Wyoming Backpacking

Backpacking in Wyoming is all about the high country. High peaks, high lakes and basins, high plateaus and high meadows and forests provide big vistas under impossibly blue skies. Wyoming backpacking with Big Wild Adventures also means you’ll be hiking through some of the best remaining wildlife habitats on Earth, teeming with wild creatures, deep in the wilds of the incomparable Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. We explore the staggering alpine terrain and trails of the Grand Teton, Wind River Range, Absaroka and Gros Ventre Mountain Ranges, while our Yellowstone guided hikes take you through an unbelievable variety of beautiful landscapes deep in the back-country of the world’s first national park!

wyoming-backpacking

Big Wild Adventures offers the best backpacking that the state of Wyoming has to offer. We are all about getting you deep into wild remote country, where few others visit. Our owners and guides are some of the most experienced wilderness experts anywhere! And most of our Wyoming hiking and backpacking adventures are based out of Jackson Hole, where there are lots of pre and post-trek outdoor recreation opportunities.

Also, please see our Yellowstone Backpacking page for more exciting hikes in our home region, since all of our Yellowstone trips are in Wyoming, Montana or both.

Please note that sometimes backpacking and hiking Wyoming trips fill, and we take reservations on a first-come, first-served basis. So don’t miss out! To reserve a space (or to arrange a Custom of Family Trip), call 406-823-0337. As fellow backpackers and outdoor adventurers, we can’t wait to explore the breathtaking Wyoming wilds with you!

GROS VENTRE RANGE, JACKSON HOLE WILDLIFE BONANZA

Wyoming $2,100 (inclusive*) • July 1-6, 2024

Trip at a glance: This Wyoming backpacking trip is rated as moderate. We will explore the Gros Ventre Wilderness of the Bridger-Teton National Forest, directly across the valley of Jackson Hole, from the Grand Tetons. We will explore a Rocky Mountain wonderland of forest, meadows, streams and snow-capped peaks. The scenery is magnificent and this is often our very best trek for viewing wildlife! View full trip details >>

Wyoming Backpacking - Cow Creek Wyoming Backpacking


GRAND TETONS ALPINE GLORY

Wyoming:  $2,100 (both inclusive*) • July 29- August 3, 2024 &  August 26- 30, 2024 $2,000.

Trip at a glance: The July Wyoming backpacking trip is rated as fairly strenuous to strenuous; the September trek is moderate. We will be hiking through the beautiful wilds of the Grand Tetons, primarily within the Jedediah Smith Wilderness, which forms the west slope of the Tetons. You will see sky-scraping rugged peaks, wildlife, wildflowers, and other beautiful Wyoming mountain views along the most spectacular section of the Teton Crest Trail.  View full trip details >>

Wyoming Backpacking Grand Tetons Backpacking


WIND RIVER RANGE, ALONG THE GREAT DIVIDE

Wyoming $2,150 (inclusive*) • August 11-17, 2024

Trip at a glance: This Wyoming backpacking trip is rated as strenuous. We will be backpacking the rugged Fitzpatrick Wilderness in the Shoshone National Forest. You will see some of the best of Wyoming in the state’s highest mountain range with remote basins, sparkling alpine lakes, cold streams, alpine tundra, dazzling wildflower meadows and more. View full trip details >>

Wyoming Backpackers Pinto Lake


BIG VISTAS OF THE WILD ABSAROKAS

Wyoming $2,100 (inclusive*) • August 19-24, 2024

Trip at a glance: This WY backpacking trip is rated as fairly strenuous. We will be backpacking primarily in the Washakie Wilderness of the Shoshone National Forest. Scenery on this Wyoming excursion includes high volcanic mountains with expanses of alpine tundra, verdant forests, waterfalls, wildflowers, abundant wildlife and more. View full trip details >>

Dundee Meadows Boday Pass


 Please click on photos to enlarge.

*All backpacking trip prices include equipment (backpack, day-pack, tent, sleeping bag and pad, eating utensils), food and cooking (3 meals/day plus snacks), cooking gear, trip planning, comprehensive safety instruction, all user/permit fees, transportation from town to and from the trailheads, and our professional guide/naturalist staff. There is a $300 discount if you bring your own equipment.

Peruse a few of the hiking and backpacking trips we offer in the region. Backpacking in Wyoming is an experience you’ll never forget!

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Space is limited!
Have questions? Call (406) 823-0337


The Wyoming Landscape

Land-locked Wyoming boasts the second highest average elevation of any state, exceeded only by its neighbor to the south, Colorado. Wyoming’s lowest elevation lands are in the far northeast and the highest are in the western mountains. Deep within the Wind River Range, Gannett Peak rises to 13,804 feet above the sea, the highest mountain in the Rockies north of Colorado. Many of the populated valleys – especially in the western part of the state – are well over 6,000 feet in elevation.

Generally speaking, Wyoming is a high, dry, sparsely populated (by humans) landscape characterized by high rugged mountain ranges of varying expanses, rising above vast arid and semi-arid valleys and basins. Sagebrush and short native bunch-grasses are typical plants of the valleys and basins.

For most backpackers, the mountainous western and northwestern part of “The Equality State” is the big attraction. That’s because the other mountainous parts, such as the Bighorn Mountains (north-central Wyoming) and the Medicine Bow Mountains (southeast Wyoming near Laramie), are smaller ranges, each with a considerably greater imprint of humanity’s works. In other words, there’s much less wilderness in these areas than in the west and northwest. Big Wild Adventures has been helping folks to explore Wyoming’s wildest mountains since the late 1970’s and we know these mountains and the life within them as well or better than most anyone in the region. Magical mountains such as the glaciated Wind River Range, the high volcanic Absarokas, the gorgeous and wildlife-filled Gros Ventres and the famously incomparable Grand Tetons all constitute the Wyoming home of Big Wild Adventures. Not to mention Yellowstone, the world’s first national park. Yellowstone is mostly in Wyoming, with smaller portions extending into Montana and Idaho. And all of western Wyoming’s high country is part of the world-renowned Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.

So at least for Big Wild Adventures, hiking through this state is a trek through some of the most striking mountain terrain in North America. And although summer weather is usually great, because of the altitude one must be prepared for anything. We’ve seen it snow in July! Though usually, the crisp mountain air with abundant warm sunshine and low humidity typically make backpacking in Wyoming an absolute joy!

Annual Trip Calendar

Scheduled Wyoming Trips

At the bold link below, we’ve listed our Wyoming backpacking / hiking trips. Read about our backpacking treks, which are either in Wyoming, Montana or both states.

All Wyoming Trips

 

Backpacking Trek to Lunch Lake, Wyoming

List prices include our complete gear package and there is a $300 discount if you bring your own (see our Canoeing List, Backpacking List, and/or Questionnaire for details – found here). Also, we offer a $300 discount for the second trip in a calendar year. Scheduled trips are for persons ages 14 and over. Exceptions to the age requirement will be made by us on a case-by-case basis.

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