Wind River Mountains

The base map is provided by OpenTopoMap’s volunteer servers.



Glaciation
Factors Favorable for Fairy Shrimp
Fish-stocking Zooicide
Bivouac Lake
Atlantic Sunny Bench Pond
Below “Windy Lake” Pond
“Upper Silas Lake” Southwest Pond
“Fremont Lake” Moraine Pond
Buttress Pond
Little Sandy Overlook Pond
“Coon Lake” South Pond #1
“Coon Lake” South Pond #2
“Coon Lake” South Pond #3
Cliff Edge Pond
“Coon Lake” South Pond #4
“Coon Lake” South Pond #5
Big Stough East Pond
Medina Mountain Ponds
Silas Headwall Lake
Silas Cornice Chute Lake
Cinquefoil Pond
Stough Below the Moraine Pond
Boulder Bog Pond
Deep Cirque Overlook Pond
Shoal Lake Northwest Pond
Hill 10,646 East Pond
Hill 10,646 South Pond
East Side Cirque Pond
Hidden Snowbank Pond
Jim Creek Saddle Pond
Jim Creek First Pond
Spot 10,672 Pond
Peak 11,246 South Pond
Peak 11,107 Northeast Pond
Wind River Peak Ponds
Little Stough West Pond
Stough Off Channel Pond
Lower Indian Pass Lake
Jackson Peak Pond
Little Deep Pond
Upper Indian Pass Lake
Upper Sand Pond
Lower Sand Pond
Indian Basin 11218 Pond
Indian Basin First Pond
Elephant Head Lake
Sand and Boulder Pond
Green Island Pond
“Island Lake” Pond #1
“Island Lake” Pond #2
“Island Lake” Pond #3
“Island Lake” Pond #4
“Island Lake” Pond #5
What Can We Learn from the Ponds in the Wind River Mountains?

The Wind River Mountains are the highest (highest peak, most glaciers) and largest mountain range in Wyoming, although the Laramie Mountains are longer (visual estimates of 1:500,000-scale map of state). It is 170 km (105 miles) long from the US 26 crossing of the continental divide at Togwotee Pass to the Wyoming 28 crossing of the divide at South Pass. It is 60 km (37 miles) wide at its mid-section from the lower end of “Fremont Lake” at the edge of the Green River Basin to the upper end of Bull Lake at the edge of the Wind River Basin. At its north end, it gives way to the Gros Ventre Mountains to the west and the Absaroka Mountains to the north. At the south end, the Wind River Mountains become more and more subdued until they are lost in the low hills and ridges of the South Pass area and the Antelope Hills.

The elevation range of the Wind River Mountains is about 2,000 m (6,560′). Gannet Peak has an elevation 4,207 m (13,804′) and there are several other peaks above 4,000 m (13,120′), such as Wind River Peak 68 km (42 miles) to the southeast. Elevations along the base of the range are variable. “Fremont Lake” at the base of the mountains on the west side is 2,260 m (7,410′) while “Bull Lake” on the east side is 1,770 m (5,810′). 55 km (34 miles) to the southeast of “Bull Lake”, the mouth of Sinks Canyon is at 2,260 m (7,410′). South of “Fremont Lake” on the west side, “Boulder Lake” is at an elevation of 2,222 m (7,290′) and the mouth of Big Sandy River is at 2,304 m (7,560′). On the northeastern side of the range, the slope up to the divide is more or less continuous. On the southwestern side of the divide, however, there is commonly a sharp rise from the Green River Basin, then a plateau-like area up to 12 km (7.5 miles) wide (e.g., Pine Mountain to “Lower Jean Lake”) between the elevations of 3,000 m (9,840′) and 3,500 m (11,480′), and finally another rise to the highest peaks and ridges. The plateau-like area holds lots of lakes and ponds.

Mean Annual Precipitation according to the Wyoming Climate Atlas by the Water Resources Data System and State Climate Office at http://www.wrds.uwyo.edu/sco/climateatlas/precipitation.html, Parameter-Elevation Regressions on Independent Slopes Model, PRISM, with 1971-2000 data at very widely spaced weather stations (I have eyeballed the values from a very small scale map with 11 precipitation bins marked with indistinct colors and further obscured by a shaded relief base map):
31″-40″ (79-102 cm) up to maybe 51″-60″ (130-152 cm) on crest

Much of the Wind River Mountains is above timberline where the vegetation is dominantly alpine tundra. With decreasing elevation, trees become abundant, starting with white pine krummholz and proceeding downward through full-size white pine, fir, spruce, douglas fir, and lodgepole pine. Lush meadows are common. Sagebrush is abundant in the foothills.

The Wind River Mountains are a paradise of public lands for hikers. The car-tethered masses are drawn to the scenic wonders of Teton and Yellowstone National Parks farther to the northwest. There are no roads through the Wind River Mountains south of Union Pass, near the northern end. The only choices are to walk or ride a horse. The Bridger-Teton National Forest manages the mountains to the southwest of the continental divide and the Shoshone National Forest manages the mountains to the northeast. Probably 75% (EIGWUU) of the National Forest lands in the mountains are Wilderness Areas: the Bridger Wilderness on the Bridger-Teton and the Fitzpatrick and Popo Agie wildernesses on the Shoshone. Other than a few parcels of private land along the upper Green River north of Pinedale, there are no private in-holdings.

The Wind River Indian Reservation occupies a minor proportion of the Wind River Mountains. The reservation is approximately a rectangle 110 km (66 miles) across west-east and 85 km (51 miles) north-south. The truncated southwestern corner of this rectangle covers the Wind River Mountains northeast of the continental divide between the Fitzpatrick and Popo Agie wildernesses. The truncated reservation boundary along the continental divide is 16 km (10 miles) long and the reservation expands northeastward from there.

Wind River Mountains – top

Glaciation

Glaciers have played a major role in creating the abundance of potential fairy shrimp habitat in the Wind River Mountains. The landscape is a wonderland of heart-stopping cliffs, compelling cirques, deep u-shaped valleys where the shadows play, polished knobs of bedrock, daunting piles of boulders, and incredible vistas. Unlike in the Alps though, the glaciers in the Winds did not create the arretes and horns (with a few exceptions, such as Lizard Head Peak) of the most advanced stage of mountain glaciation. Instead, some geomorphologists have used the term “biscuit-board topography”. Where the glaciers were is like the holes left where biscuits have been cut out of a slab of dough. Some summits are broad areas with shallow to moderate slopes with cliffs on one or more sides, like tilted aircraft carriers. Except for the tundra vegetation and the rock fields, some ridges are like prairies – until you get to the edges. This makes it possible to reach many peaks without having climbing skills. Cirques, the flat floors of the u-shaped valleys, benches on the canyon walls left by successive glacial advances, glacial gouges across the hills between the major canyons, and the plateau-like area southwest of the continental divide are all important sites for ponds.

Small glaciers are still there. Glaciers don’t stand still, though. The timing of advances and retreats affects the availability of fairy shrimp habitat. The last glacial advance of the last glacial period is marked by mounds of dirt with angular boulders that are referred to as Pinedale moraines. The term “Pinedale” is from the town at the northwestern edge of the Wind River Mountains. In the Pinedale type area at “Fremont Lake”, the terminal moraine where the bulldozing front of the glacier stopped has been dated as 24,000 years old using cosmogenic beryllium. The glacier remained close to that extent until 18,000 years ago (as cited in Young and others, 2011; see the References page) before beginning to recede. The end moraines around the Yellowstone glaciers date to 16,000-18,000 years ago, or rarely 14,000 years ago, while the glacier that formed the “Jenny Lake” moraines in Grand Teton National Park began pulling back about 14,000 years ago (Licciardi and Pierce, 2008, abstract only). Similar moraine ages have been reported for in the mountains of Colorado and in the Cascades and Sierra Nevada (as cited in Young and others, 2011).

Thus, rapid glacial retreat occurred in the Wind River Mountains, the Tetons, and Yellowstone between 16,000 and 13,000 years ago (as cited in Young and others, 2011) during the transition to the current interglacial period. What does that mean for fairy shrimp? New fish-free lakes beginning about 16,000 years ago. For example, organic matter in fine-grained sediment at the lower end of “Temple Lake” yielded a carbon isotopic age of 11,400 years ago (Zielinski and Davis, 1987). The organic matter could only have accumulated after the glacier retreated toward Temple Peak. This date was supported by a carbon isotopic age of 11,800 years ago from organic-rich sediments at the bottom of another lake about 2 km downstream from “Temple Lake”. “Temple Lake” is on the west side of the Continental Divide in the southern Wind River Mountains 2.5 km due east of Wind River Peak. Although glaciers on the west and east sides of the Divide did not necessarily retreat at the same rates, the 3,246 m (10,650′) elevation of “Temple Lake” provides an indication of which other lakes may have formed at about the same time. Bivouac Lake and Cinquefoil Pond are about 100 m (330′) higher than this elevation while some of the fairy shrimp ponds around “Coon Lake” (e.g., “Coon Lake” South Pond #1) and in Stough Creek Basin (e.g., Stough Off Channel Pond) are about the same elevation. Before “Windy Lake” in Atlantic Canyon, “Coon Lake” on the Divide south of Wind River Peak, and most of the lakes in Stough Creek Basin were stocked with fish, fairy shrimp had something like 10,000 years to colonize them. It’s too bad Zielinski and Davis (1987) didn’t look for fairy shrimp eggs in their cores from “Temple Lake”.

The warming which caused the Wind River glaciers to retreat was interrupted by the Little Ice Age. Temperatures cooled and glaciers advanced world wide from about 1200 to 1850 A.D. (Lowell, 2000). In the Wind River Mountains, the Little Ice Age advance is marked by the highest elevation moraines. The one below the remnant glacier on the north side of Temple Peak indicates that the advance did not reach “Temple Lake”. Similary the moraine above Stough Below the Moraine Pond indicates lakes in Stough Creek Basin were not buried by ice a few hundred years ago. Little Ice Age advances impeded colonization by fairy shrimp at the higher elevations before about 200 years ago by piling up snow and ice at locations where there are now ponds. Glaciers have been generally retreating again globally since 1850 but the Dinwoody and Gannett glaciers in the central Wind River Mountains advanced in the early 1900s. They had occupied their earlier Little Ice Age positions by 1930 (as cited in Pochop and others, 1989). This suggests that the highest ponds only became ponds more recently than 1930.

Scenic view of glacial pond north of Wind River Peak 1987-08, #3122; Lander Ranger District, Shoshone National Forest, Popo Agie Wilderness
Glacial Pond north of Wind River Peak 1987-08, #3122, Wind River Mountains.

Small pond on remnant of glacier north of Wind River Peak. The gray moraine holding the pond may be the result of a Little Ice Age advance. By analogy with the Dinwoody and Gannet glaciers, the retreat of the ice from the moraine and the formation of the pond may have occurred since about 1930.

Although not necessarily representative of all Wind River Mountain glaciers, the historical movements of the Dinwoody and Gannett glaciers have been documented in Masters of Science theses by Meier (1951) and Varuska (1989). Varuska (1989) showed that the glaciers had retreated significantly from the positions mapped by Meier (1951) and compared 1958, 1966, 1980, and 1983 photographs to document changes in position, depth, and snow cover (as cited in Pochop and others, 1989). Similarly, Thompson and Love (1988) described the retreat of Knifepoint Glacier, to the south of Dinwoody and Gannett, from 1963 to 1988 (as cited in Pochop and others, 1989). Charlie Love and colleagues at Central Wyoming College continued to monitor the retreat of Wind River Mountain glaciers in the 2000s but I have not found any publications of their work. The recent trend of warming temperature and decreasing ice cover at least since 1930 would seem to be favorable for fairy shrimp colonization as higher ponds become warmer and new ponds form behind Little Ice Age moraines.

Just in the past 40 years, the glaciers of the Wind River Mountains have shrunk dramatically. The recent (2024?) aerial imagery of The National Map indicates Knifepoint Glacier northeast of Indian Pass is less than half the length of what I crossed in the early 1980s. More generally, current glacier extents are substantially smaller than those shown on 7.5-minute topographic quadrangles, which were based on 1966 aerial photographs (e.g., Gannett Peak, Fremont Peak North, Fremont Peak South). There is currently a pond below the remnants of the Knifepoint Glacier. It wasn’t there in 1966. Although a warming climate could be good for fairy shrimp, it is bad for pikas.

Scenic view of Gooseneck Glacier and Gannett Peak 1981-08, #0412; Lander Ranger District, Shoshone National Forest, Fitzpatrick Wilderness
Gooseneck Glacier 1981-08, #0412, Wind River Mountains.

Gooseneck Glacier is at center with Gooseneck Pinnacle to its left and the northern part of Dinwoody Glacier below Glacier Pass farther to the left. The snowbank at the top of the ridge above center obscures the top of Gannett Peak. The Gooseneck and Dinwoody Glaciers met in the valley floor 16,000 years ago. The bare ice on the Dinwoody Glacier on this August day indicates that retreat from the Little Ice Age and pre-1930 advances is continuing. At some point in the future, ponds may form where the glaciers are now and provide habitat for fairy shrimp.

There is also the possibility of negative impacts due to warming if that allows invasion by frogs, salamanders, or other predators at lower elevations. There is a negative correlation between frogs and fairy shrimp in the east-central Sierra Nevada although fairy shrimp co-exist with northern leopard frogs (Rana pipiens) in the Antelope Hills (e.g., “Coyote Lake”). Frogs have been reported at elevations as high as 2,700 m (8,860′) in Wyoming and 3,355 m (11,010′) in Colorado (Smith and Keinath, 2007, p. 7). The apparently different elevation ranges may be due to non-representative observations or other factors. Columbia spotted frogs live in Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks and in the foothills of the upper Wind River valley but have not been found in the Wind River Mountains south of Union Pass (large-scale map figure of Patla and Keinath, 2005, p. 19).

Wind River Mountains – top

Factors Favorable for Fairy Shrimp

The Wind River Mountains are well suited for fairy shrimp. They receive lots of snow and have lots of ponds. Average annual precipitation prior to 1986 was greater than 40 inches (102 cm), as water, according to Pochop and others (1989).

Although The National Map doesn’t show ponds smaller than about 25 m (80′) across, it does show that there are a great many larger than that. In the plateau-like topography between Lake Creek and Pine Creek in National Grid 12T WN 9875 (the 1-km square with southwestern corner at 598,000 Easting, 4,775,000 Northing), there are 17 ponds. In the cirque environment at the head of Silas Canyon in National Grid 12T XN 6522 (the 1-km square with southwestern corner at 665,000 Easting, 4,722,000 Northing), there are 3 relatively large lakes. I selected these grid squares as common examples but they are not representative. There are certainly some 1-km squares with no mapped ponds. WGF counted 2,000 water bodies just in the Bridger Wilderness.

Other characteristics that are favorable for fairy shrimp are the frigid winters and cool average temperatures in the Wind River Mountains. Some species thrive in cold climates. They have been found in Antarctica (Hawes and others, 2008), Thule, Greenland, and the northernmost islands of the Canadian arctic (Lindholm and others, 2016). Amphibian predators such as frogs and salamanders and invertebrate predators such as backswimmers and amphipods are less well adapted to cold. As mentioned above, amphibians are absent from the alpline terrain of the Wind River Mountains. However, I have observed amphipods in ponds as high as 3,380 m (11,090′) (Silas Cornice Chute Lake) and backswimmers as high as 3,350 m (10,990′) (Deep Cirque Overlook Pond). Nonetheless, cold temperatures and a short “growing” season may limit invertebrate populations.

The steep topography of the Wind River Mountains has excluded native fish from the higher elevation water bodies. Unfortunately for fairy shrimp, this favorable factor has been negated by the human stocking of fish.

Fairy shrimp don’t just need ponds, they also need a way to get there. As it happens, the Wind River Mountains and central Wyoming in general are along the Central Flyway used by birds migrating from Mexico and Central America to the Canadian arctic. The abundance of water birds at “Boysen Reservoir” on the Wind River east of the Wind River Mountains is testament to the avian popularity of this part of the Flyway. However, the Wind River Mountains don’t seem to have many birds now. Seeing ducks once, at “Grave Lake”, was so unusual I remembered it. My experience may not be representative though. It is possible that stocked fish have so depleted the populations of macroscopic aquatic invertebrates that birds that eat them no longer visit alpine lakes.

Wind River Mountains – top

Fish-stocking Zooicide

Most of the alpine ponds in the Wind River Mountains are above waterfalls or steep rapids that fish cannot climb. However, most people would rather see lakes full of fish than lakes full of fairy shrimp or other invertebrates. Whatever the original number of fairy shrimp populations in the Wind River Mountains, they were decimated by Finis Mitchell and the Wyoming Game and Fish Department (WGF). No, decimated is too weak a term – it implies a loss of 10% (according to my New Webster’s Dictionary). Rather, fairy shrimp populations were probably reduced by 90% or more (EIGWUU). Let’s call that zooicide.

Finis Mitchell enjoyed fishing. He also loved hiking and riding and climbing the peaks of the Wind River Mountains. He started a fishing camp at “Mud Lake” on Big Sandy Creek in 1930. By then, he already knew most of the high elevation lakes lacked fish. For the benefit of his customers, other anglers in Wyoming and maybe, in his mind, for the benefit of all humanity, he started the arduous task of stocking lakes by horseback. By his own account, Mr. Mitchell stocked 314 lakes with 2.5 million fingerlings in the 1930s (from the story at www.wyohistory.org/encyclopedia/finis-mitchell-mountaineer; this account is consistent with what I remembered from reading a book about Finis Mitchell in the 1980s).

Finis Mitchell’s and WGF’s subsequent efforts were hugely successful. The stocked trout populations thrived. Even as late as the 1980s, employees of the Wyoming Game and FISH Department in Lander recounted anecdotes of the huge sizes of trout caught within a few years of initial stocking. They attributed the monstrous sizes to the abundance of invertebrate zooplankton food. The species eaten were not specified in the fish stories. Mr. Mitchell ultimately received numerous awards for his work popularizing the Wind River Mountains and its newly fabulous fishing. At some point, Wyoming legislators noticed and provided money for WGF to stock even more lakes.

Helicopters have been used since the 1970s for fish-stocking in the mountains of Wyoming. This is in spite of the fact that most of the alpine terrain in the Wind River Mountains has been designated as Wilderness by Congress. Although helicopters aren’t generally allowed in Wilderness Areas, Congress avoided angering states by including the following language in the Wilderness Act of 1964: “Nothing in this Act shall be construed as affecting the jurisdiction or responsibilities of the several States with respect to wildlife and fish in the national forests”. So fish-stocking with helicopters is okay. Such internal contradictions are a common feature of U.S. legislation. Congress could not even agree on the purpose of the act so it punted its responsibility and let the land management agencies take the crossfire from the public: “wilderness areas shall be devoted to the public purposes of recreational, scenic, scientific, educational, conservation, and historical use.” Although preserving native species might be included in the category “conservation”, it obviously doesn’t stand a chance against recreational and historical fishing.

Many of the Wind River Mountains’ alpine lakes are on the Wind River Indian Reservation. As the Northern Arapaho and Eastern Shoshone tribes also prefer fishing to admiring native aquatic species, invertebrate zooplankton populations fared no better there. WGF’s offer to stock the Reservation’s alpine lakes by helicopter was too good to pass up. The state got more opportunities for non-tribal members to kill fish and the tribes got fishing license and outfitter fees as well as new unsustainable fish populations for tribal members to exploit. The zooicide left no part of the Wind River Mountains untouched.

The extirpation of fairy shrimp populations went beyond the stocked lakes. If one lake in a basin with several lakes above the fish-blocking topography were stocked, the fish would move to adjacent lakes through the connecting streams. Moreover, even if a fish population died out due to the unsuitability of the habitat, it may have wiped out the larger zooplankton species during its short existence.

Of the “over 2,000 glacial carved lakes, ponds, and potholes” in the Bridger Wilderness, “[o]ver 500 are known to support fish” (Wyoming Game and Fish Department, 2013, Bridger Wilderness, A Guide to the Fishing Lakes). The Fitzpatrick and Popo Agie wildernesses have additional ponds, though probably less than 2,000 (EIGWUU). The WGF listed fish in ponds as small as 2 acres (0.8 hectares) (e.g., Lost Lake, WGF name, in the Boulder Creek drainage). A 2-acre square is 295 feet (90 m) on a side. This illustrates the current pervasiveness of fish.

Of the 1,500 “lakes, ponds, and potholes” not known to support fish, many are probably not fairy shrimp habitat for the following reasons.

  • Some have likely lost fairy shrimp due to fish populations that died off before being inventoried.
  • Some have likely not been inventoried but still have fish.
  • Some have likely been stocked by the public or WGF since 2013.
  • Some may have been overgrown by vegetation since the pre-2013 inventories (e.g., Upper “Ice Lakes” Overgrown Pond; see Wind River Peak Ponds).
  • Some are likely on streams with routine or seasonal flows sufficient to exclude stable fairy shrimp populations by washing the eggs or hatched fairy shrimp downstream.

That still leaves a lot of potential fairy shrimp habitat. The success rate for colonization by fairy shrimp before fish-stocking was certainly less than 1. Some potential habitat remained naturally unoccupied. Of the mostly small ponds I took notes on, about 25% had fairy shrimp. That is too optimistic because I didn’t take notes on some ponds where I didn’t see fairy shrimp. It is too pessimistic because I likely missed seeing fairy shrimp where some populations were present. The populations may have been small enough to escape notice or I may have visited during a year when eggs didn’t hatch. I never waded into deeper water for a more thorough look. If those errors cancel out and there are actually 1,200 ponds in the Bridger Wilderness that could support fairy shrimp (1,500 ponds minus 300 to allow for inaccurate fish count), maybe there are still about 300 ponds with fairy shrimp (1,200 x .25 = 300). Add 150 ponds (EIGWUU) from areas outside the Bridger Wilderness and there may be about 450 ponds with fairy shrimp still remaining in the Wind River Mountains. How many there were before the zooicide will never be known.

In addition to extirpating fairy shrimp populations, fish stocking may have also curtailed dispersal of fairy shrimp eggs. The bird species which previously brought fairy shrimp eggs to the high mountain lakes might avoid the Wind River Mountains now due to lack of food. Fish have eaten almost all the macroscopic food in the lakes they inhabit. That’s why alpine lakes with fish look so barren. Eggs of cold-tolerant fairy shrimp species that could survive in the Wind River Mountains (e.g., Branchinecta paludosa and Branchinecta coloradensis) are readily available in the nearby Antelope Hills and in the more distant Snowy Range. What would it take to get them into the Winds? Is dispersal by birds still possible?

