Since your web browser does not support JavaScript,
here is a non-JavaScript version of the trip report. NOTE: the slideshow above with not work with JavaScript disabled. Leaving from the Green River Lakes
trailhead at around 9:30 am we followed the highline trail around
the left side of the lower Green River Lake. After about 3 miles
you come to a large bridge crossing the Green River and from
there it's less than a mile to the upper Green River Lake. In the
photo below I'm at the trailhead with Squaretop rising in the
background about 10 miles away. From this distance Squaretop doesn't look 3 times higher than Devil's Tower but I promise you it is.
The photo below is taken from the upper Green
River Lake about 4 miles into the hike. Squaretop is getting ever
closer.
The photo below was taken above the upper lake
where we decided to have lunch. Not a bad view huh?
We decided to set up camp at Beaver's Park around
3:30 pm right after you cross another bridge over the Green
River. There is a large meadow with lots of campsites all around.
After finding the trail and making it to Granite Lake the next
day we were glad we didn't carry our packs to Granite Lake. From
Beaver Park the old horse trail to Granite Lake climbs almost
1300 feet in less than a mile. For those of you who don't climb
much, that means it goes straight up for a long time.
July 17, 2001
We were on the trail at about 7 am and up over
the steep trail to Granite Lake by 8 am. The photo below is taken
from Granite Lake on our attempted summit day. The lake sits at
about 9200 feet elevation leaving you over 2000 feet more to go
straight up. After Granite Lake you are on your own to find your
way up Squaretop. The trail disappears and the guide book we were
using was written about 30 yrs ago and many of the landmarks
mentioned did not exist anymore.
Below Linda is make her way up the steep slopes
on the side of Squaretop. Some of the mountain side consists of
steep slopes of trees and grass and also steep ledges of rocks
and boulders.
In the photo below I'm standing on a ridge on the
side of Squaretop looking back at the lower Green River Lake.
From this ridge you are above timberline and must scramble up
steep ledges of rocks and grass. We scoured the southern side of
the mountain looking for a passage through the cliffs with no
luck. After several hours of route searching we descended back to
the ridge and thought we seen the route up. By this time we had
been on the mountain for 4 hours or so and was too tired to head
back up the 2000 feet to the top. We decided to head back to the
tent. We didn't feel to bad since we ran into several parties
camping who had also been unsuccessful in their summit attempts.
We did make friends with one guy Robert from Alanta, GA who made
it to the top the day before us. He said he bushwhacked for 3
hours and by luck stumbled upon the chute that leads through the
cliffs. Oh well maybe next time.
July 18, 2001
We headed out around 10 am Thursday morning and
partway down the trail we found Robert sitting on a rock waiting
for us to come by. Where he was sitting we had a view of
Squaretop for the Northeast and he showed us the way to the top.
If we would have headed north on the mtn. instead of spending our
time on the southern end we would have made it. Once we arrived
at the lower Green River Lake we decided to take the lakeside
trail around the other side of the lake to be in the shade of the
trees. This trail was night&day different than the sagebrush
studded highline trail on the other side of the lake. However the
trail does go up and down quite a bit more so if you are
completely wiped out you would be better off taking the highline
trail back.
