WESTERN WYOMING

MIDDLE FORK LAKE

AUGUST 2022

LAKE DONNA

DREAM LAKE

MIDDLE FORK LAKE

PRONGHORN PEAK

LEE LAKE

PRONGHORN PEAK

MIDDLE FORK LAKE

MIDDLE FORK BASIN FROM THE OUTLET TO BEWMARK LAKE

I accessed the Middle Fork Basin via a three-night backpacking trip beginning at the Scab Creek Trailhead. The first day we hiked about ten miles to Dream Lake where we spent the night. While long, the trail to Dream Lake is pleasant, as it passes by several lakes and lily-covered ponds, and doesn't make any real steep climbs. The first eight miles or so are through the forest, after which the view opens up as you enter a river basin with views to the distant peaks.

After spending the night at Dream Lake, we continued up the trail to Rainbow Lake and on to Middle Fork Lake, where we spent the second night. All of the hard work up to this point finally pays off when you enter the Middle Fork Basin. This basin was amazing, with Nylon Peak, Pronghorn Peak and Dragon Head Peak framing Middle Fork Lake and Lee Lake.

After setting up camp, we made our way up to Bewmark Lake, which required a pretty rough scramble along the side of its outlet cascading down to Middle Fork Lake. While Bewmark wasn't quite as pretty as I was hoping, it did provide some impressive views down to Middle Fork and Lee Lake below. We only saw one other hiker while we were in Middle Fork Basin, and it appeared we were the only ones spending the night there.

On the third day, we made our way to Lee Lake, and climbed the pass to Lake Donna. This took some effort, as there is no trail, and a lot of bushes and boulders to work your way through. Lake Donna was incredible with boulders surrounding its shore and Pronghorn Peak directly behind it. Probably one of my five favorite lakes I've been to. From Lake Donna we climbed another pass and made a steep descent down to Bonneville Lake, which we were able to enjoy only briefly before it began to rain on us.

The basin below Bonneville Lake looked really pleasant, but we weren't really able to enjoy it with the rain coming down. We continued down the trail fairly quickly back to Dream Lake, where the rain eventually let up long enough for us to get our tents set up. We started a fire to dry up a bit and called it a night before the long, ten-mile slog back to the trailhead the following morning.

CIRQUE OF THE TOWERS

SEPTEMBER 2010 & SEPTEMBER 2016

PAPOOSE LAKE

THE MONOLITH

PINGORA PEAK

CIRQUE OF THE TOWERS

BEAR LAKE

ARROWHEAD LAKE

CIRQUE OF THE TOWERS

HIDDEN LAKE

WATERFALL ABOVE LONESOME LAKE

LIZARD HEAD MEADOW

PINGORA PEAK AND LONESOME LAKE

JESSE IN THE CIRQUE

The shortest route to the Cirque of the Towers is via the Big Sandy Trailhead, near the town of Boulder, Wyoming. Be sure to bring good directions to the trailhead. Also, the road can get a little rough towards the end, but you can make it in a low-clearance vehicle if you're careful. The first time I hiked Cirque of the Towers in September 2010, I camped at Big Sandy Lake, about five-and-a-half miles from the trailhead, and day-hiked into the basin the next day. It was really nice being able to trek through the steep pass into and out of the Cirque without a heavy backpack on. On your way through Jack Ass Pass, you will pass by North Lake and Arrowhead Lake. After arriving in the Cirque, we stopped by Lonesome Lake and followed the trail along its outlet to Lizard Head Meadow before returning to our camp at Big Sandy Lake.

The next time I hiked it in September of 2016, my group camped at Big Sandy Lake the first night, but then decided to backpack into the Cirque and set up camp near Lonesome Lake the second night in order to have more time to explore the area. After getting set up, we followed the trail down the North Popo Agie River to Papoose Lake. There is no trail leading to Papoose Lake from the main trail, so you will need to watch your map carefully to know where to cut through the forest. Of all the lakes I've visited in my life, Papoose Lake is definitely one my favorite. The Monolith shoots up directly behind it, giving it a very majestic backdrop. There is also another lake directly behind Papoose Lake even closer to the Monolith we didn't quite make it to that I would love to come back and visit one day.

On the way back to camp, we also took the side trail to the Bear Lakes, which were also quite beautiful. On our way out of the Cirque the next day, we attempted to hike to Cirque Lake, which I bet is incredible considering where it is located. However, I misread the map and led our group up the wrong route. Having missed Cirque Lake and the lake above Papoose has me thinking I may have to return some day to see them.

DEEP LAKE

SEPTEMBER 2010 & SEPTEMBER 2016

DEEP LAKE

ABOVE CLEAR LAKE

CLEAR LAKE

TEMPLE LAKE

BIG SANDY RIVER

Deep Lake is one of my favorite lakes. As soon as I first saw an image of it, I made plans to visit. I personally prefer the Clear/Deep/Temple Lake area to the nearby Cirque of the Towers, and it takes a lot less effort to get to. The first time I visited Deep Lake in September of 2010 I was a bit rushed. We had drove to the Big Sandy Trailhead that morning from Salt Lake, hiked five-and-a-half miles to Big Sandy Lake where we set up camp, and then decided to try running up to Deep Lake and back before it got dark.