The macrozooplankton zooicide was not a 1-time event; it is a continuous operation. While genocide is a time-limited event of mass murder, I don’t know of a word for the process of preventing any surviving or new generations of an ethnic group from ever returning to its homeland. I’ll call the animal equivalent of that zooicide, too. WGF provides regular updates of the zooicide. A 2019 newsletter for the Lander office has “Wind River Helicopter Stocking” on page 1. 73,365 golden, cutthroat, rainbow, brook, and tiger trout were dropped in 28 lakes in National Forest Wilderness Areas and 12 lakes in the Wind River Indian Reservation (wgfd.wyo.gov/WGFD/media/content/PDF/Fishing/LR_ANGLERNEWS_2019.pdf). The article noted that “[m]ost wilderness lakes support wild, naturally reproducing fish populations” but that the stocked lakes do not and must be stocked every 2-4 years. Even lakes that can’t support fish for more than 2 years are stocked.

WGF relishes the zooicide and tries hard to impress the public with the details. It has created a website where the public can view a tally of recent stocking efforts with lake name, fingerling number, size, and species. Fish stocking reports are at https://wgfapps.wyo.gov/FishStock/FishStock, which is a form with drop-down menus. You can get reports by lake, species, or county. It also has a map page which allows web users to zoom in to an area of interest and to click on a lake to find out which species of fish are present. For the lake guide, go to https://wgfd.wyo.gov/fishing-boating/places-fish-wyoming and click on the link to the “Interactive Wyoming Fishing Guide”. If you want to find fairy shrimp, you could use that page to identify lakes to avoid.

In spite of the ongoing zooicide, it seems that it is still not good enough for anglers in Wyoming, who on average catch 2.5 fish per day over 3.1 million estimated angler days (Wyoming Game and Fish Department, 2021 Annual Report, p. A-30). “Tiger trout were stocked in Upper Silas Lake in 2014, 2016, and 2018 to improve a stunted brook trout population. The goal of stocking tiger trout in Upper Silas Lake is to reduce the number” of brook trout by predation and thereby increase the sizes of the survivors “as well as create a tiger trout fishery.” (“Tiger Trout in the Wind River Mountains”, June 26, 2020 news release by the Lander Regional Office; https://wgfd.wyo.gov/Regional-Offices/Lander-Region/Lander-Region-News/Tiger-trout-in-the-Wind-River-Mountains) The productivity of some high mountain lakes is so low that brook trout don’t have enough to eat. Nonetheless, they keep reproducing. Consequently, some lakes have lots of small brook trout that are eschewed by anglers.

Idaho has the same problem. “Brook trout also can become so abundant that the size of fish in the population becomes stunted and unappealing to anglers. . . . One new tool that biologists with the Idaho Department of Fish and Game have been investigating is stocking alpine lakes with super-male brook trout,” which have 2 Y chromosomes and consequently produce only male offspring (https://idfg.idaho.gov/blog/2021/08/can-super-male-brook-trout-improve-angling-alpine-lakes). Without females, the brook trout populations decline. Individual fish have more to eat and get bigger. Of course, if the population gets dangerously low, it would be restocked with fish raised at State expense.

This government perpetuation of failed fish ecosystems for frivolous recreational purposes makes the Endangered Species Act seem almost rational. It’s not like remote alpine lakes are the only possible fishing locations in Wyoming. Wyoming has several state parks with large reservoirs that are stocked with fish. There are plenty of alpine lakes with fish that don’t need to be stocked. There are low-elevation lakes with fish, such as those on the Laramie Plains (e.g., “Hutton Lake” National Wildlife Refuge). There are also countless streams and rivers with fish.

Wind River Mountains – top

Bivouac Lake (Lander Ranger District, Shoshone National Forest; Popo Agie Wilderness)

___This map is a screenshot of The National Map (Go to The National Map). The U.S. Geological Survey generally does not copyright or charge for its data or reports (unless printed). A pond location is indicated by an “X”, which corresponds to the coordinates given in the data spreadsheet. Labels in quotations are from 7.5-minute topographic quadrangles.
___Red lines are the U. S. National Grid with a spacing of 1,000 m and intersection labels consisting of the UTM zone (e.g., 11S, 12T), a 2-letter 100-km square designation (e.g., LC, XN), and a 4-digit number. The first 2 digits of the number represent the 1,000-meter Easting and the second 2 digits the 1,000-meter Northing, as seen in the example Easting and Northing. Unlike latitude and longitude, the National Grid is rectilinear on a flat map, the units of abscissa and ordinate have equal lengths, and the units (meters) are measurable on the ground with a tape or by pacing.
___There is no private or state land on this map. All the lands are public.

Topographic Map of Bivouac Lake and Nearby Ponds; The National Map with contours, roads, perennial/ephemeral water bodies, forest cover, marsh, UTM grid, private land
Topographic Map of Bivouac Lake, Atlantic Sunny Bench Pond, and Below “Windy Lake” Pond, Wind River Mountains; The National Map

Bivouac Lake is in Atlantic Canyon 32 km (20 miles) southwest of Lander. It is at the base of the cliffs on the northeast side of Atlantic Peak. It has an oval shape with a length of 190 m and width of 100 m (620′ x 330′) as shown on the 7.5-minute topographic quadrangle. Snowbanks on the cliff rubble west of the lake persist into September in most years. My first night at the lake was an uncomfortable bivouac but WGF refers to the lake as Icicle Lake (see In The Beginning for more details).

Bivouac Lake is isolated from the fish in “Windy Lake” below and from Lower Saddlebag Lake (name used by WGF) above by steep streams. A 2019 newsletter for the Lander office of the WGF proclaimed that Lower Saddlebag Lake, and several others, had 16-19-inch golden trout (wgfd.wyo.gov/WGFD/media/content/PDF/Fishing/LR_ANGLERNEWS_2019, pdf, p.3). The Department’s online “Fish Stocking Report” indicates that Lower Saddlebag Lake was again stocked with golden trout in July 2020, 748 of them.

Big fish in Upper and Lower Saddlebag lakes create a precarious situation for the fairy shrimp in Bivouac Lake. The fishing opportunity would attract people to the area. One or more of them might be perturbed by the lack of fish in Bivouac Lake and decide to transfer a few from Lower Saddlebag Lake or “Windy Lake”. Given the success of fish in Lower Saddlebag Lake, WGF itself might decide to give Bivouac Lake a try. Just drop a few in as the helicopter heads back down the canyon. What’s there to lose?

There is a hiking trail to the eastern end of “Atlantic Lake”. An angler’s trail follows the south side of the lake to the west end. From “Atlantic Lake”, it is about 2,600 m (8,530′) laterally and 215 m (700′) up to Bivouac Lake. The trail to “Atlantic Lake” can be reached from the “Fiddlers Lake” or the “Louis Lake” trailheads. The “Fiddlers Lake” route is better although it fords Atlantic Creek. There is little change in elevation. There is also a jeep trail more than 6 miles long to “Christina Lake” from the “Louis Lake” road. It was terrible in the 1980s. The jeep trail intersects the hiking trail at the eastern end of “Christina Lake”. From “Christina Lake”, “Atlantic Lake” is only 2,600 m (8,530′) away and only 90 m (300′) up. For most people, the hike from “Fiddlers Lake” would take half a day. If you are pressed for time, a round trip in one day is possible. A camp site at “Atlantic Lake” would be more uncomfortable than one at Bivouac Lake or Lower Saddlebag Lake.

Elevation: 3,334 m (10,939′)

August 8, 1985

This was my first sighting of fairy shrimp, I didn’t know what they were, didn’t collect any data, and didn’t take any notes.

  • Fairy shrimp.
September 3, 1986

The high lake level, snowbanks on the west side of the lake more extensive than in August of last year, and a glorious profusion of wildflowers all suggest this is a relatively wet year.

  • 100 m x 190 m based on the 7.5-minute quadrangle; greater than 200 cm depth.
  • Clear water.
  • Relatively large fairy shrimp (4 specimens 22-23 mm); didn’t think of noting presence of eggs but they are in the photographs.
  • Caddisfly larvae (Trichoptera), mayfly larvae (Ephemeroptera), wriggly larvae, possibly cladocerans.

Specimens were identified as Branchinecta coloradensis by DB (archive #DB-749).

Lower and Upper Saddlebag Lakes (names used by WGF) are above Bivouac Lake but since Lower Saddlebag is now periodically stocked with fish (see “Zooicide” above), there’s no point creating separate entries for them. Nonetheless, it is likely that they hadn’t had fish for a decade or so before 1987. WGF employees in the Lander office had told me that Lower Saddlebag Lake had been stocked with fish but that they had died off. I got the impression the die off was many years previously. As part of my job for the Shoshone National Forest in 1985, I had collected biological samples from Lower Saddlebag Lake with a plankton net. On 3 trips, I never saw fairy shrimp there. On this visit, I walked the shores of Lower Saddlebag and adjacent Upper Saddlebag lakes looking for fairy shrimp and didn’t see any. I also didn’t see any fish so they really did die off. The absence of fairy shrimp from a newly fish-free lake, whenever that was, next to a lake with fairy shrimp suggests colonization isn’t speedy.

Scenic view of Bivouac Lake 1986-09-03, #0814, with "Windy Lake" at bottom; has fairy shrimp, Lander Ranger District, Shoshone National Forest, Popo Agie Wilderness
Bivouac Lake 1986-09-03, #0814, Wind River Mountains.

Bivouac Lake in the shadow of Atlantic Peak (off upper right corner of photograph), looking southwest. The lower lake, “Windy Lake”, has been stocked with fish.

Pond view of Bivouac Lake 1986-09-03, #0805c, with fairy shrimp; Lander Ranger District, Shoshone National Forest, Popo Agie Wilderness
Bivouac Lake 1986-09-03, #0805c, Wind River Mountains.

A female fairy shrimp in Bivouac Lake. It has a single row of pale yellowish-brown eggs in its ovisac and 2 rows of white eggs closer to its thorax, presumably in its oviducts.

Pond view of Bivouac Lake 1986-09-03, #0806c2, with fairy shrimp; Lander Ranger District, Shoshone National Forest, Popo Agie Wilderness
Bivouac Lake 1986-09-03, #0806c2, Wind River Mountains.

Closeup of a male fairy shrimp in Bivouac Lake. Pale food in the lower intestine can be seen through the transparent abdomen. This male has large antennae II that extend backward from the head over the legs and are so long that they cross about 2/3 of the way down the thorax. For more about the anatomy of fairy shrimp, see Anatomy of Fairy Shrimp.

Pond view of Bivouac Lake 1986-09-03, #0807c, with fairy shrimp; Lander Ranger District, Shoshone National Forest, Popo Agie Wilderness
Bivouac Lake 1986-09-03, #0807c, Wind River Mountains.

A fairy shrimp scraping the rock in Bivouac Lake. This fairy shrimp is uncharacteristically back side up with its legs apparently scraping the granite on the floor of the lake for food. The antennae II of this male are splayed to the sides of the body and stretched over the back to keep them out of the way. There does not appear to be much in the way of food items on the rock surface. Is this behavior a sign of a shortage of phytoplankton food? There is a caddisfly larval case of stuck-together sand grains near the top of the photograph. The larva may or may not still be living in it.

August 12, 1987

I know the lake has fairy shrimp but do they hatch every year? Was I just lucky in 1985 and 1986?

  • 100 m x 190 m based on The National Map; depth greater than 200 cm.
  • Clear water; 9 C at 0730, 12 C at 1330.
  • Pale green fairy shrimp 12-18 mm long with males bigger than females; most abundant in deeper water among boulders on southwest side of lake; most females have single row of white eggs.
  • Mayflies and mayfly larvae (Ephemeroptera), caddisfly larvae (Trichoptera), large red copepods and smaller black ones.

Specimens were identified as Branchinecta coloradensis by DB.

The fact that fairy shrimp in Bivouac Lake hatched 3 years in a row is good evidence that populations can live in large, permanent alpine lakes in the Wind River Mountains with no need for seasonal drying. It also means fairy shrimp probably inhabited many permanent alpine lakes and ponds in the Bighorn Mountains and Snowy Range before they were stocked with fish, as well.

One possible argument against a widespread pre-stocking distribution of fairy shrimp is that colonization may have been hindered by large lake sizes. Maybe females and males hatched from a small number of introduced eggs wouldn’t have been able to find each other in order to reproduce.

Scenic view of frozen pond above Bivouac Lake 1987-08-12, #3406; lacks fairy shrimp; Lander Ranger District, Shoshone National Forest, Popo Agie Wilderness
Bivouac Lake 1987-08-12, #3406, Wind River Mountains.

Pond behind the moraine (Little Ice Age?) above Upper Saddlebag Lake at the head of Atlantic Canyon. Being mostly frozen in mid-August, it is not yet ready for fairy shrimp.

Pond view of Bivouac Lake 1987-08-12, #3311c, with fairy shrimp; Lander Ranger District, Shoshone National Forest, Popo Agie Wilderness
Bivouac Lake 1987-08-12, #3311c, Wind River Mountains.

A female fairy shrimp with white eggs in Bivouac Lake.

Pond view of Bivouac Lake 1987-08-12, #3412c, with fairy shrimp; Lander Ranger District, Shoshone National Forest, Popo Agie Wilderness
Bivouac Lake 1987-08-12, #3412c, Wind River Mountains.

Several fairy shrimp swimming among the boulders in Bivouac Lake.

August 13, 1993

I plan to do some searching in Stough Creek Basin and couldn’t resist stopping here to check on the fairy shrimp.

  • 100 m x 190 m based on The National Map; greater than 200 cm depth.
  • Water is clear.
  • Sparse fairy shrimp about 20 mm long, not easy to find; eggs present.
  • Other animals not noted.

This population seems to hatch every year so Bivouac Lake can wipe away the fairy shrimp blues if you aren’t having any luck elsewhere.

Wind River Mountains – top

Atlantic Sunny Bench Pond (Lander Ranger District, Shoshone National Forest; Popo Agie Wilderness)

Bivouac Lake map

Atlantic Sunny Bench Pond is 1,400 m (4,590′) east of Bivouac Lake at the base of the northeastern wall of Atlantic Canyon. The location is about halfway between “Windy Lake” and “Atlantic Lake”. It is on a topographic bench with a good southern exposure. The size on the 7.5-minute topographic quadrangle is 150 m x 85 m (490′ x 280′).

For access, see Bivouac Lake. There is no trail to this pond but it can be reached by a cross-country hike from “Atlantic Lake”.

Elevation: 3,215 m (10,547′)

September 4, 1986

It’s on the way down from Bivouac Lake.

  • 85 m x 150 m based on 7.5-minute quadrangle; depth “shallow” (according to my notes).
  • Water “scummy”.
  • No fairy shrimp.
  • Other animals not noted.

Wind River Mountains – top

Below “Windy Lake” Pond (Lander Ranger District, Shoshone National Forest; Popo Agie Wilderness)

Bivouac Lake map

Below “Windy Lake” Pond is 200 m southwest of Atlantic Sunny Bench Pond. It is 70 m (230′) northeast of Atlantic Creek, where there are parts of a trail created by those fishing in “Windy Lake”. Below “Windy Lake” Pond is 115 m x 50 m (380′ x 165′) on the 7.5-minute topographic quadrangle.

For access, see Bivouac Lake. There is no trail to this pond but it can be reached by a cross-country hike from “Atlantic Lake”. It is easy to find while hiking down from Atlantic Sunny Bench Pond but would not be visible to someone hiking along the creek.

Elevation: 3,201 m (10,503′)

September 4, 1986

Stopped at this pond on the way down from Atlantic Sunny Bench Pond.

  • 50 m x 115 m based on the 7.5-minute quadrangle; depth “shallow” (according to my notes) but not estimated.
  • Water “scummy” (according to my notes).
  • No fairy shrimp.
  • Other animals not noted.

Wind River Mountains – top

“Upper Silas Lake” Southwest Pond (Lander Ranger District, Shoshone National Forest; Popo Agie Wilderness)

___This map is a screenshot of The National Map (Go to The National Map). The U.S. Geological Survey generally does not copyright or charge for its data or reports (unless printed). A pond location is indicated by an “X”, which corresponds to the coordinates given in the data spreadsheet. Labels in quotations are from 7.5-minute topographic quadrangles.
___Red lines are the U. S. National Grid with a spacing of 1,000 m and intersection labels consisting of the UTM zone (e.g., 11S, 12T), a 2-letter 100-km square designation (e.g., LC, XN), and a 4-digit number. The first 2 digits of the number represent the 1,000-meter Easting and the second 2 digits the 1,000-meter Northing, as seen in the example Easting and Northing. Unlike latitude and longitude, the National Grid is rectilinear on a flat map, the units of abscissa and ordinate have equal lengths, and the units (meters) are measurable on the ground with a tape or by pacing.
___There is no private or state land on this map. All the lands are public.

Topographic Map of "Upper Silas Lake" Southwest Pond and Silas Cornice Chute Lake; The National Map with contours, roads, perennial/ephemeral water bodies, forest cover, marsh, UTM grid, private land
Topographic Map of “Upper Silas Lake” Southwest Pond and Silas Cornice Chute Lake, Wind River Mountains; The National Map

“Upper Silas Lake” Southwest Pond is on a bench on the south side of Silas Canyon about 300 m (980′) southwest of the southern part of “Upper Silas Lake”. Its dimensions on the 7.5-minute topographic quadrangle are about 290 m x 120 m (950′ x 390′).

There is a trail to “Upper Silas Lake” from the “Fiddlers Lake” trailhead. The Silas Canyon trail turns off the “Atlantic Lake”/”Christina Lake” trail east of “Lower Silas Lake” only about 2 km (1.2 miles) from the trailhead. The pond is a cross-country hike from the lower end of “Upper Silas Lake”.

Elevation: 3,142 m (10,308′)

September 4, 1986

The out-of-the-way location looks promising and this pond, like Bivouac Lake, may be cooler than average due to the cliff to the southwest.

  • 120 m x 290 m based on the 7.5-minute quadrangle; depth not estimated.
  • Water clear.
  • No fairy shrimp.
  • Big fish.

The outlet from “Upper Silas Lake” Southwest Pond drops 37 m (120′) in 170 m (560′) so it’s doubtful that fish could have gotten here on their own. It’s also doubtful that WGF would bother stocking a pond this small. This is likely the result of fish-stocking by individuals. I had also seen fish in the lower of the “Calvert Lakes”, which is only a little bigger.

Wind River Mountains – top

“Fremont Lake” Moraine Pond (Pinedale BLM Office)

___This map is a screenshot of The National Map (Go to The National Map). The U.S. Geological Survey generally does not copyright or charge for its data or reports (unless printed). A pond location is indicated by an “X”, which corresponds to the coordinates given in the data spreadsheet. Labels in quotations are from 7.5-minute topographic quadrangles.
___As of April 2025, the National Grid overlay with red lines in UTM coordinates does not load in The National Map.
___Gray shading represents private and state lands as traced from the PAD-US 4.0 – Federal Fee Managers layer of The National Map.

Topographic Map of "Fremont Lake" Moraine Pond; The National Map with contours, roads, perennial/ephemeral water bodies, forest cover, marsh, private land
Topographic Map of “Fremont Lake” Moraine Pond, Wind River Mountains; The National Map

“Fremont Lake” Moraine Pond is about 9 km (6 miles) northeast of Pinedale on the southeast side of the road to “Half Moon Lake” and Elkhart Park trailhead, the most popular entry to the Bridger Wilderness. It is near a road that turns south off the Elkhart Park road west of “Mud Lake”. It is near the crest of the massive moraine that rings the southern part of “Fremont Lake”.

“Fremont Lake” Moraine Pond is not shown on the 7.5-minute topographic quadrangle and is not evident on USGS imagery of The National Map. Consequently, the location on the map above and the coordinates in the data spreadsheet may be off by 200 m (660′).

“Fremont Lake” Moraine Pond is easily reached from Pinedale. Take Sublette County Road 111 northeast from the east end of Pinedale. At the Y-junction just south of “Fremont Lake”, take the right fork rather than the left fork, which goes to “Fremont Lake” and Sandy Beach. There should be a sign to “Half Moon Lake” or Elkhart Park. About 2.9 miles from the Y, turn south onto an unimproved road at the National Forest boundary, which may or may not be marked. Drive about 200 m (660′), park, and start looking around. The official highway map of Wyoming indicates the road to Elkhart Park is now paved.

Elevation: 2,383 m (7,818′)

May 20, 1987

I don’t have a map but NPPWOPII.

  • Size and depth not estimated.
  • Water clear with brown tint.
  • Green fairy shrimp about 25 mm long seem to be treading water more than swimming; females have white or yellow eggs.
  • Other animals not noted.
June 18, 1987

The fairy shrimp in this pond looked like a different species than what I saw in Bivouac Lake and “Coyote Lake” (Antelope Hills) so I came back to collect specimens. There are grass and rushes growing in the water and abundant green algae along the north shore.

  • 10 m x 30 m; depth probably at least 50 cm.
  • Water clear and dark brown; 19 C.
  • Fairy shrimp 25-30 mm long with deep brownish-green color and yellow eyes; seem to be treading water more than swimming and occasionally scrape the pond bottom or rise to the water surface; females have yellow eggs.
  • Many small and few large backswimmers (sub-order Heteroptera, family Notonectidae), small and large dytiscid larvae (order Coleoptera, family Dytiscidae), water boatmen (sub-order Heteroptera, family Corixidae), beetles, blue dragonflies, some brown zooplankton less than 2 mm (copepods?), red and round possible water mites.

Specimens were identified as Streptocephalus seali by DB (archive #DB 801-813, which includes specimens from other ponds).

Scenic view of "Fremont Lake" Moraine Pond
“Fremont Lake” Moraine Pond 1987-06-18, #2201, Wind River Mountains.

Looking north across “Fremont Lake” Moraine Pond. “Fremont Lake” is out of sight in the valley in the middle distance.

Pond view of "Fremont Lake" Moraine Pond 1987-06-18, #2206, with fairy shrimp; Pinedale BLM Office
“Fremont Lake” Moraine Pond 1987-06-18, #2206, Wind River Mountains.

A female fairy shrimp in “Fremont Lake” Moraine Pond with yellow eggs. Unlike the other species I have seen, this one has yellow eyes. The yellow thing at the end of the abdomen between the cercopods is not a tail, it is a mucilaginous string of food that hasn’t fallen off yet.

Pond view of "Fremont Lake" Moraine Pond 1987-06-18, #2207, with fairy shrimp; Pinedale BLM Office
“Fremont Lake” Moraine Pond 1987-06-18, #2207, Wind River Mountains.

