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Big Sandy Lake → Cirque of the Towers → Big Sandy Lake 8.2 mi (13.2 km) |
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Sun’s up, fun’s up, everyone!
Waking up in the mountains is so much easier than waking up in the city! You don’t even need an alarm when you’ve got the tweet-tweet of birds! So, Flatty and I got up, had breakfast, and embarked on our day hike to the Cirque of the Towers, our main reason for being here in the Wind Rivers! We had the perfect start through wildflower meadows, with little peeks of peaks to guide us on our way!
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After less than an hour on the trail, we beheld our first glorious summit: the 12,487-foot War Bonnet Peak, so named because it looked like a piece of regalia that many folks attribute with being worn by Native chiefs! More specifically, war bonnets are symbols of great honor in many Plains tribes and feature eagle feathers for might and protection! In stone, War Bonnet Peak was our first glimpse of the mighty Cirque of the Towers, like a huge, stony curtain about to pull back and reveal the grand theater!
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The rocky trail, speckled with columbines and other wildflowers, circled around the opposite side of the pass before descending steeply down to North Lake, our first rest stop, just over a third of the way. A breeze started to blow, which made us nervous about the rest of the way, but it barely made us wiggle and never knocked us over.
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From North Lake, we switchbacked up to what we thought was Jackass Pass. However, it very much was not! In fact, it was the first of two fake passes that made jackasses out of the two of us! I blame the signage, of which we saw our first halfway to our destination. The signs on this trail have been sparse and don’t give distances, which I think is why we ran into a group of lost hikers later on.
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As we climbed to our second fake pass, the view behind us got grander, though the air got a little hazier at the same time. As we would later learn, this was because of the Bootleg Fire in Klamath Falls, Oregon, which sent smoke all the way across Idaho into Wyoming! Even in the remote mountains, it’s hard to escape the influences of other places!
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At the top of the second fake pass, we beheld, for the first time, the grand Cirque of the Towers! This semicircle of six granite peaks got its present name in 1941 when climber, Orrin Bonney, did a survey of the area! The peaks mark one of the most spectacular parts of the Continental Divide, which separates rivers into Pacific and Atlantic drainage!
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But, this was a fake pass, so we still had a way to go in order to reach our destination. That means descending once again to an unnamed lake (descending on an uphill climb is the worst!) then slogging up a steep, slippery, and sandy trail to the top of what was clearly the real, not-to-be-mistaken Jackass Pass!
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Here, four wilderness areas came together: the Bridger-Teton National Forest, Shoshone National Forest, Bridger Wilderness, and Popo Agie Wilderness! Bridger, of course, comes from mountain man, Jim Bridger, and Shoshone comes from the tribe of that name. Popo Agie is one of the few Native terms that’s still easily found here, from the Crow language, meaning “beginning of the waters!” Jackass Pass, I figure, comes from pack donkeys, but it could also describe the feeling of passing two fake passes and having another mile to go!
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Lonesome Lake really is a misnomer. Not only are there three other lakes nearby, but this destination is so popular nowadays that hikers are not allowed to camp within 1/4 mile of the lake. That’s because visitors were not properly taking care of their poop, and it was getting into the water, spreading giardia (also known as beaver fever)!
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These beavers weren’t about to add any more grossness to this lovely lake. Instead, it was time for a good float! We got out our snacks, blew up the flamingo, and tooled about under the towering Pingora Peak for the rest of the afternoon! It was a really beautiful place to spend an afternoon, worth the aching feet and frustration with the fake passes.
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While we were only going to get a day at the Cirque of the Towers, we’ve got another day of exploring tomorrow, no real agenda, just high mountain beauty, clear water, and of course, plenty of bloodthirsty Wyoming mosquitoes! It’s all part of the adventure!
We’ll circle back tomorrow!
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Total Ground Covered: 267.1 mi (429.9 km) |
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