The Deep Lake Trail is not well marked so watch your map very carefully. Big Sandy Lake has several inlets coming in on its north end, and we mistakenly followed the inlet coming out of Rapid Lake thinking we were headed to Deep Lake. We followed the inlet of Rapid Lake (which we assumed was Clear Lake) to what we thought was Deep Lake (really Miller Lake). Realizing that the lake I thought was Deep Lake was too small to be Deep Lake, I looked at my map again and discovered that we had come up the Rapid Lake/Miller Lake Trail. Luckily, Miller Lake is not too far from Temple Lake and Deep Lake, so we continued on up the basin past Temple Lake and over a ridge to Deep Lake. Both of these lakes were very stunning. We didn't arrive at Deep Lake until dusk and were only able to get a few shots of it before it started to get dark. From Deep Lake we hurried on to Clear Lake with the help of a flashlight and some headlamps. Clear Lake seemed nice, but was too dark for us to get any photographs of it. We finally found our camp at about nine o'clock that night.

When I visited again in September of 2016, I had more time to enjoy the area. This time we had camped on the north end of Big Sandy Lake, and again I led our group up the wrong path to Deep Lake (didn't learn my lesson from the previous trip). This time we accidentally followed the inlet to Joe Lake. Fortunately, Joe Lake is not too far from Clear Lake, so we followed some make-shift trails (it appeared many other hikers had made the same mistake as us) over the ridge and down to Clear Lake. Clear Lake was amazing, and from there you just follow its inlet up to Deep Lake. After enjoying Deep Lake for a while, we climbed the ridge over to Temple Lake and then down past Rapid and Miller Lakes before arriving back at Big Sandy Lake. This entire hike was amazing. One of my personal favorites.

TITCOMB BASIN

SEPTEMBER 2009 & SEPTEMBER 2017

UPPER TITCOMB LAKE

OUTLET TO UPPER TITCOMB LAKE

BOB'S TOWER AND MIRIAM PEAK AT THE TOP OF TITCOMB BASIN

UPPER TITCOMB LAKE AND THE BUTTRESS

MISTAKE LAKE

INDIAN BASIN

ISLAND LAKE

POND BELOW ISLAND LAKE

SENECA LAKE

The trail to Titcomb Basin begins at the Elkhart Park Trailhead near Fremont Lake, just outside the town of Pinedale, Wyoming. Its about 12 miles total to get from the trailhead to the top of Titcomb Basin.The first six miles of the hike from Elkhart Park to Seneca Lake are through some fairly standard Rocky Mountain Forest. Its pretty, but nothing extraordinary. However, from Seneca Lake on the scenery is amazing.

On my first trip to Titcomb Basin, in September of 2009, I camped at Seneca Lake and day-hiked into the Basin on the second day. About two miles past Seneca Lake you will arrive at Island Lake, and from there it is just a couple more miles to Titcomb Basin. Titcomb Basin is a very long, flat basin with several large bodies of water in it and a rushing creek connecting them. At the end of the basin are several peaks over 13,000 feet high. I ended up hiking all the way to the end of the basin to near the base of Bob's Tower. It was beautiful. There was a light rain coming down, so the air was clear and everything was wet. Eventually the Basin filled with clouds which blocked the surrounding peaks. I was lucky on this trip, as the rain stayed light during the day, and only came down hard during the nights when I was in my tent.

When I visited again in September of 2017, it was warm and sunny, and the sky was a bit hazy from forest fire smoke. On this trip I slept at Seneca Lake the first night, and Island Lake the second night. To see some new scenery, I visited Indian Basin on my way to Titcomb Basin. This area was impressive. Its a bit of a climb to Indian Basin, and half way up I wasn't sure if it was worth the extra exertion. However, after arriving at the first lake I was glad I had come. I would have loved to have visited all of the lakes and explored the area more, but we had to save time for Titcomb Basin later than afternoon. After visiting Upper Titcomb Lake, we decided to throw in Mistake Lake, which is located just above Titcomb Lake on a ridge below Fremont Peak, before returning back to our camp at Island Lake.

MOUNT HOOKER

SEPTEMBER 2019

MOUNT HOOKER

BAPTISTE LAKE

MAYS LAKE

AMBUSH PEAK

AMBUSH VALLEY

ENTERING AMBUSH VALLEY

AMBUSH VALLEY "M"

RAID PEAK

SHADOW LAKE

We began our hike to Mount Hooker at the Big Sandy Trailhead, near the town of Boulder, Wyoming. To get to Mount Hooker, you will take a left near the beginning of the trail to leave the Big Sandy River and follow the Continental Divide Trail past Dads Lake and Marms Lake. After about eight miles, you will come to Washakie Creek. We decided to take a right at Washakie Creek, and set up camp along the creek before running up to check out Shadow Lake before it got dark. We actually did run most of the way to the lake trying to get there before it got too dark. Shadow Lake is amazing, and we were able to get some good shots of it, and then decided to run up to Billys Lake, only about a half-mile further up. We got here just as it was starting to get dark. I really loved this area, and wished we had more time to explore, as there are two more lakes just above Billys Lake that look like they would amazing. These lakes are all located just behind the Cirque of the Towers, so they have a really stunning backdrop. After checking out Billy's we hiked back to our campsite in the dark using headlamps and flashlights.

The next morning we continued up the trail past Skull Lake and Mays Lake, and set up camp at Pyramid Lake. Once set up, we day-hiked over to Ambush Valley to check out the lakes and peaks there. This area was amazing. I really enjoyed the views approaching this valley, and visiting the lakes along the base of the mountains.

The next morning, we packed up and hiked down to Mays Lake, where we hid our packs along the trail and and day-hiked up through Haily Pass. It wasn't too bad of a hike up to Haily Pass from Mays Lake, and there a couple nice lakes located near the top. However, the drop down from Haily Pass to Mount Hooker was pretty brutal. This was a very steep drop, with no official trail. There were some paths to follow, but they were a bit rough. