Hike Wyoming Peak and Mount Coffin Bridger-Teton National Forest, WY

Aug 20, 2022 — I planned to meet up with my friend Yossi for Wyoming Peak, but neither of us had the sense to consider the road conditions of the area. Without a way to communicate, I found myself driving up and down on rocky roads at 1am looking for his van that never made it before I passed out alone in the middle of nowhere questioning my endless poor life choices and weird committment to this dumb hobby. Later research revealed that I managed to take a bad road into the area, and he had somehow chosen an even worse one. To prevent a similar fate, I recommend just coming in from the north via Alpine, WY on a road that's graded until here (42.82329, -110.68948), or coming in over McDougal Gap from the east. I came in from the south via this road (42.5288652, -110.89723) which is okay for crossover vehicles, but slow enough that it might not have been worth the shorter distance and potential for getting stuck in mud. From the main forest road running north to south that separates the Salt River Range from the Wyoming Range (a road that looks far less long on a map than it is), I headed east here (42.57110, -110.67820) on a decent spur road leading to the trailhead. This side road makes a loop and returns farther north, but other reports stated the north side of the loop is more rough, so I didn't risk it.

I set out along the official Wyoming Peak Trail, a surprisingly well-maintained hike despite its remoteness. I even passed three other parties on my way back. After a few long switchbacks up the western slope of Wyoming Peak, I reached the base of the mountain. The trail continued more steeply to its summit, where I took in the views of the Wyoming Range and got the jitters of excitement to return to the area at some point to check out the Salt River Range, which parallels this one to the west.

From the summit of Wyoming Peak, I headed north on light Class 2 in order to make my way to Mount Coffin. There was a social trail much of the way down to the saddle, but it disappeared once in a while on tundra sections. Keeping to the left of some rock outcroppings, I made my way up the quickly worsening terrain. I'm not sure why I thought Mount Coffin would be just a nice tundra walk, but I became aware I'd been mistaken. I picked my way up loose stuff, trying to stick to the crest when I could. A social trail materialized again and it led to the crest, where the rockiness cooled off for a bit until the final 50+ feet to the summit, where an eroded cliff band almost shut me down. After poking around a hundred feet on the left (it was all rotten and loose), I backtracked and located a Class 3 exposed ledge move directly along the crest that I had no intention of repeating on the way down. Instead I recommend locating a Class 2+ set of moves on somewhat sturdy rock just left of the crest, followed by a short Class 2 gully. Both options lead to the Class 2 final bit to the summit of Mount Coffin, but the latter was definitely less dangerous.

On my way back from Mount Coffin, I stuck to the west slope of Wyoming Peak rather than re-ascend. A somewhat easy to follow trail kept the going pretty nice. Without locating this trail, the rocky slope would be tedious. This little side trail got me back to the main Wyoming Peak Trail, which I took back to my car.