Unit 26

Major peaks including Wyoming Peak, Stewart Peak, and Mount Wagner serve as dominant navigation anchors visible across the unit; these summits are invaluable for orientation and distant glassing. The Salt River Range and Wyoming Range form distinct ridgelines running north-south, providing natural travel corridors and dividing drainages. Iconic terrain features like Telephone Pass, Pickle Pass, and the Tri Basin Divide mark key saddles and ridgelines.

High-country lakes including Murphy Lakes, Lost Lake, and Bailey Lake offer both water access and navigation references, while named flats like Poison Meadows and Moose Flat provide open country for spotting. These landmarks are essential—the steep, forested terrain makes ground-level navigation challenging without clear reference points.

Terrain spans from mid-elevation sagebrush and aspen valleys around 5,600 feet to high alpine ridges exceeding 11,300 feet, with most country falling in the 7,000-9,500-foot band. Moderate forest coverage mixed with open parks characterizes the landscape—ponderosa and lodgepole pine dominate lower slopes, transitioning to spruce-fir at higher elevations, with persistent meadows and grassland breaks throughout. The steepness creates distinct habitat pockets: canyon bottoms support riparian willows and cottonwoods, mid-slopes offer dense conifer cover interspersed with clearings, and ridgetops feature windswept alpine tundra.

This vertical relief drives both terrain difficulty and habitat diversity.

Over 1,260 miles of roads penetrate the unit, creating a connected network that reaches into previously remote drainages. However, road density doesn't translate to easy access—most roads are Forest Service or ranch tracks following creek bottoms and saddles rather than high-speed corridors. Early-season road access can be limited by snow at higher elevations, and late-summer washouts occur on many rough roads.

Star Valley towns (Alpine, Thayne, Etna) serve as primary staging points. The connected road network means solitude requires moving away from obvious trailheads and creek-bottom roads; higher ridges and passes are less pressured. Terrain complexity and steep country naturally limit how far most hunters venture from road access.

Unit 26 occupies the high country straddling Wyoming's western border with Idaho, bounded by the Snake River to the north and the Green and Bear River divides to the south. The unit encompasses the Salt River Range, Wyoming Range, and Gannett Hills, with Star Valley forming the developed lowland to the east. Named drainages including the Greys River, Hoback River, and Smiths Fork define the terrain; the Tri Basin Divide marks a significant topographic feature.

This is truly expansive country—the vast size and steep topography create significant distances between water sources and ridgelines, making logistics a constant consideration for hunting strategy.

The Greys River, Hoback River, and Smiths Fork represent the major perennial drainages, flowing year-round through primary canyon systems. Secondary creeks including Spring Creek, Richardson Creek, and Fourth Creek provide reliable water in their immediate drainages, though flow diminishes significantly in late season. High-country lakes like Murphy Lakes and Stump Lake offer alpine water sources but are snowbound until mid-summer.

Periodic Spring and Shot Hole Spring supplement reliable water, but their seasonal nature demands careful planning—the limited overall water availability means hunting pressure often concentrates around established creeks and lakes. Spring conditions and winter snowpack significantly affect water reliability across the unit.

Mountain lion are the primary quarry in this unit, utilizing the steep canyon systems, dense timber, and complex terrain as both cover and hunting grounds. The vertical relief creates multiple elevation zones where deer and elk congregate seasonally—lions follow this prey. Hunt established drainages like the Greys River and Hoback drainages, focusing on breaks where timber thickens along creeks and where terrain funnels game movement.

Road access allows hunter positioning, but success requires glassing from ridges and negotiating steep sidehill terrain to position on active sign. Early season opportunities occur before snow pushes lions and prey to lower elevations; late season concentrates hunting near perennial water sources and remaining open country at mid-elevations. Navigation skills and physical fitness are non-negotiable in this complex, steep country.