Backpack Trail Guide

Trails / Wyoming / Wind River Range

Glacier Trail to Phillips and Double Lakes

Fitzpatrick Wilderness, Shoshone National Forest (Trail Lake Trailhead near Dubois)

The Glacier Trail is the long eastern approach to Gannett Peak, Wyoming’s highest point, from the Trail Lake Trailhead near Dubois. The Forest Service says the Fitzpatrick Wilderness holds 44 active glaciers, and Gannett Peak (13,804 feet) is flanked by three of them. Girl on a Hike puts Gannett Peak about 25 miles from the trailhead, but its first big lake basin, Phillips and Double Lakes, makes a destination on its own about 11 miles in.

This page covers the trip to that basin and back, about 22 miles round trip.

The hike

The trailhead sits at about 7,600 to 8,000 feet, depending on the source, at the end of Trail Lake Road. Girl on a Hike, a backpacking blog, says the turnoff is about 3 miles before Dubois when coming from Lander, and the last 9 miles of the drive are dirt.

The trail enters the Fitzpatrick Wilderness within the first mile and crosses Torrey Creek on a sturdy bridge. onX lists a Lake Louise Trail junction at 0.5 miles. The route follows the East Fork of Torrey Creek to the Bomber Basin junction at about 3.1 to 3.3 miles. Stay left on the Glacier Trail.

Then comes the climb that defines the trip: a long staircase of switchbacks up the side of Arrow Mountain. Counts range from 26 (HikeArizona) to about 40 (Girl on a Hike). Compulsive Hiker, a blog that hiked it in 2023, measured about 1,400 feet of gain over about 1.5 miles. HikeArizona says water is scarce on the switchbacks late in the season and suggests filling up at a small spring about a quarter mile before the first one.

Above, the trail heads south along Arrow Mountain to a pass near 10,700 to 10,900 feet (sources differ) and crosses Burro Flat, which Compulsive Hiker found under several inches of standing water after rain. The trail descends through an old burn to Phillips Lake, about 10.2 miles from the trailhead per Girl on a Hike, which says campsites there are only on the east side. Double Lake, at about 9,900 feet, follows about a mile later.

Past Double Lake, the Glacier Trail continues to Star and Honeymoon Lakes and up Dinwoody Creek to the glacier. onX calls the Gannett Peak climb “a mountaineering route, not a hike,” requiring crampons, ice axes, and rope, and warns that Gannett Creek can be challenging in high water.

For another Wind River trip, see Titcomb Basin, which reaches the same peaks from the west side of the Divide.

Tips

Camping

No permit is required for backpacking, according to Girl on a Hike, HikeArizona, and onX. The Shoshone National Forest’s food and attractant storage order (SHO-23-002) applies March 1 to December 1. Girl on a Hike lists groups of 15 or fewer and no camping within 200 feet of water or trails; we couldn’t confirm the Shoshone’s wilderness rules directly, so check with the Wind River Ranger District.

onX describes Phillips, Double, and Star Lakes as “all suitable for camp.” Compulsive Hiker camped at the south end of Upper Phillips Lake.

Inside Intel: Two trip reports chose Double Lake as a base. Girl on a Hike stayed three nights there for day hikes, fishing, and packrafting after skipping Phillips Lake because fire had damaged the views. A 2024 Backcountry Post report stayed two nights at Double Lake to wander without a pack, with an off-trail side trip to Golden Lake for lunch.

Trail facts

The Lowdown

Base camp at Double Lake:

Trip reports describe settling in at Double Lake for two or three nights after a long climb up Arrow Mountain's switchbacks. See the sleeping pads reviewers like for multi-night base camps.

Read the full guide →

Where this comes from

This page draws on the sources below, along with other guides and trip reports. Links go to the original pages.

Before you go: This page is based on published trail guides, trip reports, and reviews, along with official park and agency information where we could find it. It’s meant to help backpackers discover new trails, not to replace current, official information. Conditions, closures, permits, campsites, and water sources change, and some details here may be out of date or wrong. Confirm everything with the managing agency and check current conditions before you head out, and don’t rely on this page alone for safety or navigation. Backcountry travel involves risk.