Christian
Member
- Joined
- Jun 2, 2012
- Messages
- 161
*Most of these pictures are iPhone pics. Not my usual carefully composed tripod shots with a DSLR, so lower your expectations here.
A while back I went to Cirque Of the Towers with my friend Taylor. We left on Pioneer Day, the 24th. It was basically 4 days and 3 nights, with much of Thursday and Sunday spent driving there.
Day 1, Thursday the 24th was spent making the surprisingly reasonable drive out to the Winds. We hit a bird on the way there, which was about all that was memorable about the drive. Wyoming has a lot of big, empty and boring areas to drive through on the way.
We got there fairly late, maybe 6:30 PM, and arrived at the vehicle filled Big Sandy trailhead parking area. We had enough time to hike the 6 miles to Big Sandy Lake and arrive just as the sun went down. The hike is long but very flat, so it wasn't too bad.
Sunset at Big Sandy^
We were too lazy to set up the tent, so we just slept on the ground. That was a fairly good idea except I got a mosquito bite on my eyelid while sleeping. Thank goodness I brought an Afterbite Ammonia pen, works great at making mosquito bites stop itching and go down slightly.
The next morning, a little fishing by Taylor resulted in many fish, but all were small. All catch and release. I shot pics at sunrise with my Canon, but the cloudless skies we had the whole trip would only produce faint puffs in the night that dissipated at sunrise, so the pics suffered.
Next it was 4 miles to Cirque of the Towers, with a decent amount of elevation gain, past many beautiful lakes and flowers and peaks.
^ Sunrise Pinnacle? and North Lake with a delicious clear stream flowing in.
After North Lake, you have options for how to get around Arrowhead Lake. You can walk right of it and go over a fairly high elevation gain granite pass, or left and go over a flat but scrambley boulder field. I didn't know, so I went right, while Taylor went left. After this, there is another choice, ascend Jackass Pass to the right or go left and have a leisurely walk into the cirque. I was tired from the difficult bypass while he had energy front the easy boulder field, so he went over Jackass and I took the easy way.
^Above Arrowhead lake, notice how it looks like an arrowhead....
After this we had a little trouble regrouping in the cirque, but once we found each other it was a lazy evening and morning of just hanging out in the most amazing mountain area I've been in. The cirque is crisscrossed with so many streams and rivulets, full of a rainbow of wildflowers, and has two delightful waterfalls in it. The granite walls all around remind of Yosemite mixed with Zion without the people.
^ Just getting into the cirque
^ Wildflowers out in force near lonesome lake
^Lonesome Lake and Pingora peak
I have some pics of our awesome camp, but I don't have them right now, but it was great.
At the crack of dawn I got up to try to get my wall hanger shot, but this morning the faint little morning clouds weren't where I wanted them, so I just tried to get something in any direction. Ultimately didn't get the shot I wanted, but that's just a good excuse to go back
^ Mitchell peak above the pool that flows into the waterfall with orange skies. All these shots are stitched panos because the scenery is so much bigger than my 16mm lens.
^ Spinning around in the same spot as the last shot .
^ Warbonnet over waterfall
^ The shot I wanted to have great clouds with but got none
^Rainbows of wildflowers everywhere
After these pics, I went back to sleep for a bit. We woke up and visited a lake that's above some other less photogenic waterfalls upstream from the above. Not sure if it's named, but it was deep blue.
And very, very tasty. The best water I've had
^Yum.
We were surprised to see all kinds of strange critters in the water of this lake that was forming directly from the snowfields and above the tree line. Hmmmm....
After this, we broke camp and headed back to big sandy, where we camped for the 3rd night. We took the easiest routes past arrowhead lake now that we knew about them. There were some fun icebergs in the water...
^ 'bergs in Arrowhead Lake
^Schiestler Peak above Big Sandy lake
The final night was uneventful, but I had to shoot the Milky Way. New moon and no light pollution was awesome!!
Sunday was the day I was sick of backpack food and unending Mosquitos, and I was craving fast food. The 6 miles back to the car from Big Sandy seemed really long, but it was worth it for the Wendys in Green River, WY.
^River flowing from Big Sandy to the parking lot.
