Doubletop Peak

Overview

Doubletop Peak is the highpoint of the Gros Ventre Range of northwest Wyoming. Doubletop is visible from Highway #189 (between Pinedale and Bondurant) and doubtless creates mental notes for many mountaineers passing by to either the Winds or the Tetons. However, few seem willing to return for the approach to a peak that doesn't bump the top 100 list for the state. Compounding this is the fact that the main crest of the range is composed of limestone (though often quite solid) and shales. Regardless, it is a beautiful peak and a ticklist entry for range highpointers. The hunters, backpackers and handful of climbers that penetrate the crest know that the range provides challenge, positional views and scenery that justify the effort. Doubletop itself is at the opposite end from the populated section of the range (at Jackson Hole) and is known for its surrounding zone of crystal-coated and geode-pocked rock, just below the summit pyramid. Its central location means that, from the summit, ten ranges (and their highpoints) can be seen: Snake River, Wind River, Absaroka, Gallatin, Teton, Wyoming, Salt River, Red, Leidy Highlands, Caribou.

Approach - Roads and Trailheads

Directions for the standard route (as given from Dubois):
7 miles west of town, turn S on Union Pass Road #263. Stay on main gravel road at all times. At 14 miles cross the Continental Divide (here dividing the Columbia drainage from the Mississippi; a few miles further will be another divide between the Columbia and the Colorado). The managing branch of the government changes here from the Shoshone to the Teton National Forest so the road changes numbers to #600. At 36.5 miles turn right on Kinky Creek road #620*. Follow for 7.7 miles over the Kinky Divide (a low pass joining the Green River basin to Jackson Hole and a major game migratory route) and park at the new public lot (8,540') where there is a locked gate for a private ranch.
*This junction is reached from Pinedale/Cora as follows: Drive north on Highway 352 for 28 miles from it's origin on Highway 191. It will turn to gravel. Turn left on Union Pass Road #600. Cross the Green River and continue for 4 miles to the junction.
These roads are passable in 2WD medium-clearance vehicles but a section of red dirt in the first few miles of the Kinky Road can become very messy when wet.

The peak has also been dayclimbed from the south in a 26-mile RT, 5000 vertical-foot day. This route around private property (and additional routes) is best described in the guidebook noted below.

Camping

Primitive camping areas exist along the Kinky Creek Road but are minimal at the trailhead. There are several fee-oriented campgrounds along both the upper Green River and Union Pass.

Trivia

• Doubletop is the sixth highest range highpoint of Wyoming.
  
• The northwest of the two "tops" was triangulated from Darwin Peak as 11,682 feet. The eastern top is the true summit and is interpolated as 11,740 feet.
  
• USGS surveyor Thomas Bannon named the peak in 1905. 1st ascent is unknown.
  
• There is a Doubletop Mountain in the nearby Wind River Range.
  
• It would seem obvious that the Kinky Creek divide would be a major -if not easier- pass connecting the Green River Basin to Jackson Hole. This is, in fact, the gap that makes the Tetons so obvious from Gannett and peaks in the northern Wind Rivers. This bend in the Gros Ventre River is, however, the site of the Darwin Ranch, an original territorial private homestead granted to Fred Dorwin (sic), a Rough Rider with Teddy Roosevelt and is therefore a private barrier to the connection of the two valleys. In undergoing a recent remodel, the ranch has upgraded, relocated and graveled the last few miles of the public road to the trailhead in return for building a better road to the ranch for its guests. The new Kinky Creek trailhead begins in the public lot at the opposite end from the locked gate.
  

Sources

Turiano, Thomas (2003). Select Peaks; Indomitus Books, Jackson, WY.
Bonney, O.H. (1977). Guide to the Wyoming Mountains, 3rd Ed.; Swallow Press. Chicago, IL.
Flood, Elizabeth Clair (1995). Dude Ranches Out West; Gibbs-Smith. Salt Lake City, UT.

Images

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