A fairy shrimp in “Fremont Lake” Moraine Pond. This one doesn’t have eggs or anything that looks like an ovisac so it is probably a male. It is not just the dark body color and yellow eyes that makes this look like a different species than the one in Bivouac Lake. It is also the kidney rather than round shape of the eyes, the curved cercopods, and the inconspicuous antennae II in mature males.


Pond view of "Fremont Lake" Moraine Pond 1987-06-18, #2215, with dytiscid larva; has fairy shrimp; Pinedale BLM Office
“Fremont Lake” Moraine Pond 1987-06-18, #2215, Wind River Mountains.

A dytiscid larva (order Coleoptera, family Dytiscidae) on the bottom of “Fremont Lake” Moraine Pond. The end of the abdomen characteristically turns up toward the water surface and helps make these larvae easy to identify. Dytiscid larvae are predators of fairy shrimp.

August 14, 2025

After finishing a backpacking trip from the Elkhart Park trailhead, I stopped here on the way out to collect GPS coordinates as my previous estimate of the location was highly uncertain. I found the actual location of this rock pool is 193 m southwest of that previous estimate. The coordinates in the spreadsheet on the Data page and the maps have been updated. A more accurate location may be of interest to anyone interested in Streptocephalus seali as Denton Belk’s identification of that species here was the first in Wyoming. Considering the general lack of interest in aquatic invertebrates though, the species may not yet have been found anywhere else in the state. To help anyone trying to find the road to the pond, my odometer measured 6.0 miles from US 191 in Pinedale to the turn-off.

  • Dry.
  • By pacing, the dimensions of dried mud are about 7 m by 15 m, which are smaller than the 10 m by 30 m dimensions of water estimated on June 18, 1987.

Scenic view of "Fremont Lake" Moraine Pond 2025-08-14, #58, dry; Pinedale Ranger District, Bridger-Teton National Forest
“Fremont Lake” Moraine Pond 2025-08-14, #58, Wind River Mountains.

This view of “Fremont Lake” Moraine Pond is in the same direction as the June 18, 1987 photograph but from a position closer to the pond. Nonetheless, the mountains on the horizon beyond “Fremont Lake” (out of sight) are the same and the general appearance of the pond is quite similar. The pile of rocks on the far side of the pond is more recent. I was previously uncertain about the origin of the pond but the extensive disturbance around the pond and the lack of other ponds in the vicinity now suggest that it is anthropogenic.

Wind River Mountains – top

Buttress Pond (Lander Ranger District, Shoshone National Forest)

___This map is a screenshot of The National Map (Go to The National Map). The U.S. Geological Survey generally does not copyright or charge for its data or reports (unless printed). A pond location is indicated by an “X”, which corresponds to the coordinates given in the data spreadsheet. Labels in quotations are from 7.5-minute topographic quadrangles.
___Red lines are the U. S. National Grid with a spacing of 1,000 m and intersection labels consisting of the UTM zone (e.g., 11S, 12T), a 2-letter 100-km square designation (e.g., LC, XN), and a 4-digit number. The first 2 digits of the number represent the 1,000-meter Easting and the second 2 digits the 1,000-meter Northing, as seen in the example Easting and Northing. Unlike latitude and longitude, the National Grid is rectilinear on a flat map, the units of abscissa and ordinate have equal lengths, and the units (meters) are measurable on the ground with a tape or by pacing.
___There is private land north of the green line at the extreme upper right. All other lands are public.

Topographic Map of Buttress Pond; The National Map with contours, roads, perennial/ephemeral water bodies, forest cover, marsh, UTM grid, private land
Topographic Map of Buttress Pond, Wind River Mountains; The National Map

Buttress Pond is the name Arthur Shoutis used for the pond (see In The Beginning for details). It may be in common use as the Buttress is a climbing spot. The pond is on the back (north) side of a mass of rock that juts out from the north wall of Sinks Canyon and looms nearly vertically over the Middle Fork Popo Agie River. The pond is about 900 m (2,950′) west of the Middle Fork Popo Agie River trailhead. Except for the north shore, the pond is within a grove of conifers. On The National Map, the pond is 125 m long and 90 m (410′ x 295′) wide.

Buttress Pond is a steep climb from the Middle Fork trail. The Middle Fork trailhead is next to the Bruce Picnic Ground at the end of the paved Sinks Canyon road (Wyoming 131) southwest of Lander. I don’t remember the route we took to the pond but there wasn’t anything technical.

Elevation: 2,358 m (7,737′)

May 22, 1987

Arthur Shoutis thought he had seen fairy shrimp in this pond previously so we went to see if they had hatched this year.

  • Pond about 100 m long; depth at least 50 cm.
  • Clear to slightly murky brownish water.
  • No fairy shrimp.
  • Abundant amphipods; a puddle in the marsh west of the pond had dytiscid larvae (order Coleoptera, family Dytiscidae) and backswimmers (sub-order Heteroptera, family Notonectidae).
July 6, 1987

I came back to take a longer look at the aquatic life and maybe find fairy shrimp this time.

  • Size and depth not estimated.
  • Water clarity not estimated..
  • No fairy shrimp.
  • Abundant amphipods of many sizes, abundant snails up to 25 mm across, caddisfly larvae (Trichoptera) with towering cases, dytiscid larvae (order Coleoptera, family Dytiscidae), damselfly larvae, a dragonfly as big as a hummingbird, a few fat salamander larvae.

Wind River Mountains – top

Little Sandy Overlook Pond (Pinedale Ranger District, Bridger-Teton National Forest; Bridger Wilderness)

___This map is a screenshot of The National Map (Go to The National Map). The U.S. Geological Survey generally does not copyright or charge for its data or reports (unless printed). A pond location is indicated by an “X”, which corresponds to the coordinates given in the data spreadsheet. Labels in quotations are from 7.5-minute topographic quadrangles.
___Red lines are the U. S. National Grid with a spacing of 1,000 m and intersection labels consisting of the UTM zone (e.g., 11S, 12T), a 2-letter 100-km square designation (e.g., LC, XN), and a 4-digit number. The first 2 digits of the number represent the 1,000-meter Easting and the second 2 digits the 1,000-meter Northing, as seen in the example Easting and Northing. Unlike latitude and longitude, the National Grid is rectilinear on a flat map, the units of abscissa and ordinate have equal lengths, and the units (meters) are measurable on the ground with a tape or by pacing.
___There is no private or state land on this map. All the lands are public.

Topographic Map of Little Sandy Overlook Pond and Nearby Ponds; The National Map with contours, roads, perennial/ephemeral water bodies, forest cover, marsh, UTM grid, private land
Topographic Map of Little Sandy Overlook Pond, “Coon Lake” South Ponds #1, #2, #3, #4, and #5, Cliff Edge Pond, “Coon Lake” Cirque Pond, Tayo Fork Pond, and Tayo Fork Channel Pond, Wind River Mountains; The National Map

Little Sandy Overlook Pond is 36 km (22 miles) southwest of Lander on the west side of the continental divide about 250 m (820′) west of “Coon Lake”. It is perched on the edge of the 230 m (750′) cliff dropping down into Little Sandy Creek canyon. Because it is on the west side of the divide, it is in the Bridger-Teton National Forest rather than the Shoshone National Forest.

Although the water of Little Sandy Overlook Pond is not visible on USGS imagery of The National Map, the location is tightly constrained by the greenery and bare rock in photograph Little Sandy Overlook Pond 1987-08-10, #3112, and the topography.

Little Sandy Overlook Pond is close to “Coon Lake”. “Coon Lake” can be reached from the Worthen Meadows trailhead by following the trail over Roaring Fork Mountain to Tayo Park and then ascending Tayo Creek to past “Poison Lake”. Above “Poison Lake”, the trail shown on the recreation map of the southern half of the Shoshone National Forest turns north toward “Tayo Lake”. An informal trail continues to the west up the hill to “Coon Lake”.

Elevation: 3,206 m (10,517′)

August 9, 1987

I saw a couple of people fishing at “Coon Lake” so there was no point stopping there. I continued to the end of the lake and approached the cliffs of Little Sandy Creek canyon. The view is beyond my expectations – the canyon is a spectacular glacier-carved trench. But, oh, there is a pond at the top of the cliff. I’m pooped and I haven’t found a place to pitch my tent yet but I have to look.

  • Fairy shrimp.
August 10, 1987

Found some other fairy shrimp ponds today. It’s time to document this one.

  • Pond 25 m x 10 m; depth possibly up to 100 cm.
  • Water is clear; 14 C at 1915 with air temp about 10 C.
  • Abundant brownish-green fairy shrimp with males larger than females; most females have single row of white eggs in ovisac.
  • Black beetles, caddisfly larvae (Trichoptera), both larger black and smaller reddish brown copepods.

Scenic view of Little Sandy Overlook Pond 1987-08-10, #3112, with view of Little Sandy Creek canyon; has fairy shrimp; Pinedale Ranger District, Bridger-Teton National Forest, Bridger Wilderness
Little Sandy Overlook Pond 1987-08-10, #3112, Wind River Mountains.

Little Sandy Creek canyon in the morning light, with Little Sandy Overlook Pond in the foreground at the edge of the precipice. The high-water mark on the rocks is about 15 cm above the current water level. “Little Sandy Lake” is in the sunlight beyond the shadowed canyon.

Pond view of Little Sandy Overlook Pond 1987-08-10, #3125, with fairy shrimp; Pinedale Ranger District, Bridger-Teton National Forest, Bridger Wilderness
Little Sandy Overlook Pond 1987-08-10, #3125, Wind River Mountains.

Numerous fairy shrimp swimming among the boulders in Little Sandy Overlook Pond. Floating pine needles for scale.

August 21, 1989

1987 was a good year for fairy shrimp in the ponds by “Coon Lake” so what about this year?

  • Size and depth not estimated.
  • Water clarity not noted.
  • No fairy shrimp.
  • Large black copepods.

Scenic view of Little Sandy Overlook Pond 1989-08-21, #1127, with view of Little Sandy Creek canyon; has fairy shrimp; Pinedale Ranger District, Bridger-Teton National Forest, Bridger Wilderness
Little Sandy Overlook Pond 1989-08-21, #1127, Wind River Mountains.

Little Sandy Overlook Pond from edge of the cliff by Cliff Edge Pond. I couldn’t find any fairy shrimp this time. The water level is a little lower but there is still plenty. This is a sunnier view of Little Sandy Creek canyon.

August 30, 2006

Not much luck with my tour of the Wind River Peak Ponds so it’s time to check on these southwest of “Coon Lake”.

  • Size and depth not estimated.
  • Water clarity not noted.
  • No fairy shrimp.
  • Backswimmers.

Wind River Mountains – top

“Coon Lake” South Pond #1 (Pinedale Ranger District, Bridger-Teton National Forest; Bridger Wilderness)

Little Sandy Overlook Pond map

“Coon Lake” South Pond #1 is about 550 m (1,800′) southeast of Little Sandy Overlook Pond and 250 m (820′) south of “Coon Lake”. It is among 5 ponds south of “Coon Lake” that were visited in my search for fairy shrimp. The ponds are south of the hill marking the continental divide south of “Coon Lake”. The rocky terrain slopes gently toward Little Sandy Creek canyon for about 350 m (1,150′) before dropping off a 230 m (750′) cliff. Pond #1 is in a draw between the 2 summits of the small hill 200 m (660′) south of the shore of “Coon Lake”.

Although not mapped, the location for “Coon Lake” South Pond #1 could be identified with reasonable certainty on the USGS imagery of The National Map in spite of the dark water vs. dark vegetation ambiguity. Location accuracy is probably better than 25 m (80′).

For access, see Little Sandy Overlook Pond.

Elevation: 3,257 m (10,685′)

August 10, 1987

The small hill south of “Coon Lake” is an obvious place for a nice view but, even better, it’s got puddles. Pond #1 is a puddle that it is partly dry.

  • 15 m long; depth 30 cm between the rocks.
  • Water is clear; 14 C at 1745.
  • Abundant greenish-brown fairy shrimp with males (18-20 mm) larger than females (17-19 mm); most females have eggs in up to 3 rows in long ovisacs; counted 30-40 eggs in collected specimens.
  • Black beetles, a dytiscid larvae (order Coleoptera, family Dytiscidae) as big as my forefinger, small backswimmers (sub-order Heteroptera, family Notonectidae), red spheres that may be water mites, many black ostracods(?) less than 1 mm, black copepods and other small zooplankton.

Specimens were identified as Branchinecta coloradensis by DB.

Scenic view of "Coon Lake" South Pond #1 1987-08-10, #3124; has fairy shrimp; Pinedale Ranger District, Bridger-Teton National Forest, Bridger Wilderness
“Coon Lake” South Pond #1 1987-08-10, #3124, Wind River Mountains.

The puddle of water at center is “Coon Lake” South Pond #1. The cliffs in the distance are on the far side of Little Sandy Creek canyon. The peak at right has what I call a tilted aircraft carrier shape, which is rather common in the Winds.


Pond view of "Coon Lake" South Pond #1 1987-08-10, #3123, with fairy shrimp; Pinedale Ranger District, Bridger-Teton National Forest, Bridger Wilderness
“Coon Lake” South Pond #1 1987-08-10, #3123, Wind River Mountains.

Darkly colored fairy shrimp in “Coon Lake” South Pond #1.

August 21, 1989

The water level looks very low.

  • Size and depth not estimated.
  • Water clarity not noted.
  • Large dark green fairy shrimp; eggs not noted.
  • No other animals noted.
August 30, 2006

This doesn’t look good.

  • Dry.

Wind River Mountains – top

“Coon Lake” South Pond #2 (Pinedale Ranger District, Bridger-Teton National Forest; Bridger Wilderness)

Little Sandy Overlook Pond map

“Coon Lake” South Pond #2 is south of the hill marking the continental divide south of “Coon Lake” and about 150 m (490′) south of “Coon Lake” South Pond #1. It is one of the 5 ponds south of “Coon Lake” that were visited in my search for fairy shrimp. Pond #2 is on the north side of a small knob and on the west side of a closed contour shown on the 7.5-minute topographic quadrangle.

“Coon Lake” South Pond #2 is not visible on USGS imagery of The National Map but topography constrains location accuracy to within about 50 m (165′).

For access, see Little Sandy Overlook Pond.

Elevation: 3,254 m (10,677′)

August 10, 1987

Like Pond #1, Pond #2 has a high-water mark about 15 cm above the current water level. However, it is deeper.

  • About 30 m long; depth maybe up to 80 cm.
  • Clear to slightly murky water.
  • Fairy shrimp smaller than in Pond #1, with males larger than females; some females have single row of white eggs.
  • Black beetles, abundant tiny red copepods.
August 21, 1989

Water levels are down but Pond #1 has fairy shrimp so maybe this one does too.

  • Size and depth not estimated.
  • Water clarity not noted.
  • Small fairy shrimp; eggs not noted.
  • No other animals noted.
August 30, 2006

The water level is very low.

  • Size and depth not estimated.
  • Water clarity not noted.
  • Fairy shrimp.
  • Beetles.

Wind River Mountains – top

“Coon Lake” South Pond #3 (Pinedale Ranger District, Bridger-Teton National Forest; Bridger Wilderness)

Little Sandy Overlook Pond map

“Coon Lake” South Pond #3 is on the east side of the hill marking the continental divide south of “Coon Lake” and about 100 m (330′) southeast of “Coon Lake” South Pond #1. It is the largest of the 5 ponds south of “Coon Lake” that were visited in my search for fairy shrimp. “Coon Lake” South Pond #3 is northeast of, and at about the same elevation as, Pond #2.

“Coon Lake” South Pond #3 is not visible on USGS imagery of The National Map but topography constrains location accuracy to about 100 m (330′).

For access, see Little Sandy Overlook Pond.

Elevation: 3,250 m (10,661′)

August 10, 1987

There is a light sprinkle and the threat of heavy rain so I’d better hurry up with this pond.

  • 13 m x 35 m; depth probably 50 cm.
  • Clear to slightly murky, brownish water.
  • Abundant brown fairy shrimp 12-14 mm long, with males larger and more abundant than females and some smaller females; some females have single row of white eggs; some fairy shrimp turn over and scrape the rock from time to time.
  • Black beetles, large black copepods and smaller zooplankton, greenish-black ostracods(?) less than 1 mm.

Specimens were identified as Branchinecta coloradensis by DB.

I spotted 1 male with short antennae II which is probably not Branchinecta coloradensis like those in “Coon Lake” South Pond #1. It could be Branchinecta paludosa (BTANSD) like those in “Coyote Lake” (Antelope Hills).

Scenic view of "Coon Lake" South Pond #3 1987-08-11, #3219, with Wind River Peak in distance; has fairy shrimp; Pinedale Ranger District, Bridger-Teton National Forest, Bridger Wilderness
“Coon Lake” South Pond #3 1987-08-11, #3219, Wind River Mountains.

“Coon Lake” South Pond #3, looking north. The peak with the snowbank is Wind River Peak. I came back the next morning to take this photograph and check out a few more ponds before hiking over to Bivouac Lake.

Pond view of "Coon Lake" South Pond #3 1987-08-11, #3213, with fairy shrimp; Pinedale Ranger District, Bridger-Teton National Forest, Bridger Wilderness
Coon Lake South Pond #3 1987-08-11, #3213, Wind River Mountains.

An abundance of fairy shrimp in “Coon Lake” South Pond #3. The high density of fairy shrimp may be partly due to the shrunken volume of water as the level has clearly dropped.

August 30, 2006

I haven’t definitely found “Coon Lake” South Pond #3 today but that is probably because it is dry, like “Coon Lake” South Pond #1.

  • Dry.

Wind River Mountains – top

Cliff Edge Pond (Pinedale Ranger District, Bridger-Teton National Forest; Bridger Wilderness)

Little Sandy Overlook Pond map

Cliff Edge Pond is about 300 m (980′) west of “Coon Lake” and about 250 m (820′) north of Little Sandy Overlook Pond. It is on a bench with a small south-facing cliff to its immediate north and the big cliff into Little Sandy Creek canyon to its south and west. Cliff Edge Pond may have an outlet to the southeast at high water but there is no indication of an inlet. The pond is 80 m (260′) long on the 7.5-minute topographic quadrangle.

For access, see Little Sandy Overlook Pond.

Elevation: 3,251 m (10,667′)

August 11, 1987

Yet another pond near “Coon Lake” and this one is the biggest yet.

  • 45 m x 75 m; depth possibly 200 cm.
  • Clear greenish water; 8 C at 0715.
  • No fairy shrimp.
  • Amphipods, black beetles (one holding remains of amphipod), caddisfly larvae (Trichoptera), relatively big black copepods, smaller zooplankton.
August 21, 1989

Another year, another chance for fairy shrimp.

  • Size and depth not estimated.
  • Water clarity not noted.
  • No fairy shrimp.
  • Amphipods, black beetles.
August 30, 2006

One of the few “Coon Lake” ponds with water this year so WIDLA.

  • Size and depth not estimated.
  • Water clarity not noted.
  • No fairy shrimp.
  • Backswimmers, amphipods.

Wind River Mountains – top

“Coon Lake” South Pond #4 (Pinedale Ranger District, Bridger-Teton National Forest; Bridger Wilderness)

Little Sandy Overlook Pond map

“Coon Lake” South Pond #4 is about 250 m south of “Coon Lake” South Pond #1. The pond is among 5 ponds south of “Coon Lake” that were visited in my search for fairy shrimp. Pond #4 is in the draw between the small hill south of “Coon Lake” and the big ridge leading up to Mt. Nystrom. It is southeast of Pond #2 and northeast of Pond #5.

“Coon Lake” South Pond #4 is not visible on USGS imagery of The National Map but topography constrains location accuracy to about 100 m (330′).

For access, see Little Sandy Overlook Pond.

Elevation: 3,241 m (10,633′)

August 11, 1987

Being in the draw, Pond #4 could receive some runoff from surrounding slopes but it is rather small.

  • Pond about 25 m long; depth not estimated.
  • Clear water.
  • Sparse but relatively large fairy shrimp, with males larger and more abundant than females; most females have eggs.
  • Other animals not noted.
August 30, 2006
  • Dry.

Wind River Mountains – top

“Coon Lake” South Pond #5 (Pinedale Ranger District, Bridger-Teton National Forest; Bridger Wilderness)

Little Sandy Overlook Pond map

“Coon Lake” South Pond #5 is about 325 m (1,070′) south of “Coon Lake” South Pond #1 and 100 m (330′) southwest of “Coon Lake” South Pond #4. It is among 5 ponds south of “Coon Lake” that were visited in my search for fairy shrimp. Pond #5 is in a marshy bog southwest of Pond #4 and closer to the cliff into Little Sandy Creek canyon.

“Coon Lake” South Pond #5 is not visible on USGS imagery of The National Map but topography constrains location accuracy to about 100 m (330′).

For access, see Little Sandy Overlook Pond.

Elevation: 3,233 m (10,606′)

August 11, 1987

This pond looks like it could get flushed out during spring runoff but WIDLA.

  • Pond 15 m long; depth less than 30 cm.
  • Clear water.
  • No fairy shrimp.
  • Other animals not noted.
August 30, 2006

This makes for 4 out of 7 “Coon Lake” ponds dry this year.

  • Dry.

Wind River Mountains – top

Big Stough East Pond (Lander Ranger District, Shoshone National Forest; Popo Agie Wilderness)

Deep Cirque Overlook Pond map

Big Stough East Pond is in a marsh on the small hill about 150 m (820′) east of Big Stough Lake (WGF name). Big Stough Lake is the northernmost large lake of the “Stough Creek Lakes”.

Stough Creek Basin can be reached from the Worthen Meadow trailhead. On the west side of Roaring Fork Mountain, there is a trail junction with one trail continuing to the west to Middle Fork Popo Agie River and Tayo Park and one trail going south into Stough Creek Basin. The first large lake on the trail to the south is Big Stough Lake. The most direct route to Big Stough East Pond is to ford the outlet on the north edge of Big Stough Lake and continue almost due east for about 150 m (820′).

Elevation: 3,208 m (10,525′)

August 11, 1987

The pond is very small and shallow and partially overgrown. I’m looking for an easy way up Roaring Fork Mountain but NPPWOPII.

  • Size not estimated; depth not estimated.
  • Water clarity not noted.
  • Fairy shrimp.
  • Other animals not noted.

