[Day 74] The Winds

Exhausted from my town exit, I slowly assembled my items this morning. I exited Sweetwater Guard Station Campground bummed out with a sore throat. My camera powers on, but the lense is awash with internal dew and the telescoping zoom sticks. I can hear the motor stalling. There might be a chance at recovery, but it’s going to need time sitting rice and a potential proceeding tear down.

Capturing the landscape such that I might retain a glimpse and share it with others has become part of the journey. Many people will never have the passion, means, or opportunity to engage with such a place. Anyway, I reminded myself it’s just a possession, and I kept my head up. I am delving into the miraculous Wind River Range.

With an early, steep bump over 10,000 feet this morning, the trail pointed out how accustomed I’d become to the relative flatness of the Basin over the past week. It was some slow climbing.

Trail dropped me down to Little Sandy Lake and the turn for the Cirque of the Towers Alternate. Alternating from the western CDT, the Cirque route goes into higher alpine territory of the Winds. Notably, the route passes the Cirque of the Towers, a glacial gouge in the landscape near Lonesome Lake surrounded by exquisite pinnacles.

Climbing from around 9,500 feet, a long ascent from Little Sandy Lake began burdened with blowdowns from a terrorizing storm a couple years ago. I was through it in a brutal few miles, and like the 1,600 miles behind me, it was old news.

The valley climb was stunning, following alongside Little Sandy Creek. Approaching Temple Pass, I was in awe at the granite ridges, spires, and domes. Temple Pass had quarter mile of steep snowfields on the approach, but I managed with my tread-less trail runners and poles.

Spectacular views appeared over the north side of Temple Pass. Temple Lake might be the deepest blue I’ve seen in a body of water. I slid on my butt down much of the snowfield on the north side to the lake. At the base of the pass, Temple Peak stood like vertical behemoth. Atop the pass, the perspective of this mountain was much reduced. Temple Pass would remain a prominent feature of the skyline the rest of the day. Northbound, the features of the Cirque of the Towers sprouted like little seedlings. I needed to get closer.

I cruised alongside Temple Lake, wading its shoreline where steep snowfields kept me off the land. I numbed my feet to the point of no feeling; what did I expect walking nearly a quarter mile in a lake still mostly frozen over?

Trail dropped below 10,000 feet at Big Sandy Lake. I navigated around to the other side of the lake where some other backpackers were camped. They threw me some scouting information about Texas Pass, though none of them tried to go over it. Texas Pass will be at the top of the agenda tomorrow. It’s north side is within the top five steepest grades of the entire trail.

I moved along from Big Sandy Lake to get myself most the way up the climb to Jackass Pass (great name for a pass, but not sure of the origin). With an excellent view of the Cirque, a clear view of the sky, and excellent rock cove wind protection, I called camp. These endearing mountains already have my love (shhh, don’t tell the Sierra), and I’ve only scratched the surface.

Signing off,

Zeppelin / fReaK (ON a leash)