The hike to wind caves is a beautiful hike on the west side of the Tetons. The trail starts just east of Driggs at about 7000 ft at the south fork of Darby Canyon. The trail itself is pretty short, about 2.6 miles to the wind caves from the trail head. There's plenty of dogs running around (including mine haha) and people of all ages doing the hike. The entire trail is beautifully green and it ends at a waterfall coming out of the wind caves. We hiked this trail at the end of June and there was still plenty of snow towards the end of the hike and this made the trail quite wet and slippery but still not difficult. Some pictures I took at the hike can be seen on this post. Here is how you get there: 1. Drive into Victor, ID 2. Drive north toward Driggs on Hwy 33 for 5.3 miles 3. Turn right on to W 3000 S and drive 3 miles 4. Turn right Darby Canyon Road (follow signs to Darby Canyon) and drive 4.5 miles 5. Park and start hike! Here is a pic of the route from Victor, ID to Darby wind cave trailhead (thanks google!) What you need for the hike: 1. Hiking shoes: I use Saloman hiking shoes that are light and waterproof. They are also pretty reasonable. I bought mine 4 years back and they are still going strong. Here is a link to them on amazon.com: Saloman Womens X Ultra GTX Hiking Shoe 2. Day pack: I have a Black Diamond Astral 40 backpack that I bought a few years back. I love the pack! I take it rock climbing, hiking, mountaineering, trail running and it never fails to make me happy about that purchase. 3. Sun glasses: I love my white oakley sunglasses. I run with them regularly too and then never fall off. I can't seem to find the exact model but I bought mine on SteepandCheap.com and they were 60% off. 4. Comfortable clothes: Anything comfortable would do. This time of the year, the weather is warm, but not too warm. I hiked in convertible hiking pants (from REI) and yoga top (from Lululemon). My friends hiked in jeans and yoga pants. 5. Snacks: Luna bar and Trail mix should be enough. 6. Water: I carried 2 liters in my camelback and hardly used one. 7. Dog (optional): Not optional for me, probably optional for you. My dog had a blast hiking around. She was off leash and sniffing everything everywhere. She is sleeping very very sound at the moment and I couldn't be happier. So a quick summary of the hike: Distance: 2.6 miles one way (5.2 miles total) Time: 5 hours Elevation gain: 1900 ft Difficulty: Beer friendly (you can hike most of the trail with a six pack) Pet: Dog allowed (cats don't hike) More info and pictures: Alltrails.com Snow and I having a special moment during the hike Beautiful waterfall waiting for you at the top of the hike!
2 Comments
Ben
5/13/2015 10:18:12 am
Do you know if the snow has subsided enough yet to hike to the caves? I had some friends go 4 weeks ago, and they found snow waist deep. Not excited to run into that.....
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Mahima Gupta
5/14/2015 11:28:36 pm
Hi Ben there's always snow at the very end of the hike. I went in June last year and it was still knee deep. Still good fun! I would give it a couple weeks and if it doesn't rain, you should be good to go. Expect some Snow at the very end though. If you're worried, you could take some hiking poles.
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MahimaNuclear Engineer, Product and Strategy expert, Vegetarian, Adventurer. Categories
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