Wind River Mountains – top

Medina Mountain Ponds (Pinedale Ranger District, Bridger-Teton National Forest; Bridger Wilderness)

___This map is a screenshot of The National Map (Go to The National Map). The U.S. Geological Survey generally does not copyright or charge for its data or reports (unless printed). A pond location is indicated by an “X”, which corresponds to the coordinates given in the data spreadsheet. Labels in quotations are from 7.5-minute topographic quadrangles.
___Red lines are the U. S. National Grid with a spacing of 1,000 m and intersection labels consisting of the UTM zone (e.g., 11S, 12T), a 2-letter 100-km square designation (e.g., LC, XN), and a 4-digit number. The first 2 digits of the number represent the 1,000-meter Easting and the second 2 digits the 1,000-meter Northing, as seen in the example Easting and Northing. Unlike latitude and longitude, the National Grid is rectilinear on a flat map, the units of abscissa and ordinate have equal lengths, and the units (meters) are measurable on the ground with a tape or by pacing.
___There is no private or state land on this map. All the lands are public.

Topographic Map of Medina Mountain Ponds 1 through 14; The National Map with contours, roads, perennial/ephemeral water bodies, forest cover, marsh, UTM grid, private land
Topographic Map of Medina Mountain Ponds 1 through 14, Wind River Mountains; The National Map

Topographic Map of Medina Mountain Ponds 15 through 25; The National Map with contours, roads, perennial/ephemeral water bodies, forest cover, marsh, UTM grid, private land
Topographic Map of Medina Mountain Ponds 15 through 25, Wind River Mountains; The National Map

Medina Mountain Ponds comprise several ponds generally south or east of Medina Mountain and also west of “Pipestone Lakes” and south of “Halls Lake”. They are within 3 km (2 miles) of the summit of Medina Mountain. Medina Mountain is 34 km (21 miles) east of Pinedale.

Medina Mountain Ponds were selected by virtue of their having a low probability of fish. Most of the ponds are less than 50 m (165′) across. Most of the ponds are not connected to streams or are on streams separated from larger lakes that could have fish by steep topography. According to the Wyoming Game and Fish Department’s 2013 “Bridger Wilderness, A Guide to the Fishing Lakes” (17 p.), “Halls Lake”, “Pipestone Lakes”, and “Howard Lake”, all have fish. Any pond on a stream connected to those lakes would have a high risk of fish. To maximize search time, no notes were taken except at 2 of the ponds with fairy shrimp.

Most ponds are shown on the 1938, 1:62,500-scale, Mt. Bonneville 15-minute topographic quadrangle, which I had in the field. Only 2 (#4 and #14) are not shown. 4 (#1, #10, #13, and #17) of the Medina Mountain Ponds ponds shown on the 15-minute quadrangle are not shown on the 1981 Halls Mountain 7.5-minute quadrangle. Ponds not shown on the 1981 Halls Mountain quadrangle are also not shown on The National Map. Consequently, the locations of these 6 ponds are less certain than for the other ponds but are probably not off by more than 50 m (165′), given the topography.

Elevations of Medina Mountain Ponds are between 3,109 m (10,200′) and 3,267 m (10,720′) (using the XY tool of The National Map). These elevations are not given below but are in the data spreadsheet on the Data page. Pond sizes given below have been measured on the Halls Mountain 1:24,000-scale quadrangle where present and assumed to be less than 50 m (165′) across where not present, unless described otherwise.

The shortest route to the Medina Mountain area is from the “Boulder Lake” trailhead. To reach the trailhead, turn east onto Wyoming 353 to Big Sandy from US 191 at Boulder (12 miles southeast of Pinedale). About 2 1/2 miles east of US 191, turn north on Sublette County road 114. This road ultimately leads up the south shore of “Boulder Lake” to “Boulder Lake” Campground, Boulder Lodge, and the trailhead. There are probably signs to one or more of those landmarks. The hiking trail from “Boulder Lake” trailhead leads to “Pipestone Lakes”, where it intersects the High Line Trail. Looking at the map 25 years later, I suspect I camped somewhere along “Pipestone Lakes”.

August 19, 1989

Heavy clouds this morning and a little rain yesterday on the hike up. This is probably not a good day to hike up Medina Mountain. Guess I’ll spend the whole day looking for fairy shrimp.

  • Pond #1: east of north end of lower of the “Pipestone Lakes”, shown on Mt. Bonneville but not on “Halls Lake” quadrangle, less than 50 m across, no fairy shrimp.
  • Ponds #2,#3: up to 100 m across on quadrangle, no fairy shrimp.
  • Pond #4: east of southeast end of lower of the “Pipestone Lakes”, not shown on either quadrangle, less than 50 m across, no fairy shrimp.
  • Ponds #5,#6,#7: less than 50 m across, no fairy shrimp.
  • Pond #8: on outlet of Pond #9, less than 50 m across, no fairy shrimp.
  • Pond #9: lake up to 500 m across east of “Howard Lake”, no fairy shrimp.
  • Pond #10: within 100 m of western shore of Pond #9, shown on Mt. Bonneville but not on “Halls Lake” quadrangle, less than 50 m across, no fairy shrimp.
  • Pond #11: less than 50 m across, no fairy shrimp.
  • Pond #12: up to 120 m across on quadrangle, no fairy shrimp.
  • Pond #13: less than 50 m across, shown on Mt. Bonneville but not on “Halls Lake” quadrangle, no fairy shrimp.
  • Pond #14: on ridge about 1,500 m northeast of southeast corner of “Howard Lake”, not shown on either quadrangle, less than 50 m across, has fairy shrimp.
  • Pond #15: 1,100 m due east of summit of Medina Mountain and 170 m northeast of 600 m long lake with fish, up to 75 m across on quadrangle, has large fairy shrimp, mostly males, 1 female has eggs.
  • Pond #16: semicircular pond 15 m x 25 m, water rather milky, 11 C at 1210, has fairy shrimp with females 10-12 mm and males 12-14 mm, females have eggs in oviducts or rarely in ovisacs, large black copepods, jelly-like algae(?) attached to rocks.
  • Pond #17: half way between Ponds #16 and #18, shown on Mt. Bonneville but not on “Halls Lake” quadrangle, less than 50 m across, no fairy shrimp.
  • Pond #18: less than 50 m across, no fairy shrimp.
  • Pond #19: up to 120 m across on quadrangle, no fairy shrimp.
  • Pond #20: on hill south of outlet of “Halls Lake”, less than 50 m across, no fairy shrimp.
  • Pond #21: on saddle between lake south of “Halls Lake” and Halls Creek and at head of drainage tributary to Halls Creek, up to 80 m across on quadrangle, a few large green fairy shrimp about 20 mm long, 1 female has pale eggs in ovisac.
  • Pond #22: pond at head of stream in drainage tributary to Halls Creek, up to 120 m across on quadrangle, no fairy shrimp.
  • Pond #23: not connected to stream, up to 120 m across on quadrangle, no fairy shrimp.
  • Pond #24: elliptical pond up to 200 m across on stream in drainage tributary to Halls Creek, no fairy shrimp.
  • Pond #25: irregular pond up to 250 m across on stream in same drainage tributary to Halls Creek as Pond #24, no fairy shrimp.

Specimens collected from Pond #16 were identified as Branchinecta coloradensis by DB. All of the fairy shrimp observed in the Medina Mountain Ponds looked superficially like the Branchinecta coloradensis identified at Bivouac Lake and in Pond #16.

25 Medina Mountain Ponds visited, 4 had fairy shrimp.

Scenic view of Medina Mountain Pond #16 1989-08-19, #1111; has fairy shrimp; Pinedale Ranger District, Bridger-Teton National Forest, Bridger Wilderness
Medina Mountain Pond #16 1989-08-19, #1111, Wind River Mountains.

Medina Mountain Pond #16, looking east. The low water level suggests this may not be a good year to find fairy shrimp but there were some here. The rock spire in the distance may be Pipe Organ, on the continental divide east of “Halls Lake”.

Scenic view of "Halls Lake" 1989-08-19, #1112; lacks fairy shrimp; Pinedale Ranger District, Bridger-Teton National Forest, Bridger Wilderness
“Halls Lake” 1989-08-19, #1112, Wind River Mountains.

View north across the west side of “Halls Lake”. This lake has been stocked with brook trout but a few small ponds in the vicinity have fairy shrimp. Was the lake also home to fairy shrimp before 1930? The jagged mountain at right is Halls Mountain. Clouds are breaking up, I didn’t get snowed on, and I found at least a few fairy shrimp. That counts as a good day.

Wind River Mountains – top

Silas Headwall Lake (Lander Ranger District, Shoshone National Forest; Popo Agie Wilderness)

Cinquefoil Pond map

Silas Headwall Lake is the uppermost lake of Silas Canyon, south of Cony Mountain. It is 30 km (19 miles) southwest of Lander and about 2 km (1.2 miles) north of Bivouac Lake. On the 7.5-minute topographic quadrangle, it is 300 m long and 150 m wide (980′ x 490′) with a regular oval shape. It is below a nearly vertical cliff on the east side of Roaring Fork Mountain. The lake is inaccessible to fish swimming upstream because there is no outlet. The water just drains through the boulders below the lake.

Silas Headwall Lake can be reached from the “Fiddlers Lake” trailhead. A trail up Silas Canyon branches to the northwest off the “Christina Lake” trail on the east side of “Lower Silas Lake” about 3.3 km (2 miles) from the trailhead. The trail is less used above “Upper Silas Lake” and eventually peters out but the canyon presents no major difficulties.

Elevation: 3,434 m (11,266′)

August 13, 1993

It’s mid-August but this lake looks cold. There is a big chunk of ice in the water.

  • 150 m x 300 m based on the 7.5-minute quadrangle; depth at least 200 cm.
  • Water is clear.
  • No fairy shrimp.
  • Other animals not noted (I don’t think there were any).

Scenic view of Silas Headwall Lake 1993-08-13, #0619; lacks fairy shrimp; Lander Ranger District, Shoshone National Forest, Popo Agie Wilderness
Silas Headwall Lake 1993-08-13, #0619, Wind River Mountains.

Silas Headwall Lake and the cliff on the east side of Roaring Fork Mountain. There is a considerable slab of ice floating on the water adjacent to the snowbank. Is this future fairy shrimp habitat?

Wind River Mountains – top

Silas Cornice Chute Lake (Lander Ranger District, Shoshone National Forest; Popo Agie Wilderness)

Cinquefoil Pond map

Silas Cornice Chute Lake is about 310 m (1,020′) east of Silas Headwall Lake and is the next lake down the canyon. It is a smaller lake at 190 m x 100 m (620′ x 330′) according to the 7.5-minute topographic quadrangle. It is at the base of the cliff on the north side of Silas Canyon. There is a prominent snow-filled chute to the west of the lake with a cornice at the top of the cliff. The snow likely persists into autumn in most years. The outlet stream to “Thumb Lake” below has a steep section that probably blocks fish.

For access, see Silas Headwall Lake.

Elevation: 3,384 m (11,102′)

August 13, 1993

“Thumb Lake” below has big fish but I don’t think they can get up here.

  • 100 m x 190 m based on the 7.5-minute quadrangle; depth at least 100 cm and probably more.
  • Water is clear.
  • No fairy shrimp.
  • Amphipods.

Wind River Mountains – top

Cinquefoil Pond (Lander Ranger District, Shoshone National Forest; Popo Agie Wilderness)

___This map is a screenshot of The National Map (Go to The National Map). The U.S. Geological Survey generally does not copyright or charge for its data or reports (unless printed). A pond location is indicated by an “X”, which corresponds to the coordinates given in the data spreadsheet. Labels in quotations are from 7.5-minute topographic quadrangles.
___Red lines are the U. S. National Grid with a spacing of 1,000 m and intersection labels consisting of the UTM zone (e.g., 11S, 12T), a 2-letter 100-km square designation (e.g., LC, XN), and a 4-digit number. The first 2 digits of the number represent the 1,000-meter Easting and the second 2 digits the 1,000-meter Northing, as seen in the example Easting and Northing. Unlike latitude and longitude, the National Grid is rectilinear on a flat map, the units of abscissa and ordinate have equal lengths, and the units (meters) are measurable on the ground with a tape or by pacing.
___There is no private or state land on this map. All the lands are public.

Topographic Map of Cinquefoil Pond and Nearby Ponds; The National Map with contours, roads, perennial/ephemeral water bodies, forest cover, marsh, UTM grid, private land
Topographic Map of Cinquefoil Pond, Stough Below the Moraine Pond, Boulder Bog Pond, Stough Off Channel Pond, Silas Headwall Lake, and Silas Cornice Chute Lake, Wind River Mountains; The National Map

Cinquefoil Pond is about 150 m (490′) southeast of the southernmost large lake in the basin, which is called Canyon Lake by WGF. Only a trickle of water flows down the hill to Canyon Lake, which probably has fish. Although not shown on the 7.5-minute topographic quadrangle, the pond is visible on the USGS imagery of The National Map as a dark vegetated area. The grassy bench on which the pond occurs had abundant yellow cinquefoil on the first visit.

Stough Creek Basin can be reached from the Worthen Meadows trailhead. After crossing to the west side of Roaring Fork Mountain, the Roaring Fork trail meets the Stough Creek Basin trail. The Roaring Fork trail continues to the west to Middle Fork Popo Agie River and Tayo Park. Turn south and follow the Stough Creek Basin trail. From the first big lake at the north end of Stough Creek Basin, follow the main branch of Stough Creek all the way to Canyon Lake. The trail gives out somewhere short of this goal. Go around the east side of Canyon Lake to Cinquefoil Pond.

Stough Creek Basin can also be reached from the Middle Fork Popo Agie River trail, which has a trailhead at the end of the Sinks Canyon Road near Bruce Picnic Area. That route is at least 3 times longer.

Elevation: 3,388 m (11,116′)

August 14, 1993

I saw amphipods in Canyon Lake. I didn’t see fish but I suspect they are there. Certainly no worries about fish here.

  • About 30 m across; probably at least 50 cm deep.
  • Water is clear; 11 C at 1230.
  • Fairy shrimp 15-20 mm long; some females have single row of pale eggs.
  • Other animals not noted.

Scenic view of Cinquefoil Pond and Stough Below the Moraine Pond 1993-08-14, #0629; has fairy shrimp; Lander Ranger District, Shoshone National Forest, Popo Agie Wilderness
Cinquefoil Pond 1993-08-14, #0629, Wind River Mountains.

View to the southwest across Cinquefoil Pond to Stough Below the Moraine Pond in the middle distance. Cinquefoil Pond has fairy shrimp but Stough Below the Moraine Pond does not. Could it be because Stough Below the Moraine Pond was still 4 C colder at mid-day? Note the massive moraine above Stough Below the Moraine Pond. It holds back a snow field that could also be a pond some day.

August 31, 2006

Looks almost dry.

  • Size and depth not estimated.
  • Water clarity not noted.
  • No fairy shrimp.
  • Other animals not noted.

Wind River Mountains – top

Stough Below the Moraine Pond (Lander Ranger District, Shoshone National Forest; Popo Agie Wilderness)

Cinquefoil Pond map

Stough Below the Moraine Pond is at the southern extremity of Stough Creek Basin 31 km (19 miles) from Lander and about 2 km (1.2 miles) northwest of Bivouac Lake. It is below a 50 m (165′) high moraine that holds back a perennial snowfield but is itself bounded below by a small moraine. On the 7.5-minute topographic quadrangle, Stough Below the Moraine Pond is 120 m x 70 m (390′ x 230′). It is isolated from Canyon Lake (name used by WGF) below by the lack of an outlet.

For access, see Cinquefoil Pond. Stough Below the Moraine Pond is about 200 m (660′) southwest of Cinquefoil Pond.

Elevation: 3,386 m (11,110′)

August 14, 1993

Bigger and maybe better than Cinquefoil Pond.

  • 70 m x 120 m based on the 7.5-minute quadrangle; depth probably up to 100 cm.
  • Water is clear; 7 C at 1200.
  • No fairy shrimp.
  • Rare caddisfly larvae (Trichoptera).

Scenic view of Stough Below the Moraine Pond 1985-07, #1112, and upper Stough Creek Canyon with Canyon Lake and Blackrock Lake; lacks fairy shrimp; Lander Ranger District, Shoshone National Forest, Popo Agie Wilderness
Stough Below the Moraine Pond 1985-07, #1112, Wind River Mountains.

Looking down upper Stough Creek canyon with, from bottom to center, Stough Below the Moraine Pond, Canyon Lake (name used by WGF), and Blackrock Lake (name used by WGF). Cinquefoil Pond is to the right of the upper (lower in photograph coordinates) end of Canyon Lake next to the closest patch of green vegetation. The long ridge of Roaring Fork Mountain bounds the right side of Stough Creek canyon. This photograph was taken several years previously during a dry year.

August 31, 2006

Cinquefoil Pond is almost dry but this one is doing okay.

  • Size and depth not estimated.
  • Clear water.
  • No fairy shrimp.
  • Other animals not noted.

Wind River Mountains – top

Boulder Bog Pond (Lander Ranger District, Shoshone National Forest; Popo Agie Wilderness)

Cinquefoil Pond map

Boulder Bog Pond is about 1,200 m north of Stough Below the Moraine Pond. It is on the south side of the knoll on the west side of Blackrock Lake (name used by WGF) south of the lake’s outlet. Blackrock Lake is the next lake below and to the north of Canyon Lake. The pond is in a marshy area with boulders and some smooth rock outcrops.

Boulder Bog Pond is not on the 7.5-minute quadrangle and is not visible on the USGS imagery of The National Map. The location of the pond on the Cinquefoil Pond map and in the data spreadsheet (on the Data page) may be off by 100 m (330′).

For access, see Cinquefoil Pond. Boulder Bog Pond is 1,000 m (3,280′) north of Cinquefoil Pond and on the way to that pond from the Stough Creek Basin trail.

Elevation: 3,291 m (10,798′)

August 14, 1993

It’s not much of a pond but it is in a wet area that must collect considerable snow in the winter.

  • About 40 m long; depth not estimated.
  • Water is clear; 13 C at 1330.
  • Fairy shrimp; eggs not noted.
  • Other animals not noted.
August 31, 2006

This one is gone, too.

  • Dry.

Wind River Mountains – top

Deep Cirque Overlook Pond (Lander Ranger District, Shoshone National Forest; Popo Agie Wilderness)

___This map is a screenshot of The National Map (Go to The National Map). The U.S. Geological Survey generally does not copyright or charge for its data or reports (unless printed). A pond location is indicated by an “X”, which corresponds to the coordinates given in the data spreadsheet. Labels in quotations are from 7.5-minute topographic quadrangles.
___Red lines are the U. S. National Grid with a spacing of 1,000 m and intersection labels consisting of the UTM zone (e.g., 11S, 12T), a 2-letter 100-km square designation (e.g., LC, XN), and a 4-digit number. The first 2 digits of the number represent the 1,000-meter Easting and the second 2 digits the 1,000-meter Northing, as seen in the example Easting and Northing. Unlike latitude and longitude, the National Grid is rectilinear on a flat map, the units of abscissa and ordinate have equal lengths, and the units (meters) are measurable on the ground with a tape or by pacing.
___There is no private or state land on this map. All the lands are public.

Topographic Map of Deep Cirque Overlook Pond and Nearby Ponds; The National Map with contours, roads, perennial/ephemeral water bodies, forest cover, marsh, UTM grid, private land
Topographic Map of Deep Cirque Overlook Pond, Stough Off Channel Pond, Hidden Snowbank Pond, East Side Cirque Pond, Shoal Lake Northwest Pond, Hill 10,646 South Pond, Hill 10,646 East Pond, Little Stough West Pond, and Big Stough East Pond, Wind River Mountains; The National Map

Deep Cirque Overlook Pond is in a marshy area on the hill on the west side of Stough Creek Basin about 450 m (1,480′) west of, and 100 m (330′) above, Footprint Lake (name used by WGF). It is about 2,400 m (7,870′) northwest of Stough Below the Moraine Pond. The pond is shown as an oval about 50 m (165′) long on the 7.5-minute topographic quadrangle. Deep Cirque Overlook Pond has a great view of an unusually deep and narrow cirque which holds the tear-drop shaped Eyrie Lake (name used by WGF).

For access, see Cinquefoil Pond. Instead of continuing up Stough Creek to Cinquefoil Pond, turn west south of Shoal Lake (name used by WGF) and climb the hill above Footprint Lake (name used by WGF).

Elevation: 3,351 m (10,993′)

August 14, 1993

Eyrie Lake still has floating ice but it is nice and warm in the sun here.

  • 30 m across; depth not estimated.
  • Water is clear; 14 C at 1440.
  • Abundant fairy shrimp; eggs not noted.
  • Black beetles, backswimmers(?) (sub-order Heteroptera, family Notonectidae).
August 31, 2006

Not seeing many fairy shrimp on this trip but I’m hopeful they hatched in some of the ponds where they hatched before.

  • Size and depth not estimated.
  • Water clarity not noted.
  • Fairy shrimp.
  • Backswimmers (sub-order Heteroptera, family Notonectidae), beetles.

Wind River Mountains – top

Shoal Lake Northwest Pond (Lander Ranger District, Shoshone National Forest; Popo Agie Wilderness)

Deep Cirque Overlook Pond map

Shoal Lake Northwest Pond is in a relatively flat area on the northwest side of Shoal Lake (name used by WGF) in Stough Creek Basin and about 150 m (490′) west of the lake’s outlet.

Shoal Lake Northwest Pond is not discernible on the USGS imagery of The National Map and the flat topography makes locating it on a map difficult. As a result, the location on the Cinquefoil Pond map and in the data spreadsheet may be off by 100 m.

For access, see Cinquefoil Pond. Shoal Lake Northwest Pond is well north of Cinquefoil Pond. To go to Cinquefoil Pond, one would cross Stough Creek north of Shoal Lake and hike up the east side of the lake. To find Shoal Lake Northwest Pond, don’t cross the creek and walk southwestward while staying 50-100 m (165′-330′) from the north shore of the lake.

Elevation: 3,225 m (10,581′)

August 14, 1993

With so many fabulous lakes and ponds in Stough Creek Basin, this is not impressive. But NPPWOPII.

  • Size not noted but less than 50 m long; depth not estimated but shallow.
  • Water is clear.
  • Abundant fairy shrimp; eggs not noted.
  • Other animals not noted.

Scenic view of Shoal Lake 1993-09, #0906, with Footprint Lake at left and Cutthroat Lake at right; Lander Ranger District, Shoshone National Forest, Popo Agie Wilderness
Shoal Lake 1993-09, #0906, Wind River Mountains.

View (in a previous year) to the north across Stough Creek Basin with Shoal Lake at center, Footprint Lake at left, and Cutthroat Lake at right (names used by WGF). Shoal Lake Northwest Pond is to the upper left of Shoal Lake in a treeless area in the shadow.

