I’m back baby! Today I went a little off trail to go through the Cirque of the Towers. If you google the Wind River Range I bet almost 100% of the photos are from this area. It’s very popular and very beautiful and somehow not on the CDT.
Luckily it’s pretty close by and I’ve already even linked it up with the CDT further north on a trip last year. This year I came in a different way and it was tough. There was almost no trail and plenty of blowdowns blocking the way. It was worth the effort and we came down some huge empty valleys that we almost certainly had to ourselves.
I don’t really have much to say about the day other than it was awesome. The views were great and the miles and time flew by.
I was hiking with this guy Kurtis for the last few days and it’s been really cool. We have a lot in common, including hiking speed. Unfortunately he’s taking a couple weeks off trail to go to Europe. He did get some good photos of me today though!
After taking a break at Big Sandy Lake and going swimming, I started the climb up to the Cirque. The trail is well marked, but it includes a lot of rock hopping and scrambling. It took a bit longer than I expected, but I still passed lots of people on the way up.
One of the last things you see from the top is this lake. Can you guess it’s name?
I originally wanted to make it out of the Cirque today, but I didn’t have the time or the energy. My plan was to camp at the lake I camped at last summer, but I’m kinda glad I didn’t.
Camping in the Cirque is pretty amazing and I found a prime spot about 1/3 of the way up the next pass. That should make tomorrow at least a little easier. That’s Pingora Peak, the signature mountain of the Cirque of the Towers.