Bridger Wilderness
Bridger-Teton National Forest, Wyoming

The Bridger Wilderness is named for Jim Bridger, one of the most famous mountain men in American history. The 428,087 acres of the Wilderness are located in the Wind River Mountains of western Wyoming. The open alpine meadows, alpine forest and glacier-carved granite summits that make up most of the Bridger Wilderness extend along the western slope of the Continental Divide for almost 80 miles. The cirques, kettles, hanging troughs and valleys hold more than 2,300 crytal-clear lakes and ponds, and seven of the ten largest glaciers in the lower 48 states. The headwaters of the Green River are here, too. At 13,804', Gannett Peak, on the shared boundary with Fitzpatrick Wilderness, is the highest point in Wyoming. Gannett sits in the heart of a sea of jagged upthrust granite summits, testimony to the power of geological compressive forces deep in the earth below.

On the east side of the Continental Divide from the Bridger Wilderness are the Popo Agie and Fitzpatrick Wildernesses and the Wind River Indian Reservation. The elevations vary from about 8,000' to 13,804'. That means you could see snow and/or freezing nights at any time of year. Trails and passes in the high country can hold snow into mid and late July, although the lower elevations are usually clear by late June.

There are more than 600 miles of trails in the Bridger Wilderness, but a lot of them don't see humans until fall big game hunting season: these forests are full of elk, moose, black and grizzly bear, mule deer, grey wolves, and bighorn sheep. The streams carry cutthroat, brook, brown, and rainbow trout.