Wind River Mountains – top

Hill 10,646 East Pond (Lander Ranger District, Shoshone National Forest; Popo Agie Wilderness)

Deep Cirque Overlook Pond map

Hill 10,646 East Pond is in Stough Creek Basin about 250 m (820′) south of Big Stough Lake (name used by WGF), the northernmost large lake in the basin. It is on the east side of a hill that has a spot elevation of 10,646 feet (3,245 m) on the 7.5-minute topographic quadrangle. Its dimensions on that quadrangle are 350 m x 120 m (1,150′ x 390′). The elevation is low enough for the area to be wooded, unlike most of Stough Creek Basin.

For access, see Big Stough East Pond. Instead of crossing the outlet on the north side of Big Stough Lake, attempt to ford the creek between Big Stough Lake and Little Stough Lake. If that doesn’t look promising, you may find a better crossing between Little Stough Lake and Cutthroat Lake (names used by WGF). Go around the south side of hill 10,646 and then turn north to find the pond or go over the top for the view.

Elevation: 3,230 m (10,596′)

August 14, 1993

With the trees and milder climate here, maybe there is a different species of fairy shrimp.

  • 120 m x 350 m based on the 7.5-minute quadrangle; depth not estimated.
  • Water clarity not noted.
  • No fairy shrimp.
  • Amphipods.

Wind River Mountains – top

Hill 10,646 South Pond (Lander Ranger District, Shoshone National Forest; Popo Agie Wilderness)

Deep Cirque Overlook Pond map

Hill 10,646 South Pond is in Stough Creek Basin next to Hill 10,646 East Pond and 480 m (1,570′) south of Big Stough Lake (name used by WGF). It is on the south side of a hill that has a spot elevation of 10,646 feet (3,245 m) on the 7.5-minute topographic quadrangle. The pond dimensions are 150 m x 50 m (490′ x 160′) on the map.

For access, see Hill 10,646 East Pond.

Elevation: 3,218 m (10,559′)

August 14, 1993

No luck in Hill 10,646 East Pond. This one is ecologically similar but WIDLA.

  • 50 m x 150 m based on the 7.5-minute quadrangle; depth not estimated.
  • Water clarity not noted.
  • No fairy shrimp.
  • Amphipods.

Wind River Mountains – top

East Side Cirque Pond (Lander Ranger District, Shoshone National Forest; Popo Agie Wilderness)

Deep Cirque Overlook Pond map

East Side Cirque Pond is in a small cirque on the east side of Stough Creek Basin above Cutthroat Lake (name used by WGF) and about 1,450 m (4,760′) south of Big Stough Lake, the northernmost large lake in Stough Creek Basin. The pond dimensions are 110 m x 40 m (360′ x 130′) on the 7.5-minute topographic quadrangle.

For access, see Hill 10,646 East Pond. Go south along the shore of Cutthroat Lake and then follow the inlet up to East Side Cirque Pond.

Elevation: 3,252 m (10,671′)

August 14, 1993

Even if fish could get up the steep creek from Cutthroat Lake, this pond is likely shallow enough to freeze solid in winter.

  • 50 m long; depth not estimated.
  • Water is clear.
  • Abundant fairy shrimp; eggs not noted.
  • Abundant amphipods.

Scenic view of East Side Cirque Pond 1993-08-14, #0634; has fairy shrimp; Lander Ranger District, Shoshone National Forest, Popo Agie Wilderness
East Side Cirque Pond 1993-08-14, #0634, Wind River Mountains.

East Side Cirque Pond, looking northwest across the lower part of Stough Creek Basin. The lake in the distance is Cutthroat Lake (WGF).

Wind River Mountains – top

Hidden Snowbank Pond (Lander Ranger District, Shoshone National Forest; Popo Agie Wilderness)

Deep Cirque Overlook Pond map

Hidden Snowbank Pond is about 1,450 m (4,760′) south of Big Stough Lake (name used by WGF) and a short distance up the hill west of East Side Cirque Pond. It is just below the saddle between 2 hills west of East Side Cirque Pond at a good location for a snow drift. It is fed by a snowbank that is visible only from the east.

Hidden Snowbank Pond is not shown on the 7.5-minute topographic quadrangle and is not visible on USGS imagery of The National Map. However, the snowbank is on the image so the location on the Cinquefoil Pond map and in the data spreadsheet (on the Data page) is probably within 50 m (165′) of the actual location.

For access, see East Side Cirque Pond. Hidden Snowbank Pond is about 150 m (490′) west of East Side Cirque Pond.

Elevation: 3,269 m (10,723′)

August 14, 1993

Looks like melting snow would keep this pond going in most years.

  • 25 m long; depth not estimated.
  • Water is clear; 18 C at 1700.
  • No fairy shrimp.
  • Black beetles.
August 31, 2006

Another one dried up. So, no, the snowbank isn’t always enough.

  • Dry.

Wind River Mountains – top

Jim Creek Saddle Pond (Pinedale Ranger District, Bridger-Teton National Forest; Bridger Wilderness)

___This map is a screenshot of The National Map (Go to The National Map). The U.S. Geological Survey generally does not copyright or charge for its data or reports (unless printed). A pond location is indicated by an “X”, which corresponds to the coordinates given in the data spreadsheet. Labels in quotations are from 7.5-minute topographic quadrangles.
___Red lines are the U. S. National Grid with a spacing of 1,000 m and intersection labels consisting of the UTM zone (e.g., 11S, 12T), a 2-letter 100-km square designation (e.g., LC, XN), and a 4-digit number. The first 2 digits of the number represent the 1,000-meter Easting and the second 2 digits the 1,000-meter Northing, as seen in the example Easting and Northing. Unlike latitude and longitude, the National Grid is rectilinear on a flat map, the units of abscissa and ordinate have equal lengths, and the units (meters) are measurable on the ground with a tape or by pacing.
___There is no private or state land on this map. All the lands are public.

Topographic Map of Jim Creek Saddle Pond and Nearby Ponds; The National Map with contours, roads, perennial/ephemeral water bodies, forest cover, marsh, UTM grid, private land
Topographic Map of Jim Creek Saddle Pond, Jim Creek First Pond, Spot 10,672 Pond, Peak 11,246 South Pond, and Peak 11,107 Northeast Pond, Wind River Mountains; The National Map

Jim Creek Saddle Pond is 38 km (24 miles) north of Pinedale and 7.7 km (5 miles) west of Squaretop Mountain. It is an elongate pond on the saddle at the head of Jim Creek, west of the peak with spot elevation 11,246 feet (3,428 m). The 7.5-minute topographic quadrangle shows it as a perennial lake about 120 m (390′) long and 40 m (130′) wide. It has no inlet and no outlet.

To reach the Jim Creek trail, turn north off US 191 6 miles west of Pinedale and follow Wyoming 352 toward “Green River Lakes” for approximately 23 miles. At the time of my visit, the little used road at Jim Creek was not well marked and there was no developed trailhead. The Jim Creek road is 2 miles north of the Boulder Creek crossing and 1 mile north of the Circle S Ranch. The Jim Creek Road climbs steeply up the hill on the north side of Jim Creek and I don’t recall how far it is passable. I vaguely remember parking at the turn-off from Wyoming 352 and hiking from there. The straight-line distance from Wyoming 352 to Jim Creek Saddle Pond is 8.6 km (5.3 miles) but the walking distance is obviously farther. The pond is less than 50 m (160′) east of the trail.

Elevation: 3,298 m (10,820′)

August 13, 2005

Just a day hike but at least I got far enough to find ponds without fish.

  • 40 m x 120 m according to the 7.5-minute quadrangle; depth not estimated.
  • Clear water.
  • Fairy shrimp.
  • Other animals not noted.

Wind River Mountains – top

Jim Creek First Pond (Pinedale Ranger District, Bridger-Teton National Forest; Bridger Wilderness)

Jim Creek Saddle Pond map

Jim Creek First Pond is 400 m (1,310′) northwest of, and lower than, Jim Creek Saddle Pond. It is the first, or uppermost, pond on Jim Creek. The 7.5-minute topographic quadrangle does not show a creek above it. The pond has a teardrop shape with dimensions of 100 m x 90 m (330′ x 295′) on the map.

For access, see Jim Creek Saddle Pond. Jim Creek First Pond should be visible from the trail north of Jim Creek Saddle Pond.

Elevation: 3,240 m (10,629′)

August 13, 2005

If one pond has fairy shrimp, it’s worth looking in others nearby even if I have to lose elevation to do it.

  • 90 m x 100 m according to the 7.5-minute quadrangle; depth not estimated.
  • Clear water.
  • No fairy shrimp.
  • Amphipods.

Wind River Mountains – top

Spot 10,672 Pond (Pinedale Ranger District, Bridger-Teton National Forest; Bridger Wilderness)

Jim Creek Saddle Pond map

Spot 10,672 Pond is southeast of Jim Creek Saddle Pond and west of Peak 11,246 South Pond in a small basin at the head of a tributary stream of Jim Creek. I don’t recall what topographic feature the spot elevation is for but it must be relatively distiinctive.

Spot 10,672 Pond is a very small pond that is not shown on the 7.5-minute topographic quadrangle and is not visible on the USGS imagery of The National Map. Consequently, its precise location is uncertain. My notes say only that it is east of spot elevation 10,672 (3,250 m) on the 7.5-minute quadrangle. My guess is that the pond is within 200 m (660′) of the spot elevation. The location uncertainty is less than that.

For access, see Jim Creek Saddle Pond. The spot elevation is less than 550 m (1,800′) west of Peak 11,246 South Pond so Spot 10,672 Pond shouldn’t be hard to find. It may be visible from the trail due to its lower elevation.

Elevation: 3,254 m (10,677′)

August 13, 2005

I probably saw the pond from the trail or I would have stayed on the trail.

  • Probably less than 30 m across; depth not estimated.
  • Clear water.
  • Fairy shrimp.
  • Other animals not noted.

Wind River Mountains – top

Peak 11,246 South Pond (Pinedale Ranger District, Bridger-Teton National Forest; Bridger Wilderness)

Jim Creek Saddle Pond map

Peak 11,246 South Pond is about 750 m (2,460′) southeast of Jim Creek Saddle Pond and 630 m (2,070′) south of the peak with spot elevation 11,246 feet (3,428 m). It is about 200 m (660′) north of the Jim Creek trail before it drops down into the Porcupine Creek drainage. On the 7.5-minute topographic quadrangle, the pond is 90 m x 50 m (300′ x 165′).

For access, see Jim Creek Saddle Pond. Follow the trail south from Jim Creek Saddle Pond and turn east, up the hill, when the trail turns to the south.

Elevation: 3,279 m (10,759′)

August 13, 2005

Another pond, another chance for fairy shrimp. I think I must have climbed the knoll south of the pond for the view and to see where the trail was going. The pond would be easily visible from there.

  • 50 m x 90 m according to the 7.5-minute quadrangle; depth not estimated.
  • Clear water.
  • No fairy shrimp.
  • Black diving beetles.

Wind River Mountains – top

Peak 11,107 Northeast Pond (Pinedale Ranger District, Bridger-Teton National Forest; Bridger Wilderness)

Jim Creek Saddle Pond map

Peak 11,107 Northeast Pond is 1,700 m (5,580′) southeast of Jim Creek Saddle Pond and 300 m (2,070′) northeast of the summit of the peak with spot elevation 11,107 feet (3,385 m). At the saddle on the Jim Creek – Porcupine Divide, a trail branches to the south off the Jim Creek trail. This trail goes over the hill with spot elevation 11,107 feet and eventually drops down into Dodge Creek. The pond is easily visible from this trail and less than 100 m (330′) north of the trail. The pond is 180 m x 90 m (600′ x 300′) on the 7.5-minute topographic quadrangle,

For access, see Jim Creek Saddle Pond. Turn off the Jim Creek trail south of Peak 11,246 South Pond and follow the trail to Dodge Creek over the hill with spot elevation 11,107 feet.

Elevation: 3,328 m (10,920′)

August 13, 2005

I was feeling pretty good about finding 2 ponds with fairy shrimp and decided to cap off the hike with a view down Porcupine Creek and over toward Squaretop Mountain. I was quite tired by the time I got a good view of Squaretop. Then I looked down into the canyon of Porcupine Creek and I saw the pond. It was quite an elevation drop but not too far away and only a short distance off the trail. I decided to go down for a look. It proved to be an exhausting day of fairy shrimping. I write this not as a complaint but as a warning. If you start searching for fairy shrimp, you, too, may end up pushing yourself to check out just one more pond, and then another until your legs turn to rubber and you end up staggering out in the dark.

  • 90 m x 180 m according to the 7.5-minute quadrangle; depth not estimated.
  • Clear water.
  • No fairy shrimp.
  • Amphipods.

Wind River Mountains – top

Wind River Peak Ponds (Lander Ranger District, Shoshone National Forest; Popo Agie Wilderness)

___This map is a screenshot of The National Map (Go to The National Map). The U.S. Geological Survey generally does not copyright or charge for its data or reports (unless printed). A pond location is indicated by an “X”, which corresponds to the coordinates given in the data spreadsheet. Labels in quotations are from 7.5-minute topographic quadrangles.
___Red lines are the U. S. National Grid with a spacing of 1,000 m and intersection labels consisting of the UTM zone (e.g., 11S, 12T), a 2-letter 100-km square designation (e.g., LC, XN), and a 4-digit number. The first 2 digits of the number represent the 1,000-meter Easting and the second 2 digits the 1,000-meter Northing, as seen in the example Easting and Northing. Unlike latitude and longitude, the National Grid is rectilinear on a flat map, the units of abscissa and ordinate have equal lengths, and the units (meters) are measurable on the ground with a tape or by pacing.
___There is no private or state land on this map. All the lands are public.

Topographic Map of Wind River Peak Ponds in Tayo Creek Drainage; The National Map with contours, roads, perennial/ephemeral water bodies, forest cover, marsh, UTM grid, private land
Topographic Map of Wind River Peak Ponds in Tayo Creek Drainage, Wind River Mountains; The National Map

Topographic Map of Wind River Peak Ponds in Deep Creek Drainage; The National Map with contours, roads, perennial/ephemeral water bodies, forest cover, marsh, UTM grid, private land
Topographic Map of Wind River Peak Ponds in Deep Creek Drainage, Wind River Mountains; The National Map

Wind River Peak Ponds are a group of ponds I visited over a couple of days to try to find as many fairy shrimp populations as possible. They are generally east and southeast of Wind River Peak, which is 35 km (21.5 miles) southwest of Lander. Most of the ponds are in the Tayo Creek drainage and north of Tayo Creek but the Upper “Ice Lakes” ponds are above the “Ice Lakes” in the Deep Creek drainage. I took minimal notes so sizes are taken from the 7.5-minute topographic quadrangle. All but 4 of the ponds are shown on that map. None of the ponds are named on the 7.5-minute quadrangle. Wind River Peak Ponds range in elevation from 3,070 m to 3,420 m (10,070-11,220′). Coordinates and elevations for each pond are given in the data spreadsheet on the Data page.

Wind River Peak Ponds are accessible from the Tayo Creek trail and the Ice Lakes trail. These trails, in turn, can be reached by way of the Middle Fork Popo Agie River trail with a trailhead at the end of the Sinks Canyon Road (Wyoming 131) or by the Roaring Fork trail with a trailhead at Worthen Meadows, which is off the “Louis Lake” Loop Road. I think I camped at Tayo Park.

August 29, 2006

This time of year is not ideal due to the shorter days but it’s probably too early for snowstorms.

  • Tayo Fork Pond: about 50 m off the channel of the north fork of Tayo Creek, which is not named on the 7.5-minute quadrangle, and adjacent to Tayo Fork Channel Pond; 35 m x 120 m, no fairy shrimp.
  • Tayo Fork Channel Pond: on the channel of the north fork of Tayo Creek just above the fork to Lower Tayo Lake (name used by WGF); less than 50 m across, no fairy shrimp.
  • North Tayo West Side Small Pond: the smaller and northern of 2 ponds west of a split in north fork Tayo Creek above the fork to Lower Tayo Lake; likely pond size is 35 m x 70 m but there is no water.
  • North Tayo West Side Big Pond: the larger and southern of 2 ponds west of a split in north fork Tayo Creek; 50 m x 110 m, no fairy shrimp.
  • North Tayo Canyon Pond: on the low part of a ridge between 2 branches of north fork Tayo Creek, not shown on map so location on map and in data spreadsheet (on the Data page) could be off by 100 m; less than 30 m across, has fairy shrimp, backswimmers.
  • Tayo Bench East Pond: on the wide bench half way up the north side of Tayo Creek canyon above “Poison Lake” and source of western stream to “Poison Lake” North Lake; 30 m x 100 m, has fairy shrimp.
  • Tayo Bench Middle Pond: on the wide bench half way up the north side of Tayo Creek canyon above “Poison Lake”; 25 m x 70 m, no fairy shrimp.
  • Tayo Bench West Pond: on the wide bench half way up the north side of Tayo Creek canyon above “Poison Lake” and on the creek from North Tayo Lower Cirque Pond; 70 m x 110 m, no fairy shrimp, amphipods, beetles.
  • North Tayo Cirque Lower Pond: in the cirque at the head of north fork Tayo Creek which is east of the bigger cirque with Upper Tayo Lake (name used by WGF); 130 m x 190 m, no fairy shrimp, amphipods.
  • North Tayo Cirque Upper Pond: in the cirque at the head of north fork Tayo Creek which is east of the bigger cirque with Upper Tayo Lake, and upstream from North Tayo Lower Cirque Pond; 60 m x 70 m, no fairy shrimp.
  • North Tayo Other Source Pond: 350 m west of North Tayo Cirque Upper Pond and the source of another branch of north fork Tayo Creek; 60 m x 170 m, no fairy shrimp, overgrown with vegetation.
  • Upper “Ice Lakes” First Lake: biggest and uppermost lake south of the named “Ice Lakes”; 270 m x 430 m, no fairy shrimp.
  • Upper “Ice Lakes” Second Lake: downstream of Upper “Ice Lakes” First Lake; 100 m x 290 m, no fairy shrimp.
  • Upper “Ice Lakes” Third Lake: downstream of Upper “Ice Lakes” Second Lake; 140 m x 230 m, no fairy shrimp.
  • Upper “Ice Lakes” Long Pond: downstream of Upper “Ice Lakes” Third Lake; 35 m x 110 m, no fairy shrimp.
  • Upper “Ice Lakes” Round Pond: downstream of Upper “Ice Lakes” Long Pond; 50 m x 60 m, no fairy shrimp.
  • Upper “Ice Lakes” Off Stream Pond: 100 m east of Upper “Ice Lakes” Round Pond; pond size less than 30 m across, dry.
  • Upper “Ice Lakes” Fourth Lake (has spot elevation 10,773 feet on the 7.5-minute quadrangle): downstream of Upper “Ice Lakes” Round Pond; 130 m x 240 m, no fairy shrimp, amphipods.
  • Upper “Ice Lakes” Overgrown Pond: at source of stream east of Upper “Ice Lakes” stream; 60 m x 130 m, no fairy shrimp, overgrown with vegetation.
  • Ice Lakes Trail Pond #1: along trail in saddle 1.4 km northwest of Tayo Park, not shown on map so location on map and in data spreadsheet could be off by 100 m; less than 30 m across, no fairy shrimp.
  • Ice Lakes Trail Ponds #2, #3, #4: at upper end of stream northwest of Tayo Park; less than 30 m across, no fairy shrimp.
  • Tayo Park Northwest Ponds #1, #2, #3: at upper end of eastern stream to “Poison Lake” North Lake and 1 km northwest of Tayo Park; less than 50 m across, no fairy shrimp.

Scenic view of Upper "Ice Lakes" Fourth Lake 1985-09, #0807, with Wind River Peak; lacks fairy shrimp; Lander Ranger District, Shoshone National Forest, Popo Agie Wilderness
Upper “Ice Lakes” Fourth Lake 1985-09, #0807, Wind River Mountains.

Upper “Ice Lakes” Fourth Lake on a September hike in a previous year after the first snow but before a big snow. Wind River Peak is at upper left.

August 30, 2006
  • “Poison Lake” Outlet Pond: less than 100 m southeast of the outlet of “Poison Lake”, not shown on map so location on map and in data spreadsheet (on the Data page) could be off by 100 m; less than 30 m across, has fairy shrimp.
  • “Poison Lake” East Lake: 650 m east of “Poison Lake”; 85 m x 170 m, no fairy shrimp.
  • “Poison Lake” North Hill East Pond: on hill between “Poison Lake” and “Poison Lake” North Lake, not shown on map so location on map and in data spreadsheet could be off by 100 m; less than 30 m across, no fairy shrimp.
  • “Poison Lake” North Hill West Pond: on hill between “Poison Lake” and “Poison Lake” North Lake, not shown on map so location on map and in data spreadsheet could be off by 100 m; pond area less than 30 m across but dry.
  • “Poison Lake” North Lake: 800 m north of “Poison Lake”; 110 m x 410 m, no fairy shrimp.
  • “Poison Lake” North Overgrown Pond: on stream west of “Poison Lake” North Lake; 50 m x 120 m, no fairy shrimp, overgrown with vegetation.
  • “Coon Lake” Cirque Pond: in small cirque 600 m north of “Coon Lake”; 25 m x 100 m, no fairy shrimp (Little Sandy Overlook Pond map).

Of the 33 Wind River Peak Ponds I looked at, 3 had fairy shrimp. I noted amphipods in 3 ponds and none of those had fairy shrimp.

Scenic view of Tayo Park 1985-09, #0806, with Mt. Nystrom; Lander Ranger District, Shoshone National Forest, Popo Agie Wilderness
Tayo Park 1985-09, #0806, Wind River Mountains.

Tayo Park, which is about 1.5 km (0.9 miles) northeast of “Poison Lake” Outlet Pond. The view is to the southwest on a September day of a previous year. Mt. Nystrom in the background has new snow.

Scenic view from Roaring Fork Mountain 1989-08, #1133, with Wind River Peak and Lizard Head; Lander Ranger District, Shoshone National Forest, Popo Agie Wilderness
Roaring Fork Mountain 1989-08, #1133, Wind River Mountains.

The view from Roaring Fork Mountain on the hike out to Worthen Meadow Reservoir on an August day in a previous year. Looking northwest, Wind River Peak is at left and the angular Lizard Head Peak at right. The Wind River Peak Ponds of the Tayo Creek and Deep Creek drainages that I looked at are generally in the left half of the middle distance and closer to Wind River Peak than to the photographer.

Wind River Mountains – top

Little Stough West Pond (Lander Ranger District, Shoshone National Forest; Popo Agie Wilderness)

Deep Cirque Overlook Pond map

Little Stough West Pond is in Stough Creek Basin less than 50 m (165′) west of Little Stough Lake (name used by WGF), which is the second lake encountered along the trail into the basin from the north. Little Stough West Pond has an elongate shape and dimensions of 100 m x 35 m (330′ x 110′) on the  7.5-minute topographic quadrangle. Little Stough West Pond is not connected to Little Stough Lake.

