the Upper Green River Valley.
Pinedale's Green River Valley is dotted with lakes like Fremont and Boulder lakes above
Fall at Newfork Lake
Fall Green River
Old Homestead, upper Green River, Pinedale Wyoming
Buckrail fence, wind river mountains, Pinedale Wyoming
The tallest mountains in wyoming, The Wind River Range dominates the eastern flank of the Green River Valley
Yellowstone News
Greater Yellowstone ~ Window on the Wilderness 2011
The Movie
Winter Bison
64 Yellowstone bison headed for Montana tribal land
He stalled plan to repopulate the Plains with bison moved forward today, as 64 American icons from Yellowstone National Park were being transported to the Fort Peck Reservation in Montana, the Associated Press reports.................Tribal and state officials approved the transfer late Friday, but to avoid a court injunction the date was not revealed, said Robert Magnan, a tribal official with the Fort Peck Fish and Game Department................The genetically pure Yellowstone animals have been quarantined for several years since crossing over the park's northern boundary during their natural winter migration. All are free of brucellosis, which can cause the females to abort fetuses. Though the disease is rare in the United States, ranchers fear bison could transmit it to cattle. (It can also infect goats, pigs, dogs, camels and people.) Ranchers also worry that the bison will compete with their livestock and livelihood for range land.......................rest of story
Yellowstone's wildlife is a major attraction for the visiting photographer
Photographing Yellowstone ~ by Daryl L. Hunter
Yellowstone National Park has been a photography destination ever since Henry Jackson took the first photos of Yellowstone in 1872, Yellowstone's plethora of nature demands documentation from all who visit this world treasure. Yellowstone National Park welcomes photographers from across the country and from around the world to photograph its embarrassment of riches of natural wonders. Photographers come to document its pristine beauty and seasons of breathtaking contrasts: Scenic photographic opportunities abound, the wide-open grassy valleys, the perpendicular peaks of the Gallatin, Beartooth and Absaroka mountains. Yellowstone has hundreds of waterfalls, rivers that both gently meander through big valleys and writhing thorough whitewater canyons. This high mountain plateau attracts violent weather which makes wonderful accents too our earthly objects. More geysers than anywhere else on earth are here in Yellowstone waiting for the creative photographer capture eruptions of water at sunset. Colorful red and ocher mud pots, hot springs the deepest of blue outlined in orange and odd fumaroles dot the landscape of Yellowstone beaconing photographers from the other side of the world to take their story home......................... rest of story
Superlative Yellowstone by Daryl L. Hunter
Fountain Geyser, Lower Geyser Basin, Yellowstone National Park
OK let me dig deep into my reservoir of superlatives to adequately describe Yellowstone National Park, it is big, wild stunningly beautiful, and dynamic. Any description of Yellowstone will be filled with superlatives, yet words can never do it justice, but I will elaborate anyway; Yellowstone has the greatest concentration of thermal features in the world, up until 1,978 Yellowstone was the largest National Park in the country, One of the world's most spectacular canyons, the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, and its two majestic waterfalls cut 1,600 feet deep into the golden rhyolite laid down by the last major eruption 600 thousand years ago; as Yellowstone is one of the six super volcanoes of the world. It is home of the world's second largest high altitude lake nestled in the pit of the Yellowstone caldera; Magnificent mountain scenery rings the unique terrain of the Yellowstone volcanic plateaus. It is home to one of the largest concentrations of wildlife on the planet. And of course, it is home to, perhaps, the most famous geyser in the world, Old Faithful.............................................rest of story