On the way back we saw the bird we hit on the way in. Poor guy.
The End.
Featured image for home page:
A while back I went to Cirque Of the Towers with my friend Taylor. We left on Pioneer Day, the 24th. It was basically 4 days and 3 nights, with much of Thursday and Sunday spent driving there.
Day 1, Thursday the 24th was spent making the surprisingly reasonable drive out to the Winds. We hit a bird on the way there, which was about all that was memorable about the drive. Wyoming has a lot of big, empty and boring areas to drive through on the way.
We got there fairly late, maybe 6:30 PM, and arrived at the vehicle filled Big Sandy trailhead parking area. We had enough time to hike the 6 miles to Big Sandy Lake and arrive just as the sun went down. The hike is long but very flat, so it wasn't too bad.
Sunset at Big Sandy^
We were too lazy to set up the tent, so we just slept on the ground. That was a fairly good idea except I got a mosquito bite on my eyelid while sleeping. Thank goodness I brought an Afterbite Ammonia pen, works great at making mosquito bites stop itching and go down slightly.
The next morning, a little fishing by Taylor resulted in many fish, but all were small. All catch and release. I shot pics at sunrise with my Canon, but the cloudless skies we had the whole trip would only produce faint puffs in the night that dissipated at sunrise, so the pics suffered.
Next it was 4 miles to Cirque of the Towers, with a decent amount of elevation gain, past many beautiful lakes and flowers and peaks.
^ Sunrise Pinnacle? and North Lake with a delicious clear stream flowing in.
After North Lake, you have options for how to get around Arrowhead Lake. You can walk right of it and go over a fairly high elevation gain granite pass, or left and go over a flat but scrambley boulder field. I didn't know, so I went right, while Taylor went left. After this, there is another choice, ascend Jackass Pass to the right or go left and have a leisurely walk into the cirque. I was tired from the difficult bypass while he had energy front the easy boulder field, so he went over Jackass and I took the easy way.
^Above Arrowhead lake, notice how it looks like an arrowhead....
After this we had a little trouble regrouping in the cirque, but once we found each other it was a lazy evening and morning of just hanging out in the most amazing mountain area I've been in. The cirque is crisscrossed with so many streams and rivulets, full of a rainbow of wildflowers, and has two delightful waterfalls in it. The granite walls all around remind of Yosemite mixed with Zion without the people.
^ Just getting into the cirque
^ Wildflowers out in force near lonesome lake
^Lonesome Lake and Pingora peak
I have some pics of our awesome camp, but I don't have them right now, but it was great.
At the crack of dawn I got up to try to get my wall hanger shot, but this morning the faint little morning clouds weren't where I wanted them, so I just tried to get something in any direction. Ultimately didn't get the shot I wanted, but that's just a good excuse to go back
^ Mitchell peak above the pool that flows into the waterfall with orange skies. All these shots are stitched panos because the scenery is so much bigger than my 16mm lens.
^ Spinning around in the same spot as the last shot .
^ Warbonnet over waterfall
^ The shot I wanted to have great clouds with but got none
^Rainbows of wildflowers everywhere
After these pics, I went back to sleep for a bit. We woke up and visited a lake that's above some other less photogenic waterfalls upstream from the above. Not sure if it's named, but it was deep blue.
And very, very tasty. The best water I've had
^Yum.
We were surprised to see all kinds of strange critters in the water of this lake that was forming directly from the snowfields and above the tree line. Hmmmm....
After this, we broke camp and headed back to big sandy, where we camped for the 3rd night. We took the easiest routes past arrowhead lake now that we knew about them. There were some fun icebergs in the water...
^ 'bergs in Arrowhead Lake
^Schiestler Peak above Big Sandy lake
The final night was uneventful, but I had to shoot the Milky Way. New moon and no light pollution was awesome!!
Sunday was the day I was sick of backpack food and unending Mosquitos, and I was craving fast food. The 6 miles back to the car from Big Sandy seemed really long, but it was worth it for the Wendys in Green River, WY.
^River flowing from Big Sandy to the parking lot.
On the way back we saw the bird we hit on the way in. Poor guy.
The End.
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