For access, see Big Stough East Pond. Instead of going around the north side of Big Stough Lake to go to Big Stough East Pond, follow the trail along the west shore of the lake to the south.

Elevation: 3,201 m (10,503′)

August 31, 2006

The pond is almost dry.

  • Size and depth not estimated.
  • Water is clear.
  • No fairy shrimp.
  • Other animals not noted.

Wind River Mountains – top

Stough Off Channel Pond (Lander Ranger District, Shoshone National Forest; Popo Agie Wilderness)

Deep Cirque Overlook Pond map or Cinquefoil Pond map

Stough Off Channel Pond is east of Stough Creek about 525 m (1,720′) south of Shoal Lake (name used by WGF) in the northern part of Stough Creek Basin. It is east of Footprint Lake (name used by WGF). It has dimensions of 100 m x 60 m (330′ x 200′) on the  7.5-minute topographic quadrangle.

For access, see Cinquefoil Pond. Stough Off Channel Pond is about 70 m (230′) east of Stough Creek about half way between Shoal Lake and the creek’s sharp bend to the east toward Black Rock Lake (name used by WGF).

Elevation: 3,253 m (10,673′)

August 31, 2006

The pond doesn’t appear to be connected to Stough Creek so maybe fish can’t get here.

  • Likely smaller than the 60 m x 100 m shown on the 7.5-minute topographic quadrangle; depth not estimated.
  • Water is clear.
  • Fairy shrimp.
  • Backswimmers.

Wind River Mountains – top

Lower Indian Pass Lake (WGF name) (Pinedale Ranger District, Bridger-Teton National Forest; Bridger Wilderness)

___This map is a screenshot of The National Map (Go to The National Map). The U.S. Geological Survey generally does not copyright or charge for its data or reports (unless printed). A pond location is indicated by an “X”, which corresponds to the coordinates given in the data spreadsheet. Labels in quotations are from 7.5-minute topographic quadrangles.
___As of April 2025, the National Grid overlay with red lines in UTM coordinates does not load in The National Map.
___There is no private or state land on this map. All the lands are public.

Topographic Map of Lower Indian Pass Lake and other lakes and ponds of Indian Basin; The National Map with contours, roads, perennial/ephemeral water bodies, forest cover, marsh, private land
Topographic Map of Lower Indian Pass Lake, Upper Indian Pass Lake, Elephant Head Lake, and ponds of Indian Basin, Wind River Mountains; The National Map

Lower Indian Pass Lake is 750 m (2,460′) southwest of Upper Indian Pass Lake (point on southwestern shore from point on southern shore), which is about in the middle of Indian Basin and 33.4 km (20 miles) northeast of Pinedale. The lake has a very irregular shape but the broadest dimensions on the 7.5-minute topographic quadrangle are 500 m by 680 m (1,640′ x 2,230′). A broad peninsula extends from the northwestern shore into the middle of the lake. There are a few ponds on the peninsula, some of which may be connected to the lake at high water. The ponds are mostly shallow (less than 100 cm, 39″) and have dimensions of a few to several tens of meters. No distinctions are made here between the aquatic communities in these ponds and that in the lake. According to the Wyoming Game and Fish Department’s online map (https://wgfd.wyo.gov/fishing-boating/places-fish-wyoming and click on the link to the “Interactive Wyoming Fishing Guide”), none of the lakes in Indian Basin have fish. Lower Indian Pass Lake is less than 20 m (65′) higher than Bivouac Lake, which is a modest size lake with fairy shrimp near the southern end of the Wind River Mountains. If fairy shrimp were widespread before fish-stocking began, there should be some in Indian Basin. The name Lower Indian Pass Lake was made up by WGF.

Lower Indian Pass Lake is in the Bridger Wilderness and can only be reached by hiking or by riding an animal. Take the Pole Creek Trail from Elkhart Park to “Eklund Lake”, turn north there, and follow the “Seneca Lake” Trail to “Island Lake”. The trail from Elkhart Park to “Island Lake” is very heavily used. There are probably 10-30 parties camped near “Island Lake” on August nights (camping within 200′, 60 m, of lakes and 100′, 30 m, of trails is prohibited in the Bridger Wilderness). From “Island Lake”, follow the trail to “Titcomb Lakes” around the east end of “Island Lake” and turn east onto the Indian Pass Trail about 1.2 km (0.7 mile, by trail) north of the lake. There is a sign at the trail intersection. Do not take an unsigned trail up the hill from the east shore of “Island Lake”. That trail may be a route up Elephant Head or Mount Lester. The Indian Pass Trail loops around the east side of Lower Indian Pass Lake and generally provides easy access to the water. Indian Basin gets considerably less traffic than “Titcomb Lakes”, which have been stocked with fish.

Black bears and grizzly bears roam throughout the Wind River Mountains. Black bears were never extirpated from the Wind River Mountains but grizzly bears have spread southward from Yellowstone National Park over the last 30 years or so. Neither the U.S. Forest Service nor the Wyoming Game and Fish Department provide information on bear populations, where they are most common, sightings, or attacks. Carrying bear spray is advised. Visit https://www.fs.usda.gov/r04/bridger-teton/safety-ethics/be-bear-wise-keep-bears-wild-people-safe for more about bears. The Bridger-Teton National Forest requires that off-road campers secure all food and any other items that may attract bears in bear-resistant containers or in bags hung at least 10′ (3 m) above the ground. The June 14, 2023 order by the Forest Supervisor is at https://www.fs.usda.gov/r04/bridger-teton/alerts/food-storage-blackrock-jackson-pinedale-greys-river-big-piney-ranger. At the same time, WGF allows hunters to set bear baits. In 2025, black bear seasons in the Bridger Wilderness (Area 19) were May 1 – June 15 and August 1-31. If you notice something that smells like rotten meat or a dead animal, do not linger.

Elevation: 3,352 m (11,000′)

August 10-12, 2025

I’ve pretty much given up on finding alpine fairy shrimp in Nevada or the Sierra Nevada of California so I decided to try my luck again amidst the fabulous scenery of the Wind River Mountains. Indian Basin has 3 large lakes that don’t have fish according to WGF’s online map and several smaller ponds. It’s worth a try.

  • 500 m by 680 m (based on 7.5-minute quadrangle); depth greater than 300 cm.
  • Clear water; 12 C at 1840, 14 C at 1500, 12 C at 1100, 11 C at 0745 at different locations on different days, all in 5 cm water.
  • Greenish and translucent gray fairy shrimp 15-25 mm; none seem to have eggs.
  • Abundant mayfly larvae (Ephemeroptera), water boatmen only about 5 mm (sub-order Heteroptera, family Corixidae), locally abundant copepods about 1 mm, amphipods 10 mm or less, black beetles less than 10 mm, caddisfly larvae (Trichoptera), wrigglers, resident ducks, 3 species of small birds that may be black rosy finches, water pipits, and something else (observed in different locations on different days).

Scenic view of Indian Basin with Upper and Lower Indian Pass Lakes 2025-08-12, #43, has fairy shrimp; Pinedale Ranger District, Bridger-Teton National Forest, Bridger Wilderness
Lower Indian Pass Lake 2025-08-12, #43, Wind River Mountains.

Looking down on Indian Basin from the Indian Pass Trail. Upper Indian Pass Lake is the nearer and Lower Indian Pass Lake the farther. Both lakes have irregular shapes and are relatively large.

Scenic view of Upper Indian Pass Lake 2025-08-12, #28, with Elephant Head in the distance; has fairy shrimp; Pinedale Ranger District, Bridger-Teton National Forest, Bridger Wilderness
Lower Indian Pass Lake 2025-08-12, #28, Wind River Mountains.

View to south across the wide southern part of Lower Indian Pass Lake with Elephant Head in the distance. The ducks I saw were always in this part of the lake. It may be that this width (80 m or more) is sufficient to alleviate anxiety about animals along the shore but the width of the eastern part is not. If so, that may limit the occurrence of resident ducks and any aquatic diversity associated with them to relatively large lakes.

Pond view of Lower Indian Pass Lake 2025-08-11, #05, with fairy shrimp and copepods; Pinedale Ranger District, Bridger-Teton National Forest, Bridger Wilderness
Lower Indian Pass Lake 2025-08-11, #05, Wind River Mountains.

A few fairy shrimp swimming amongst lots of tiny, black copepods in Lower Indian Pass Lake.

Pond view of Lower Indian Pass Lake 2025-08-11, #10, with fairy shrimp; Pinedale Ranger District, Bridger-Teton National Forest, Bridger Wilderness
Lower Indian Pass Lake 2025-08-11, #10, Wind River Mountains.

2 fairy shrimp against a boulder’s shadow in Lower Indian Pass Lake.

Pond view of Lower Indian Pass Lake 2025-08-11, #06, with fairy shrimp; Pinedale Ranger District, Bridger-Teton National Forest, Bridger Wilderness
Lower Indian Pass Lake 2025-08-11, #06, Wind River Mountains.

A male fairy shrimp in Lower Indian Pass Lake. It is blurred due to a slow shutter speed (1/80 s). The fatter proximal segments of its antennae II can still be seen but the thinner distal segments cannot.

Pond view of Lower Indian Pass Lake 2025-08-11, #08, with a water boatman; has fairy shrimp; Pinedale Ranger District, Bridger-Teton National Forest, Bridger Wilderness
Lower Indian Pass Lake 2025-08-11, #08, Wind River Mountains.

A small water boatman (sub-order Heteroptera, family Corixidae) clinging to rock in Lower Indian Pass Lake with its oar-like legs extended to the sides.

Pond view of Lower Indian Pass Lake 2025-08-11, #11, with a black beetle; has fairy shrimp; Pinedale Ranger District, Bridger-Teton National Forest, Bridger Wilderness
Lower Indian Pass Lake 2025-08-11, #11, Wind River Mountains.

A small black beetle swimming in Lower Indian Pass Lake.

Pond view of Lower Indian Pass Lake 2025-08-11, #13, with a mayfly larva; has fairy shrimp; Pinedale Ranger District, Bridger-Teton National Forest, Bridger Wilderness
Lower Indian Pass Lake 2025-08-11, #13, Wind River Mountains.

A mayfly larva (Ephemeroptera) in Lower Indian Pass Lake. The mayfly larvae were hard to photograph because they swam rapidly away on my approach but this one didn’t. Contrast has been enhanced to make the 3 tail-like features that are distinctive of mayfly larvae visible but without much success.

Pond view of Lower Indian Pass Lake 2025-08-11, #40, with ducks; has fairy shrimp; Pinedale Ranger District, Bridger-Teton National Forest, Bridger Wilderness
Lower Indian Pass Lake 2025-08-11, #40, Wind River Mountains.

14 ducks (dark spots at center) on the water of Lower Indian Pass Lake. These ducks are not just visiting, they are living here. I saw ducks every time I walked by the lake. Ducks typically fly off when they see people even if the people are 100 m (330′) away. These in Lower Indian Pass Lake never flew off, or flew at all. They just paddled toward the far side of the lake when they saw me. Maybe they have become accustomed to hikers. I never saw them off the water either. I think ducks residing on an alpine lake in the Wind River Mountains is a rare occurrence. I have seen many lakes in the Wind River Mountains on numerous hikes but only 1 other time have I seen ducks and then only 1. It flew off when it saw me.

It’s hard not to suppose that the presence of ducks and a diverse aquatic invertebrate fauna in Lower Indian Pass Lake are related. There is negligible vegetation in the lake. The ducks must be eating invertebrates. Ducks are known to eat fairy shrimp (e.g., Swanson, 1984; Vest and Conover, 2010). Ducks may contribute to fairy shrimp colonization of new ponds by eating females with eggs in 1 pond and defecating in a different pond. Experiments have shown that some fairy shrimp eggs recovered from bird feces hatch under favorable conditions (e.g., Figuerola and Green, 2002; Sanchez and others, 2007). This example of ducks living on an alpine Wind River Mountains lake is the only demonstration of a possible means for how fairy shrimp could have gotten into the alpine lakes after the glaciers retreated that I know of.

Moreover, the duck – aquatic diversity relation works both ways. Not only did aquatic diversity benefit from ducks, ducks benefit from aquatic diversity. More food. It is why they are living here. When lakes are stocked with fish, the fish eat everything that is large enough to see. Large-bodied species are eliminated or their populations are severely reduced. For examples see “Fish-stocking Zooicide” on the East-Central Sierra Nevada page. It’s worse in alpine lakes because there is no vegetation for aquatic species to hide in. Why do fish bother to eat flying insects that happen to alight briefly on the water surface? Or even jump out of the water to eat them? Because they have eaten almost everything in the water. If the ducks are here for the diverse aquatic invertebrates, then they would not be interested in lakes with fish. So there is another effect of the fish-stocking zooicide. By wiping out the visible (say, 1 mm or larger) invertebrates, the stocked fish have made the lakes unappealing to ducks. That is a testable hypothesis. What percentage of lakes with fish have resident ducks? What percentage of lakes without fish have resident ducks?

Pond view of Lower Indian Pass Lake 2025-08-11, #22, with a black rosy finch; has fairy shrimp; Pinedale Ranger District, Bridger-Teton National Forest, Bridger Wilderness
Lower Indian Pass Lake 2025-08-11, #22, Wind River Mountains.

The bird at center is hard to see because it is the same dark gray color as the rock it is perching on. It may be a black rosy finch. It is common in Indian Basin, including at Lower Indian Pass Lake but this photograph is northwest of Upper Indian Pass Lake. Like the ducks, it may be here because it benefits from the aquatic diversity. The Audubon guide to North American birds doesn’t say what black rosy finches eat but gray-crowned rosy finches eat seeds and insects and are also found in alpine habitats. In the Sierra Nevada, gray-crowned rosy finches were reliant on mayflies to feed their young. Mayfly larvae were common in fishless lakes there but generally absent in lakes with fish (Epanchin and others, 2010). 12 of 12 fishless lakes had mayflies and the average density was 46 larvae per square meter. Only 2 of 12 lakes with fish had mayflies and the average density in those 2 was 1 larva per square meter (or 6 per square meter if the 10 barren lakes were included in the calculation of the average density). During mayfly hatches, rosy finches were 4 to 10 times (3 different years with different numbers of lakes) more abundant at fishless lakes than at lakes with fish. At other times, there wasn’t a significant difference between the 2. A similar dynamic could be at work in the Wind River Mountains. I don’t remember seeing small birds as abundant as those I saw in Indian Basin elsewhere in the Wind River Mountains. I did see a few adult mayflies in Indian Basin so at least some were hatching.

Pond view of Lower Indian Pass Lake 2025-08-11, #17, with a water pipit; has fairy shrimp; Pinedale Ranger District, Bridger-Teton National Forest, Bridger Wilderness
Lower Indian Pass Lake 2025-08-11, #17, Wind River Mountains.

The bird at center is likely a water pipit. The Audubon guide to North American birds says they eat insects. I commonly saw these birds at Lower Indian Pass Lake but this photograph is at Little Deep Pond, which also has mayfly and caddisfly larvae. Like the ducks and black rosy finches, it may be here because of the abundant insects that have aquatic larvae and flying adults.

Pond view of Lower Indian Pass Lake 2025-08-11, #14, with an unidentified small bird; has fairy shrimp; Pinedale Ranger District, Bridger-Teton National Forest, Bridger Wilderness
Lower Indian Pass Lake 2025-08-11, #14, Wind River Mountains.

The bird at center is the third species of small bird that I saw at Lower Indian Pass Lake but I can’t identify it. Like the other birds in Indian Basin, it may prefer fishless Lower Indian Pass Lake to the more common fish-stocked lakes elsewhere in the Wind River Mountains because of the more diverse and more abundant aquatic invertebrates here.


Lower Indian Pass Lake Fairy Shrimp Video 2025-08-11a-rmq

For a 2-minute, 6-seconds video of fairy shrimp swimming among boulders near the shore of Lower Indian Pass Lake, click on the video player above. There is no audio. The significant differences in the lengths of the fairy shrimp indicate they hatched at significantly different times, possibly due temperature changes or to precipitation or melting events (see Resting Eggs of Fairy Shrimp and Their Hatching). The fairy shrimp appear to be swimming in various directions with little response to each other.

There are nevertheless a few examples of distinctive behaviors. In what may be precautionary predator avoidance at 0:14-0:16, a fairy shrimp in the shadow at upper left jerks and turns sharply toward the lower right for no apparent reason.

At 1:54, there is a presumably non-intentional near-collision. 1 fairy shrimp swimming to the right and 1 to the left in the shadow at right both turn toward the bottom before or when they touch and then go their separate ways. It looks as if their legs made contact during the turn. Although near-collisions suggest fairy shrimp do not sense, or attend to, the presence of other fairy shrimp nearby well, the rarity of near-collisions seems to indicate that they do okay.

There are 2 possible examples of the following movement of the mating dance (under Fairy Shrimp Reproduction on the Life Cycle of Fairy Shrimp page). At 0:57-0:58 in the shadow at right, 1 fairy shrimp turns sharply and briefly follows a fairy shrimp swimming toward the lower right and then turns away. At 1:47-1:48 a fairy shrimp following another toward the lower left emerges from the shadow at right but then turns sharply away and reverses course. Failures to detect unfertilized eggs could have caused the following fairy shrimp, if they were males, to abandon their pursuits. I didn’t see any eggs in the ovisacs of fairy shrimp in Indian Basin so it may yet be early in the reproductive cycle.

Mayfly larvae (Ephemeroptera) also make appearances in Lower Indian Pass Lake Fairy Shrimp Video 2025-08-11a-rmq: at 0:20-0:21 swimming from top to bottom and at 1:36-1:37 swimming from left edge to top center. The mayfly larvae are almost as long as the fairy shrimp, they swim faster, the rear halves of their bodies look fat due to gills protruding from their abdomens, and they wiggle from side to side as they swim. For photographs of the anatomy of mayfly larvae, see those for Par Value Long Pond” and Upper Par Value Lake, on the East-Central Sierra Nevada page.


Lower Indian Pass Lake Fairy Shrimp Video 2025-08-11b-rq

For a 3-minute, 7-seconds video of fairy shrimp and lots of copepods swimming in Lower Indian Pass Lake, click on the video player above. There is no audio. At least in the plan view of the video, the fairy shrimp and copepods don’t seem to pay much attention to each other. They don’t seem to run into each other but in a few cases, copepods seem to be pushed out of the way by passage of a fairy shrimp. Fairy shrimp have been observed eating animals smaller than 0.35 mm, such as rotifers and copepod nauplii, in experiments and have consequently been called predators. Nothing suggests they are trying to eat the copepods in this video, which are about 1 mm long.

Mayfly larvae swim across the scene at 0:05-0:06 (top center), 0:57-0:59 (from lower left to right edge), 1:25-1:27 (from lower right to top center), 2:19-2:23 (along bottom), and 2:43 (from bottom center to left edge).

This video shows 2 or more fairy shrimp performing acrobatics similar to those executed by the clay-loving fairy shrimp in the opaque waters of Macari East Stop Sign Pond (“Carson Lake” Playa page; Clay Dancers of “Carson Lake” Playa on the Videos page) and one in the clear water of South Sister Hidden Camp Pond (Sweetwater Mountains page; Swimming the Sweetwater Mountains on the Videos page). In those cases, the acrobatic fairy shrimp were essentially alone but that is not the case here. The first sequence is at 0:14-0:42 (center) and involves back-flips, somersaults, and sharp, sudden changes in direction. Apparently the same fairy shrimp continues these behaviors at 1:16-1:24 near the bottom of the video. A somewhat different repertoire is displayed by what is probably a different fairy shrimp (looks smaller) at 1:42-1:50 (lower right) and again at 1:54-2:04 (left and center). It includes spinning about a vertical axis as well as sharp changes in direction and somersaults. The acrobatics don’t look like feeding. Could it be a performing art? In both cases, the performers have what appear to be short white ovisacs. If the white is due to unfertilized eggs, maybe these females are trying to attract attention for mating. If so, it doesn’t seem to be working. Other fairy shrimp swim right on by.


Lower Indian Pass Lake Fairy Shrimp Video 2025-08-11c-rq

For a 2-minute, 57-seconds video of fairy shrimp swimming in shallow water and a caddisfly larva crawling across a rock in Lower Indian Pass Lake, click on the video player above. There is no audio. The fairy shrimp in this video have a low population density and exhibit few interactions. Even without the crowds, they don’t generally swim in straight lines. One fairy shrimp makes a 180-degree loop at 2:09-2:14 but not as quickly as what I think might be precautionary predator avoidance.

There are a few examples of what may be the following behavior of the mating dance but most are so brief, it’s hard to tell. The one at 1:21-1:24 is the longest and, hence, most likely to be following. There are a few close approaches, such as the ones at 1:36 (left) and at 1:58 (left), but no collisions. Rock scraping behavior is seen at 0:58-1:02 (center), 1:04-1:07 (by a different fairy shrimp from center to right), 1:42-1:46 (left), and 1:49-1:50 (center). Bottom scraping, more generally, has been interpreted as feeding. In one case at least, it was determined that Branchinecta paludosa in the Arctic ate cyanobacteria which could only have been obtained from the mat on the bottom of the pond (Rautio and others, 2009). Branchinecta gaini individuals in Antarctica have been observed scraping visible chunks of moss from pond bottoms (Hawes, 2008). The rock surface in this video looks rather barren but maybe there are small patches of algae or bacteria.

There are a few small, black copepods in the video. Some swim short distances but others seem to cling to the rock. The stationary ones may be scraping the rock for food like the fairy shrimp. At 2:31, a copepod seems to jump out of the way as a fairy shrimp passes.

A caddisfly larva dragging its case made of sand grains across the rock makes appearances at 0:47-1:01 (lower right), 2:02-2:26 (lower right), and 2:44-2:57 (lower right).


Lower Indian Pass Lake Fairy Shrimp Video 2025-08-12a-rmq

For a 4-minute, 17-seconds video of fairy shrimp swimming in water maybe 80 cm deep near the shore of Lower Indian Pass Lake, click on the video player above. There is no audio. Some of the fairy shrimp follow relatively straight paths across the field of view but most turn by various degrees before they reach the other side. As filter feeders, they don’t need to get anywhere in a hurry. At 0:51, one fairy shrimp suddenly reverses its direction for reasons only it knows, perhaps as precautionary predator avoidance. There are possible examples of following behavior at 3:15-3:17 at left and at 3:21-3:22 at right.

