Washakie County High Point Trip Report
Date: November 21-22, 2001
Author: Jerry Brekhus
We arrived at Ten Sleep the afternoon before Thanksgiving Day, checked in at a motel and proceeded about
26 miles east on US 16 to the Johnson County line.
We parked at unplowed Forest Highway 25 and proceeded on snowshoes toward the two points about a quarter
mile south of the highway. A foot of snow made for pleasant snowshoe travel, actually making it easier to
cross scattered deadfall on the timbered slope. The trees hid a mild surprise for us. These two tops are
boulder piles; a bit tricky with snowshoes, but we surmounted them. Trees and falling snow made it hard to
see which area is higher. We found a small cairn at the west top, perhaps put there by a county highpointer.
By then, snow was accumulating, and darkness impending. (Sunset is before 5 PM in these parts, now.) So we
returned to the vehicle and drove back down 5000 feet to Ten Sleep.
Thanksgiving Day, being thankful for the freedom we have, we headed back up Ten Sleep Canyon to visit
the third area, which is on the opposite (north) side of the highway. This one is on the county line.
We located the ridge and verifying with GPS that we were at the county line, noticed a candidate boulder for the
exact high point. I wedged a topo map in a zipped plastic bag under a dead tree that was leaning on the boulder.
The UTM coordinates of the 3 candidate high points are marked on it.
On Nov. 21 or Nov. 22, 2001, we stood and looked out from the top of Washakie County. We just don't
know which day it was, because it was not apparent which of the 3 spots is the highest.