Union Pass

It wasn't until a few years ago that I even realized there was actually a road of any sort across the Continental Divide north of the Wind Rivers. But it's been calling to me ever since.

I had several route options for the third day of our trip, but this one was the most compelling. A slow start to the day almost ruled it out, but we got out of Jackson with gas and food by 1 pm and the weather was looking good, so I casually mentioned to M that there was a 50-mile gravel road I was sort of curious about. She handled it remarkably politely, although by the time we started up the rocky track on the west side and dodged a few cattle, she was probably wishing she'd protested more. But we all made it out just fine.

The dramatic peaks of the Wind River Mountains fizzle out north of Green River Lakes and the Union Pass road traverses a 8000-9000' rolling plateau of meadows and aspen before dropping down more sharply to Dubois on the northeast side.

Union Pass is very near a major triple divide, so in just a few miles, we passed through headwaters of the Colorado, Snake, and Missouri Rivers. We started by following the upper Green River, which flows south through Wyoming and Utah before joining the Colorado in Cataract Canyon, then flows through the Grand Canyon on its way to Mexico and the Gulf of California.

We then passed across small streams that feed the Gros Ventre, which flows down to meet the Snake River in Jackson Hole, then flows through much of Idaho to eventually join the Columbia River in Washington before reaching the Pacific at Astoria.

And the east side of Union Pass drains to the Wind River, which becomes the Bighorn River, which joins the Yellowstone, which meets up with the Missouri west of Williston and the Mississippi north of St. Louis, before flowing past New Orleans on its way to the Gulf of Mexico (unfortunately, none of my pictures were taken on that side).