Numerous amphipods are seen in this video. They are about half the length of the fairy shrimp. Their bodies have a constant width with rounded ends unlike the fairy shrimp which look fatter in front due to all their legs and thin in the rear where the legless abdomen is. Amphipods swim at an approximately constant velocity which is a little faster than most fairy shrimp. Examples are at 0.04-0.10 (from lower right to center right), 0.17-0.29 (upper right to center), 0.39-0.42 (upper left), and 0:54-1:14 (below center to upper right and back to center). 2 appear at upper and lower right at 1:43. Another 2 appear at the center of the right edge at 2:06 and then 2 more at 2:21. After that, I stopped keeping track. Although amphipods are potential predators of fairy shrimp (see the Predators of Fairy Shrimp page), those here are so much smaller than the fairy shrimp that they are probably not a threat. Greater cold tolerance could allow fairy shrimp to hatch long enough before the amphipods do that they avoid predation until after they have produced fertilized eggs and assured the next generation.

Something swims quickly from the bottom right edge toward the center at 2:53-2:54. It’s about the same size as the amphipods but it wiggles as it swims rather than remaining steady. For that reason, it is probably a mayfly larva.

Black specks that swim in to view from time to time are copepods.

Without fish, this looks like a peaceful life.

Wind River Mountains – top

Jackson Peak Pond (Pinedale Ranger District, Bridger-Teton National Forest; Bridger Wilderness)

Lower Indian Pass Lake map

Jackson Peak Pond is 1,000 m (3,280′) northeast of the southern shore of Upper Indian Pass Lake, which is about in the middle of Indian Basin and 33.4 km (20 miles) northeast of Pinedale. The pond has a canoe-like shape that is 35 m wide and 160 m long (115′ x 525′) on the 7.5-minute topographic quadrangle. The pond has abundant sand. There was still a snowbank present at the west end of the pond after a normal winter and relatively dry summer in 2025. The Indian Pass Trail passes close to the southern shore of the pond. The pond is about 1 km (0.6 mile) south of the top of Jackson Peak.

For access, see Lower Indian Pass Lake. Simply continue along the trail from Lower Indian Pass Lake past Upper Indian Pass Lake and then up the hill to Jackson Peak Pond.

Elevation: 3,489 m (11,450′)

August 10, 2025

I needed a break on my hike up to Indian Pass so I stopped here to look for aquatic animals.

  • 35 m x 160 m (based on 7.5-minute quadrangle); depth greater than 200 cm.
  • Clear water; 10 C at 1315 in 5 cm water.
  • No fairy shrimp.
  • Abundant mayfly larvae (Ephemeroptera) of various lengths, some longer than 10 mm and a few hatched, water boatmen (sub-order Heteroptera, family Corixidae) about 5 mm, caddisfly larvae (Trichoptera).

Scenic view of Jackson Peak Pond 2025-08-10, #03, with Knifepoint Mountain in background; lacks fairy shrimp; Pinedale Ranger District, Bridger-Teton National Forest, Bridger Wilderness
Jackson Peak Pond 2025-08-10, #03, Wind River Mountains.

View to the east across Jackson Peak Pond with Knifepoint Mountain in the background. The snowbank I am standing on and flows off Jackson Peak has evidently kept the water cooler than all the other ponds I visited in Indian Basin.

Wind River Mountains – top

Little Deep Pond (Pinedale Ranger District, Bridger-Teton National Forest; Bridger Wilderness)

Lower Indian Pass Lake map

Little Deep Pond is in the same topographic low as the south arm of Upper Indian Pass Lake, which is only 130 m (425′) away and 33.4 km (20 miles) northeast of Pinedale. In spite of its small size, only 50 m by 100 m (165′ x 330′) on the 7.5-minute topographic quadrangle, the pond looks deep, probably more than 300 cm (10′). The pond looked bigger to me than to the topographers. I estimated the size as 80 m x 120 m (260′ x 390′) in 2025. The pond bottom is sandy and rocky.

For access, see Lower Indian Pass Lake. The pond can be reached from the Indian Pass Trail by hiking over the low ridge south of Upper Indian Basin Lake.

Elevation: 3,362 m (11,030′)

August 11, 2025

Lots of flowers and grass and some willows around this pond.

  • 80 m x 120 m; depth greater than 300 cm.
  • Clear greenish water; 13 C at 1130 in 5 cm water.
  • No fairy shrimp.
  • Abundant unusually large (1.5-2? mm) copepods, few mayfly larvae (Ephemeroptera), black diving beetles, caddisfly larvae (Trichoptera), small birds.

Scenic view of Little Deep Pond 2025-08-11, #16, with Harrower Peak in the background; lacks fairy shrimp; Pinedale Ranger District, Bridger-Teton National Forest, Bridger Wilderness
Little Deep Pond 2025-08-11, #16, Wind River Mountains.

Little Deep Pond with Harrower Peak rising on the other side of the valley with Elephant Head Lake.

Wind River Mountains – top

Upper Indian Pass Lake (WGF name) (Pinedale Ranger District, Bridger-Teton National Forest; Bridger Wilderness)

Lower Indian Pass Lake map

Upper Indian Pass Lake is about in the middle of Indian Basin and 33.4 km (20 miles) northeast of Pinedale. Like Lower Indian Pass Lake, the lake has an irregular shape but with a cross-like (+) form. Lengths of the arms of the cross are 440 m and 580 m (1,440′ x 1,900′) on the 7.5-minute topographic quadrangle. The widest one, the western arm, is about 130 m (425′) across. Upper Indian Pass Lake drains into Lower Indian Pass Lake. The connecting stream is flat, only about 200 m (660′) long, and could easily be traversed by fish. According to the Wyoming Game and Fish Department’s online map (https://wgfd.wyo.gov/fishing-boating/places-fish-wyoming and click on the link to the “Interactive Wyoming Fishing Guide”), neither lake has fish. The name Upper Indian Pass Lake was made up by WGF.

For access, see Lower Indian Pass Lake. The trail distance from Lower Indian Pass Lake to Upper Indian Pass Lake at the ford is less than 150 m (490′). The ford is easily crossed during low water, when numerous rocks are exposed. The Indian Pass Trail is on the western side of the lake.

Elevation: 3,358 m (11,020′)

August 11, 2025

Access to the water from the Indian Pass Trail isn’t quite as easy here as it is at Lower Indian Pass Lake. I stopped at Little Deep Pond first so I visited the southern shore of this lake for a detailed look.

  • Clear water; 13 C at 1215 in 5 cm water.
  • Greenish 15-20 mm fairy shrimp.
  • Mayfly larvae (Ephemeroptera), copepods, caddisfly larvae (Trichoptera), small birds.

I didn’t see as many aquatic animals or species of aquatic animals here as in Lower Indian Pass Lake but that is at least partly because I didn’t spend as much time looking. I also never saw any ducks on Upper Indian Pass Lake.

Scenic view of Upper Indian Pass Lake 2025-08-11, #15, with Fremont Peak and Jackson Peak in the background; has fairy shrimp; Pinedale Ranger District, Bridger-Teton National Forest, Bridger Wilderness
Upper Indian Pass Lake 2025-08-11, #15, Wind River Mountains.

Looking north across Upper Indian Pass Lake from the south arm with Fremont Peak at left and Jackson Peak at right.

Pond view of Upper Indian Pass Lake 2025-08-11, #20, with fairy shrimp; Pinedale Ranger District, Bridger-Teton National Forest, Bridger Wilderness
Upper Indian Pass Lake 2025-08-11, #20, Wind River Mountains.

A fairy shrimp swimming near the bottom of Upper Indian Pass Lake. It is blurred due to the slow shutter speed (1/50 s).

Wind River Mountains – top

Upper Sand Pond (Pinedale Ranger District, Bridger-Teton National Forest; Bridger Wilderness)

Lower Indian Pass Lake map

Upper and Lower Sand ponds are in a small, broad-bottomed valley on the west side of Indian Basin. Upper Sand Pond is 900 m (2,950′) northwest of Upper Indian Pass Lake, which is 33.4 km (20 miles) northeast of Pinedale. The lake has an elongate shape on the 7.5-minute topographic quadrangle with dimensions of 50 m by 100 m (165′ x 330′). On the ground, it now looks like it is fatter in the east-west direction, more like 100 m by 80 m (330′ x 260′). Considerable sand is exposed on the upstream side of the pond. This could account for shortening the length of the pond but not for widening it. Some change in the outlet might account for wider ponding of water.

For access, see Lower Indian Pass Lake. To reach the pond, head north from the Indian Pass Trail to the west side of Lower Indian Pass Lake before crossing the outlet of the lake. From the west side of Lower Indian Pass Lake, follow the valley up to Upper and Lower Sand Ponds. I saw a couple of hikers on this route and found pieces of an informal trail. It may be a route to Fremont Peak. In any case, it is a relatively easy climb to Upper Sand Pond although the first part of the ascent from the lake is steep. Alternatively, if descending Indian Pass Trail, continue west instead of turning south just north of Upper Indian Pass Lake. Enjoy the fields of subalpine daisy, paintbrush, elephantheads, and senecio on the hike over the low saddle to the valley with Upper Sand Pond. There are bits of what may be another route to Fremont Peak in this area.

Elevation: 3,407 m (11,180′)

August 11, 2025

I really didn’t expect to see all this sand in a high-elevation glacial terrain but such is my ignorance.

  • 80 m x 100 m; depth greater than 200 cm.
  • Clear water; 16 C at 1345 in 5 cm water.
  • No fairy shrimp.
  • Mayfly larvae and hatched mayflies (Ephemeroptera), caddisfly larvae (Trichoptera), black beetles, copepods or water mites less than 0.5 mm long, small birds.

Scenic view of Upper Sand Pond 2025-08-11, #25; lacks fairy shrimp; Pinedale Ranger District, Bridger-Teton National Forest, Bridger Wilderness
Upper Sand Pond 2025-08-11, #25, Wind River Mountains.

Upper Sand Pond with Lower Sand Pond barely visible a little farther down the valley. The peak in the distance may be Mt. Lester. Contrary to what is shown on the 7.5-minute topographic quadrangle, both ponds look wider than they are long. The sand is very noticeable in Upper Sand Pond.

Pond view of Upper Sand Pond 2025-08-11, #26, with a beetle; lacks fairy shrimp; Pinedale Ranger District, Bridger-Teton National Forest, Bridger Wilderness
Upper Sand Pond 2025-08-11, #26, Wind River Mountains.

A small beetle in Upper Sand Pond at center.

Wind River Mountains – top

Lower Sand Pond (Pinedale Ranger District, Bridger-Teton National Forest; Bridger Wilderness)

Lower Indian Pass Lake map

Lower Sand Pond is a short distance downstream from Upper Sand Pond. It is about 850 m (2,460′) northwest of Upper Indian Pass Lake, which is about in the middle of Indian Basin and 33.4 km (20 miles) northeast of Pinedale. The lake has dimensions of 55 m by 65 m (180′ x 215′) on the 7.5-minute topographic quadrangle. As in the case of Upper Sand Pond, these dimensions don’t look quite right to me. I estimated 60 m by 80 m (200′ x 260′) in 2025 even though exposed water-stained rocks indicated water levels were lower than normal.

For access, see Lower Indian Pass Lake and Upper Sand Pond.

Elevation: 3,406 m (11,175′)

August 11, 2025

This looks almost like a bog of shallow water with lots of rocks sticking up. Nonetheless, there are deep spots.

  • 60 m x 80 m; depth greater than 200 cm.
  • Clear water; 16 C at 1415 in 3 cm water.
  • No fairy shrimp
  • Mayfly larvae (Ephemeroptera), caddisfly larvae (Trichoptera), wrigglers less than 5 mm long, small birds.

Scenic view of Lower Sand Pond 2025-08-11, #27, with Fremont Peak in the background; lacks fairy shrimp; Pinedale Ranger District, Bridger-Teton National Forest, Bridger Wilderness
Lower Sand Pond 2025-08-11, #27, Wind River Mountains.

Lower Sand Pond and Fremont Peak to the north. Vegetation on the far side of the pond may have shortened its length since the aerial photographs for the 7.5-minute quadrangle were taken in 1966.

Wind River Mountains – top

Indian Basin 11218 Pond (Pinedale Ranger District, Bridger-Teton National Forest; Bridger Wilderness)

Lower Indian Pass Lake map

Indian Basin 11218 Pond is 975 m (2,460′) south-southwest of Upper Indian Pass Lake near the lower, southwestern end of Indian Basin. Upper Indian Pass Lake is about 33.4 km (20 miles) northeast of Pinedale. On the 7.5-minute topographic quadrangle, the pond is 30 m by 80 m (100′ x 260′). The pond is immersed in a field of boulders. Indian Basin 11218 Pond is 275 m (900′) northeast of peak 11,218 (3,420 m).

For access, see Lower Indian Pass Lake. Indian Basin 11218 Pond is 370 m southeast of the Indian Pass Trail at its closest approach to Indian Basin First Pond but is not visible from the trail. You could hike over the small rise southeast of Indian Basin First Pond or hike up a relatively gentle slope due south from the ford of the Lower Indian Pass Lake outlet.

Elevation: 3,353 m (11,000′)

August 11, 2025

No sand here, there’s nothing but big rocks.

  • 30 m x 80 m (same as, but estimated independently of, map); depth greater than 200 cm.
  • Clear, slightly greenish water; 15 C at 1545 in 5 cm water.
  • Greenish fairy shrimp 20-25 mm long; no eggs.
  • Common 1.5 mm copepods, black beetles about 5 mm long, caddisfly larvae (Trichoptera).

This is one of the few ponds in Indian Basin where I didn’t see mayfly larvae. I also didn’t see bird poop on the rocks.

Scenic view of Indian Basin 11218 Pond 2025-08-11, #31, with Fremont Peak and Jackson Peak in the background; has fairy shrimp; Pinedale Ranger District, Bridger-Teton National Forest, Bridger Wilderness
Indian Basin 11218 Pond 2025-08-11, #31, Wind River Mountains.

Indian Basin 11218 Pond. Fremont Peak is in the distance at left and Jackson Peak is at right. What a day!

Pond view of Indian Basin 11218 Pond 2025-08-11, #30, with fairy shrimp and copepods; Pinedale Ranger District, Bridger-Teton National Forest, Bridger Wilderness
Indian Basin 11218 Pond 2025-08-11, #30, Wind River Mountains.

Looking down a sloped rock surface in Indian Basin 11218 Pond at a few fairy shrimp and several copepods. There is considerable depth in this photograph. Only the shallower animals are in focus.

Wind River Mountains – top

Indian Basin First Pond (Pinedale Ranger District, Bridger-Teton National Forest; Bridger Wilderness)

Lower Indian Pass Lake map

Indian Basin First Pond is 950 m (2,460′) southwest of Upper Indian Pass Lake, which is 33.4 km (20 miles) northeast of Pinedale. The pond has a sausage-like shape of 50 m by 175 m (165′ x 575′) on the 7.5-minute topographic quadrangle. The pond is in a relatively flat area at the southwestern edge of Indian Basin before a steep drop to the area north of “Island Lake”. It is the first pond encountered by those hiking up the Indian Pass Trail from the junction with the “Titcomb Lakes” Trail.

For access, see Lower Indian Pass Lake. Indian Basin First Pond is immediately north of the Indian Pass Trail where it enters Indian Basin.

Elevation: 3,353 m (11,000′)

August 11, 2025

After finding fairy shrimp in Indian Basin 11218 Pond, I was optimistic about this one.

  • 50 m x 175 m (based on 7.5-minute quadrangle); depth greater than 200 cm.
  • Clear water; 15 C at 1630 in 5 cm water.
  • No fairy shrimp.
  • 1.5 mm copepods, black beetles, very small rare water boatmen (sub-order Heteroptera, family Corixidae), caddisfly larvae.

Like Indian Basin 11218 Pond, this pond also seems to lack mayfly larvae.

Scenic view of Indian Basin First Pond 2025-08-11, #33, with Fremont Peak in background; lacks fairy shrimp; Pinedale Ranger District, Bridger-Teton National Forest, Bridger Wilderness
Indian Basin First Pond 2025-08-11, #33, Wind River Mountains.

Indian Basin First Pond from well above the Indian Pass Trail and a shadowed Fremont Peak. Part of Lower Indian Pass Lake is barely visible at right.

Pond view of Indian Basin First Pond 2025-08-11, #34, with a water boatman; lacks fairy shrimp; Pinedale Ranger District, Bridger-Teton National Forest, Bridger Wilderness
Indian Basin First Pond 2025-08-11, #34, Wind River Mountains.

A water boatman in Indian Basin First Pond that is so small it is almost unrecognizable. But it does have long legs sticking out to the sides.

Wind River Mountains – top

Elephant Head Lake (WGF name) (Pinedale Ranger District, Bridger-Teton National Forest; Bridger Wilderness)

Lower Indian Pass Lake map

Elephant Head Lake is in a steep-walled valley below Harrower Peak and Elephant Head. Water also cascades down from Lower Indian Pass Lake. The lake is at least 50 m (165′) lower than the rest of Indian Basin. Elephant Head Lake is 930 m (3,050′) southwest of Upper Indian Pass Lake (point on northern shore from point on southern shore). Upper Indian Pass Lake is 33.4 km (20 miles) northeast of Pinedale. Elephant Head Lake is 1,100 m long on the 7.5-minute topographic quadrangle and lenticular but with an extra bulge in the middle that is about 400 m wide (1,310′ x 3,610′). Elephant Head Lake is 800 m (2,620′) north of the summit of Elephant Head and was named by WGF.

For access, see Lower Indian Pass Lake. The Indian Pass Trail turns sharply south on the east side of the ford of the outlet of Lower Indian Pass Lake to swing around a rocky knob before turning north and reaching the shore of Lower Indian Pass Lake. However, an informally marked trail turns north across the ford and crosses rock to reach Lower Indian Pass Lake. To reach Elephant Head Lake, turn south on the established trail on the east side of the ford. When you can see grassy slopes below you before the trail turns back to the north, pick your own way down to Elephant Head Lake. The descent is rather steep but the footing is good.

Elevation: 3,302 m (10,830′)

August 11, 2025

Elephant Head Lake is the largest in Indian Basin areally and even more so volumetrically, as the steep bordering topography suggests it is quite deep. Although lower than the rest of Indian Basin, the shore is still treeless.

  • 400 m x 1,100 m (based on 7.5-minute quadrangle); depth greater than 300 cm.
  • Clear water; 15 C at 1715 in 5 cm water.
  • No fairy shrimp.
  • Lots of 1.5 mm copepods, locally abundant 1-1.5 mm ostracods, mayfly larvae (Ephemeroptera), caddisfly larvae (Trichoptera), possibly amphipods, ducks, small birds.

Scenic view of Elephant Head Lake 2025-08-11, #32, with Harrower Peak; lacks fairy shrimp; Pinedale Ranger District, Bridger-Teton National Forest, Bridger Wilderness
Elephant Head Lake 2025-08-11, #32, Wind River Mountains.

View up the valley with Elephant Head Lake. Harrower Peak is at right and Knifepoint Mountain is in the distance at left.

Pond view of Elephant Head Lake 2025-08-11, #36, with copepods and ostracods; lacks fairy shrimp; Pinedale Ranger District, Bridger-Teton National Forest, Bridger Wilderness
Elephant Head Lake 2025-08-11, #36, Wind River Mountains.

Lots of tiny animals in Elephant Head Lake. The red animals that are more symmetric lengthwise and widthwise are likely ostracods. Their shiny reflections appear to be due to shells. The shells are translucent as darker and lighter features can be seen within the shells. The other animals are black and lengthwise symmetric but they are wider at one end and tapered at the other end. They are likely copepods.

Pond view of Elephant Head Lake 2025-08-11, #37, with ducks; lacks fairy shrimp; Pinedale Ranger District, Bridger-Teton National Forest, Bridger Wilderness
Elephant Head Lake 2025-08-11, #37, Wind River Mountains.

2 ducks in Elephant Head Lake. The presence of ducks here without fairy shrimp or much aquatic invertebrate diversity could disprove my hypothesis about the association of ducks with aquatic diversity and fairy shrimp colonization at Lower Indian Pass Lake. However, the large size of Elephant Head Lake may necessitate more thorough sampling than walking along a small part of the shoreline for 40 minutes or so.

Wind River Mountains – top

Sand and Boulder Pond (Pinedale Ranger District, Bridger-Teton National Forest; Bridger Wilderness)

Lower Indian Pass Lake map

Sand and Boulder Pond is at the east end of a broad boggy, but rocky, area that has Jackson Peak Pond at the west end. The elevation difference between the 2 is less than 5 m (16′). It is 1,110 m (3,640′) northeast of the southern shore of Upper Indian Pass Lake, which is about in the middle of Indian Basin and 33.4 km (20 miles) northeast of Pinedale. On the 7.5-minute topographic quadrangle, Sand and Boulder Pond has dimensions of 30 m by 50 m (100′ x 165′). On my 2025 visit, I thought it was slightly larger – 40 m by 50 m (130′ x 165′). Sand and Boulder Pond is surrounded and underlain by abundant sand and boulders and a paucity of rocks of intermediate sizes.

For access, see Lower Indian Pass Lake. Continue up the Indian Pass Trail past Jackson Peak Pond. From there, you could angle off to the southeast and avoid most of the boggy area. Or, you could follow the trail across the boggy area, which has plenty of rocks and turf hummocks for stepping “stones”, but turn south to the pond before starting up the steep climb to Indian Pass.

Elevation: 3,492 m (11,460′)

August 12, 2025

Given the lack of fairy shrimp in Jackson Peak Pond, this one didn’t look promising. But I had the time. WIDLA

  • 40 m x 50 m; less than 150 cm deep.
  • Clear water; 14 C at 1630 in 5 cm water.
  • Translucent, pale gray fairy shrimp 10-15 mm long; no eggs.
  • Few 10 mm mayfly larvae (Ephemeroptera) (maybe most already hatched), small birds.

Scenic view of Sand and Boulder Pond 2025-08-12, #48; has fairy shrimp; Pinedale Ranger District, Bridger-Teton National Forest, Bridger Wilderness
Sand and Boulder Pond 2025-08-12, #48, Wind River Mountains.

Looking north across the east end of Sand and Boulder Pond. The Indian Pass Trail climbs up the slope in the background from left to right.

Pond view of Sand and Boulder Pond 2025-08-12, #47, with fairy shrimp; Pinedale Ranger District, Bridger-Teton National Forest, Bridger Wilderness
Sand and Boulder Pond 2025-08-12, #47, Wind River Mountains.

Several fairy shrimp swimming between the boulders in Sand and Boulder Pond.


