Lower Green River Lake is the start of the Green River Trail, also called the Highline Trail, which extends 72.5 miles through the Wind River Range. This trailhead is the third most popular entry into the Bridger Wilderness. If you are like me, from a low altitude home, the Green River Lakes Campground is a good place to spend a few days acclimating to the 8000 foot elevation. A number of good day hikes can be taken to assist in acclimating.
To the right of this photo is the southern end of the 1+ mile long Lower Green Lake. The Clear Creek Falls and Slide Lake Trails split off at this point and provide good side hikes or day hikes from the campground. We observed one solitary cow (as in cattle, not moose) wandering around in the willow thickets near the lake's shoreline and wondered why she was there. We had also seen a moose cow with calf along the shore earlier. The trail then heads south to Upper Green River Lake.
Squaretop Mountain (11,695) is said to be the most photographed element in the Wind River Range. Here it towers 3700 feet above the Green River, which is the origination of the Colorado River and eventually courses through the Grand Canyon. Colin Fletcher, the philosopher/guru of backpacking, found the source of the Green River from springs high in the Wind Range, followed the stream to the campground, and then rafted the entire length of the Colorado. He retells this story in his 1997 book, which I have reviewed, River: One Man's Journey Down the Colorado, Source to Sea.
Sqaretop Mountain again, mirrored in Upper Green Lake at sunset. If you are looking for a wonderful campsite, the northern shore of Upper Green Lake has three or four sites, each providing views you will not soon forget. The trail then follows the shore, passes to the east of Squaretop, still following the Green River. Campsites are available at Beaver Park, and it is possible to find your way to Granite Lake, located in a cirque between Granite and Squaretop Peaks. The trail then continues to Three Forks Park, which does not offer much in the way of campsites. (The best site, just off the trail, is marked as "No Camping" in an attempt to revegetate the area.) A series of switchbacks then takes you up past Trail Creek Falls, a crossing of Trail Creek, and then the intersection with New Fork Trail.