Sand and Boulder Pond Fairy Shrimp Video 2025-08-12b-rmq

For a 1-minute, 11-seconds video of fairy shrimp swimming between boulders in Sand and Boulder Pond, click on the video player above. There is no audio. These fairy shrimp are a little shorter than those in Lower Indian Pass Lake and may have hatched later due to the higher elevation resulting in cooler temperatures. The swimming behavior does not appear to differ, in general, from that in Lower Indian Pass Lake. I didn’t notice any distinctive behaviors or other species in the video.


Sand and Boulder Pond Fairy Shrimp Video 2025-08-12c-rrmq

For a 3-minute, 18-seconds video of fairy shrimp swimming in deep water in Sand and Boulder Pond with both sun and shadow, click on the video player above. There is no audio. The fairy shrimp are more common at this location than at the location of Sand and Boulder Pond Fairy Shrimp Video 2025-08-12b-rmq. Most fairy shrimp are swimming well below the surface and those close to the surface are out-of-focus smudges. Curved swimming paths are more common than straight ones, even over the short distances for which most fairy shrimp remain visible. Possible exceptions are a fairy shrimp swimming toward the bottom near the center of view at 1:53-1:56, another one at 2:21-2:25 doing the same thing, and a third swimming in the opposite direction at 2:39-2:42.

The pond bottom in the sun appears to be partially covered by sheets of something that could be a bacterial or cyanobacterial mat. Unlike the Branchinecta paludosa in the Arctic that ate cyanobacterial mats (Rautio and others, 2009), those here aren’t seen feeding on the pond bottom.

Wind River Mountains – top

Green Island Pond (Pinedale Ranger District, Bridger-Teton National Forest; Bridger Wilderness)

Lower Indian Pass Lake map

Green Island Pond is 170 m (560′) south of, and down hill from, Jackson Peak Pond and is fed by its outlet. The pond is 810 m (2,460′) northeast of the southern shore of Upper Indian Pass Lake. Green Island Pond has dimensions of 80 m by 150 m (260′ x 490′) on the 7.5-minute topographic quadrangle. Like other lakes and ponds in Indian Basin, its bottom has both abundant sand and abundant large rocks. What makes Green Island Pond distinctive is that is has a low island of sand with a thick cover of green grass.

For access, see Lower Indian Pass Lake. If going up the the Indian Pass Trail, follow it past the north end of Upper Indian Pass Lake. Before reaching Jackson Peak Pond, head down hill from the trail when you see the pond. If going down the Indian Pass Trail, follow it past Jackson Peak Pond and then pick your route down the grassy slope to the pond.

Elevation: 3,472 m (11,390′)

August 12, 2025

Jackson Peak Pond didn’t have fairy shrimp. Sand and Boulder Pond, which is farther upstream did. What about here?

  • 80 m x 150 m (based on 7.5-minute quadrangle); depth greater than 300 cm.
  • Clear water; 15 C at 1715 in 5 cm water.
  • No fairy shrimp.
  • Abundant mayfly larvae (Ephemeroptera), few caddisfly larvae (Trichoptera).

Scenic view of Green Island Pond 2025-08-12, #49; lacks fairy shrimp; Pinedale Ranger District, Bridger-Teton National Forest, Bridger Wilderness
Green Island Pond 2025-08-12, #49, Wind River Mountains.

View to the south across Green Island Pond. There are still some snowbanks in the shady spots south of the pond.

Wind River Mountains – top

“Island Lake” Pond #1 (Pinedale Ranger District, Bridger-Teton National Forest; Bridger Wilderness)

“Island Lake” Pond #2 map

“Island Lake” Pond #1 is 1,250 m (4,100′) northwest of the northeastern corner of “Island Lake”, which is 30.5 km (18 miles) northeast of Pinedale. It is about 250 m (820′) northwest of the shore of lake 10467 and less than half that distance west of the lake above lake 10467. It is not shown on the 7.5-minute topographic quadrangle. It’s just a small pond I came across on my way from the “Titcomb Lakes” Trail to “Island Lake” Pond #2.

For access, see “Island Lake” Pond #2. “Island Lake” Pond #1 is on the northeast side of the small hill west of the lake above lake 10467 before the ascent to “Island Lake” Pond #2.

Elevation: 3,211 m (10,530′)

August 13, 2025

Because “Island Lake” and “Titcomb Lakes” have been stocked with fish, any water bodies connected to those lakes also have fish. Some of the other lakes in the area have also been stocked. However, there are ponds in the area that don’t have inlets or outlets on the 7.5-minute topographic map and most likely don’t have fish. I decided to visit a few north of the west end of “Island Lake”.

  • 15 m x 30 m; depth uncertain but less than 200 cm.
  • Clear water; 19 C at 1415 in 5 cm water.
  • No fairy shrimp.
  • Water boatmen (sub-order Heteroptera, family Corixidae), black beetles, caddisfly larvae.

Scenic view of "Island Lake" Pond #1 2025-08-13, #51; lacks fairy shrimp; Pinedale Ranger District, Bridger-Teton National Forest, Bridger Wilderness
“Island Lake” Pond #1 2025-08-13, #51, Wind River Mountains.

Looking east across “Island Lake” Pond #1. Water in the middle distance at left is the lake north of lake 10467. The peak at center might be Harrower Peak with Elephant Head to the right.

Wind River Mountains – top

“Island Lake” Pond #2 (Pinedale Ranger District, Bridger-Teton National Forest; Bridger Wilderness)

___This map is a screenshot of The National Map (Go to The National Map). The U.S. Geological Survey generally does not copyright or charge for its data or reports (unless printed). A pond location is indicated by an “X”, which corresponds to the coordinates given in the data spreadsheet. Labels in quotations are from 7.5-minute topographic quadrangles.
___As of April 2025, the National Grid overlay with red lines in UTM coordinates does not load in The National Map.
___There is no private or state land on this map. All the lands are public.

Topographic Map of "Island Lake" Pond #2 and ponds #1, #3, #4, and #5; The National Map with contours, roads, perennial/ephemeral water bodies, forest cover, marsh, private land
Topographic Map of “Island Lake” Pond #2, “Island Lake” Pond #1, “Island Lake” Pond #3, “Island Lake” Pond #4, and “Island Lake” Pond #5, Wind River Mountains; The National Map

“Island Lake” Pond #2 is 1,900 m (6,230′) northwest of the northeastern corner of “Island Lake”, which is 30.5 km (18 miles) northeast of Pinedale. It is 100 m by 160 m (330′ x 525′) on the 7.5-minute topographic quadrangle. It has an outlet creek that is not shown on the topographic map. Thunderstorm activity distracted me from thinking up relevant names so this pond is just #2 in the vicinity of “Island Lake” and the 4 others are also numbered ponds.

For access, see Lower Indian Pass Lake. Before turning off the trail to “Titcomb Lakes” to go up toward Indian Pass, turn west and descend to the northeastern corner of lake 10467. I found a dry crossing of the creek there in 2025 but that may not always be the case. Continue along the north shore of lake 10467 and ford the creek from the north that drains “Titcomb Lakes”. Again, I found a dry crossing on rocks but that may not always be the case. Head northwest from the creek around the north side of a small hill and ascend the obvious valley coming down the mountain from Pond #2.

Elevation: 3,317 m (10,880′)

August 13, 2025

The search of Indian Basin proved to be productive but now it’s time to try a few other ponds. The ponds north of “Island Lake” don’t benefit from close proximity to the ducks and aquatic diversity of Lower Indian Pass Lake but they could still have fairy shrimp, like some other ponds scattered across the Wind River Mountains.

  • 100 m x 160 m (based on 7.5-minute quadrangle); depth greater than 300 cm.
  • Clear water; 14 C at 1500 in 5 cm water.
  • Rare fairy shrimp about 20 mm long; no eggs.
  • Caddisfly larvae (Trichoptera), there are discarded mayfly larvae (Ephemeroptera) exoskeletons on the surface of the water but I didn’t see any live larvae.

Scenic view of "Island Lake" Pond #2 2025-08-13, #53; has fairy shrimp; Pinedale Ranger District, Bridger-Teton National Forest, Bridger Wilderness
“Island Lake” Pond #2 2025-08-13, #53, Wind River Mountains.

“Island Lake” Pond #2, looking north.

Pond view of "Island Lake" Pond #2 2025-08-13, #52, with fairy shrimp; Pinedale Ranger District, Bridger-Teton National Forest, Bridger Wilderness
“Island Lake” Pond #2 2025-08-13, #52, Wind River Mountains.

There is a recognizable fairy shrimp in “Island Lake” Pond #2 at center although it is blurred and out-of-focus.

Wind River Mountains – top

“Island Lake” Pond #3 (Pinedale Ranger District, Bridger-Teton National Forest; Bridger Wilderness)

“Island Lake” Pond #2 map

“Island Lake” Pond #3 is just 75 m (250′) west of “Island Lake” Pond #2 (shore to shore). The pond is also about 2,000 m (6,560′) northwest of the northeastern corner of “Island Lake”. Pond dimensions are 50 m by 110 m (165′ x 360′) on the 7.5-minute topographic quadrangle but looked larger on the ground in 2025. It looked almost as big as Pond #2. Maybe there is something about the rocky landscapes that distorts my perspective but I’ll call it 80 m by 140 m (260′ x 460′). “Island Lake” Pond #3 is 250 m north of peak 11088 (3,380 m).

For access, see “Island Lake” Pond #2. “Island Lake” Pond #3 is a short walk to the southwest.

Elevation: 3,322 m (10,900′)

August 13, 2025

The thunderstorm shower was surprisingly brief with no close lightning. Time to continue the search.

  • 80 m x 140 m; depth greater than 300 cm.
  • Clear greenish water; 13 C at 1600 in 5 cm water.
  • No fairy shrimp.
  • Unusually common amphipods up to 20 mm, 1.5 mm copepods, caddisfly larvae (Trichoptera).

Scenic view of "Island Lake" Pond #3 2025-08-13, #54; lacks fairy shrimp; Pinedale Ranger District, Bridger-Teton National Forest, Bridger Wilderness
“Island Lake” Pond #3 2025-08-13, #54, Wind River Mountains.

“Island Lake” Pond #3, with peak 11088 on the far side to the south.

Wind River Mountains – top

“Island Lake” Pond #4 (Pinedale Ranger District, Bridger-Teton National Forest; Bridger Wilderness)

“Island Lake” Pond #2 map

“Island Lake” Pond #4 is 2,350 m (7,710′) northwest of the northeastern corner of “Island Lake”. It is a small pond, almost too small to show on the topographic map. Even so, the 7.5-minute topographic map shows it with dimensions of 12 m x 25 m (40′ x 80′). As did “Island Lake” Pond #3, “Island Lake” Pond #4 looks larger on the ground, maybe 20 m by 40 m (65′ x 130′).

For access, see “Island Lake” Pond #3. The climb northwest from “Island Lake” Pond #3 is relatively easy with a grassy slope near the bottom of the steep section of rock on the west side of the slope above “Island Lake” Pond #3.

Elevation: 3,373 m (11,070′)

August 13, 2025

Because I started up the hill from the west side of Pond #3, I got to Pond #4 before Pond #5. Not only was the thunderstorm surprisingly brief, the sun came out again surprisingly quickly. So now I’m looking down on a small, sunny, slightly greenish, tranquil-looking pond in a little basin all by itself. It’s relatively deep and could be a nice home for fairy shrimp.

  • 20 m x 40 m; depth greater than 300 cm.
  • Clear, slightly greenish water; 13 C at 1700 in 5 cm water.
  • No fairy shrimp.
  • 1.5 mm copepods, caddisfly larvae (Trichoptera).

Scenic view of "Island Lake" Pond #4 2025-08-13, #55; lacks fairy shrimp; Pinedale Ranger District, Bridger-Teton National Forest, Bridger Wilderness
“Island Lake” Pond #4 2025-08-13, #55, Wind River Mountains.

Looking down to the northwest on “Island Lake” Pond #4.

Wind River Mountains – top

“Island Lake” Pond #5 (Pinedale Ranger District, Bridger-Teton National Forest; Bridger Wilderness)

“Island Lake” Pond #2 map

“Island Lake” Pond #5 is only about 65 m (210′) east of “Island Lake” Pond #4. It is 2,320 m (7,610′) northwest of the northeastern corner of “Island Lake”, which is 30.5 km (18 miles) northeast of Pinedale. “Island Lake” Pond #5 is 50 m by 60 m (165′ x 200′) on the 7.5-minute topographic quadrangle. It looked a little bigger and a little rounder to me in 2025 but I won’t quibble about this one.

For access, see “Island Lake” Pond #4. “Island Lake” Pond #5 is east of “Island Lake” Pond #4 over a steep little hill.

Elevation: 3,380 m (11,090′)

August 13, 2025

It seems like the higher I go, the more boulders there are but getting around is not yet difficult. Fairy shrimp don’t have a problem with boulders. Here’s one more chance.

  • 50 m x 60 m (based on 7.5-minute quadrangle); depth greater than 300 cm.
  • Clear water; 13 C at 1715 in 4 cm water.
  • Translucent, pale gray fairy shrimp 20-25 mm long; no eggs.
  • 1.5 mm copepods, unusually short caddisfly larvae cases less than 10 mm.

Scenic view of "Island Lake" Pond #5 2025-08-13, #56, with fairy shrimp; Pinedale Ranger District, Bridger-Teton National Forest, Bridger Wilderness
“Island Lake” Pond #5 2025-08-13, #56, Wind River Mountains.

Looking northeast across “Island Lake” Pond #5. With the blue sky, you can’t even tell there was a thunderstorm. The rocks aren’t even wet.

Pond view of "Island Lake" Pond #5 2025-08-13, #57; has fairy shrimp; Pinedale Ranger District, Bridger-Teton National Forest, Bridger Wilderness
“Island Lake” Pond #5 2025-08-13, #57, Wind River Mountains.

A couple of fairy shrimp swimming in the shadow between boulders in “Island Lake” Pond #5.

Wind River Mountains – top

What Can We Learn from the Ponds in the Wind River Mountains?

Fish-stocking has made the vast majority of lakes and many ponds in the Wind River Mountains uninhabitable by fairy shrimp. That still leaves hundreds of ponds and several lakes without fish as potential fairy shrimp habitat.

In my haphazard, non-random searches for fairy shrimp before 2025, I found fairy shrimp present at least once in 23 (26%) ponds and absent from 67 (74%) other ponds (including 2 that were dry during the only visit). These results are biased by my tendency to not record ponds where I did not see fairy shrimp. In the 2 cases where I recorded every pond visited, 16% of Medina Mountain ponds and 10% of the Wind River Peak ponds had fairy shrimp. Those chances could be improved by omitting overgrown ponds and small ponds in streams. Of 16 ponds visited in 2025 in Indian Basin and near “Island Lake”, 6 (38%) had fairy shrimp.

78% of the wet ponds I recorded have maximum dimensions less than 155 m (510′) (a circle with a radius of 155 m is 7.5 hectares, 19 acres) and the median is 80 m (260′) (a circle with a radius of 80 m is 2.0 hectares, 5.0 acres). This is not representative of the pond size distribution in the Wind River Mountains, whatever it is.

Fairy shrimp were found in 4 moderately large water bodies: “Island Lake” Pond #2 (100 m x 160 m, 330′ x 525′), Bivouac Lake (100 m x 190 m, 330′ x 620′), Upper Indian Pass Lake (440 m x 580 m, 1,440′ x 1,900′), and Lower Indian Pass Lake (500 m x 680 m, 1,640′ x 2,230′). This indicates that moderately large pond sizes do not somehow prevent colonization by fairy shrimp, such as by impeding the ability of males and females to find each other for mating. The implication is that most lakes now occupied by fish could have been previously occupied by fairy shrimp. How many fairy shrimp populations were extirpated will never be known.

As with pond size, the distribution of elevations for the ponds visited are not representative of the Wind River Mountains, whatever that distribution is. The median elevation of the ponds is 3,251 m (10,665′). 75% of the ponds are higher than 3,168 m (10,393′). Although the median elevation of the ponds with fairy shrimp is almost identical to that of all ponds visited, 75% of the ponds with fairy shrimp are higher than 3,241 m (10,633′).

Except for an early September trip to ponds in Atlantic Canyon, all of my visits to mountain ponds in the Wind River Mountains were in August. Buttress Pond and “Fremont Lake” Moraine Pond were visited in May, June, and July but they are in the foothills below 2,400 m (7,870′). August is a good time to visit because by then any fairy shrimp are likely to be longer than about 15 mm and easily visible. Fairy shrimp in several ponds in the southern Wind River Mountains were sexually mature, as determined by the presence of eggs, before the third week in August in Bivouac Lake, “Coon Lake” South Ponds #1, #2, #3, and #4, and Little Sandy Overlook Pond in 1987 and in Cinquefoil Pond in 1993. Those in the slightly higher ponds in the central Wind River Mountains in 2025 were not (e.g., Lower and Upper Indian Pass Lakes, Indian Basin 11218 Pond, Sand and Boulder Pond, and “Island Lake” Ponds #2 and #5).

Of the specimens I collected from alpine habitats, DB identified only the species Branchinecta coloradensis. After the first specimens from Bivouac Lake had been identified, I usually made an effort to see if newly discovered fairy shrimp looked like those in Bivouac Lake based on observations using a binocular microscope or a 10X magnifying glass. It appeared to me that the following 13 other ponds also had B. coloradensis.

  • Boulder Bog Pond
  • Cinquefoil Pond
  • “Coon Lake” South Pond #1
  • “Coon Lake” South Pond #2
  • “Coon Lake” South Pond #3
  • “Coon Lake” South Pond #4
  • Deep Cirque Overlook Pond
  • East Side Cirque Pond
  • Little Sandy Overlook Pond
  • Medina Mountain Pond #15
  • Medina Mountain Pond #16
  • Medina Mountain Pond #21
  • Shoal Lake Northwest Pond

“Coon Lake” South Pond #2 additionally had what looked to me like Branchinecta paludosa. Specimens collected from 3 of the ponds listed above were later confirmed to be B. coloradensis by DB. This preponderance of B. coloradensis differs from the Snowy Range, where B. coloradensis and B. paludosa appear to be similarly abundant (based on a sample size of 7).

Repeated observations indicate that some fairy shrimp populations hatch every year that water is available.

  • Bivouac Lake in 1985, 1986, 1987, and 1993.
  • “Coon Lake” South Pond #2 in 1987, 1989, and 2006.
  • Deep Cirque Overlook Pond in 1993 and 2006.

Populations in other ponds hatched less regularly or I failed to see them during 1 or 2 of my visits.

  • “Coon Lake” South Pond #1 – 1987 but not 1989.
  • Little Sandy Overlook Pond – 1987 but not 1989 or 2006.
  • Cinquefoil Pond – 1993 but not 2006.

Some ponds in alpine terrains dry up on occasion. “Coon Lake” South Pond #1, Pond #3, and Pond #4 had fairy shrimp in 1987 but were dry in 2006. Similarly, Boulder Bog Pond had fairy shrimp in 1993 but was dry in 2006. The proportion of ponds that could dry up is probably small but a dry year would reduce the chances of finding fairy shrimp to some extent.

I did a poor job of recording animals other than fairy shrimp in Wind River Mountain ponds but some observations are better than none. Several ponds had invertebrate predators that might constrain the distribution of fairy shrimp (see Predators of Fairy Shrimp for more about these predators).

  • I saw amphipods in 13 ponds and only 2 (15%) of those had fairy shrimp.
  • I saw “beetles” in 16 ponds and 8 (50%) of those had fairy shrimp. I couldn’t identify the “beetles”. Some may not have been potential predators.
  • I saw dytiscid larvae (order Coleoptera, family Dytiscidae) in only 3 ponds and 2 (67%) of those had fairy shrimp.
  • I saw backswimmers (sub-order Heteroptera, family Notonectidae) in 7 ponds and 5 (71%) of those had fairy shrimp.

Considering that fairy shrimp are present in less than 25% of ponds overall, only amphipods look like they could be problematic. The lower elevation Buttress Pond had salamanders, in addition to other predators, and no fairy shrimp. I didn’t see frogs in the Wind River Mountains.

In spite of a century of fish-stocking that has altered the alpine ecology of the Wind River Mountains, there is yet a window into the native aquatic communities and ecologically linked terrestrial communities of yore in Indian Basin. There are no fish in Indian Basin. I saw fairy shrimp in 2 of 3 lakes more than 500 m (1,640′) long and the third is so big that even a sizable population could be hard to spot. 2 of 8 smaller visited ponds have fairy shrimp. In addition to fairy shrimp, Lower Indian Pass Lake has a vibrant community of copepods, amphipods, water boatmen, beetles, mayflies, and caddisflies, at least. Most significantly, it has the only population of summer-resident ducks that I know of in alpine lakes of the Wind River Mountains. My online searches failed to find any other examples. The ducks’ most likely food is fairy shrimp. All but 2 of the 11 water bodies I visited in Indian Basin had mayfly larvae and in most cases they were abundant. Mayflies are an important food for gray-crowned rosy finches in the Sierra Nevada but are generally extirpated by fish (Epanchin and others, 2010). That may explain why black rosy finches, water pipits, and another species of small bird are more abundant in Indian Basin than anywhere else I have been in the Wind River Mountains. Because marmots may partake of insects and bird eggs in addition to the abundant vegetation in their diets (https://www.nps.gov/romo/learn/nature/marmot.htm), they could be more abundant in Indian Basin than would be the case if the lakes had been stocked. I saw 1 at Lower Indian Pass Lake. Thank goodness the fish-stocking mania has cooled. All has not yet been lost.

There are many good reasons to visit the Wind River Mountains but you can add fairy shrimping if you need an additional nudge. Conversely, if you can’t get motivated for fairy shrimp, go to the Wind River Mountains for the scenic splendor and then have a look in a pond or 2 while you filter some water or catch your breath. The water is clear, there is no sticky mud, and many ponds are small enough for a thorough search in 15 minutes.

In the Wind River Mountains, you can chose the level of exertion for your fairy shrimp searches. There are many ponds in valleys close to trails and many more off trail and high up a mountain. “Poison Lake” Outlet Pond (Wind River Peak Ponds) and Lower Indian Pass Lake are in the easier category. To reach the fairy shrimp in Deep Cirque Overlook Pond or Tayo Bench East Pond (Wind River Peak Ponds) would require considerably more effort but they are still not that far from a trail and a decent camping spot.

Anostracan species identified by Denton Belk are:
Branchinecta coloradensis – Bivouac Lake, “Coon Lake” South Pond #1, “Coon Lake” South Pond #3, Medina Mountain Pond #16.
Streptocephalus seali – “Fremont Lake” Moraine Pond.

Wind River Mountains – top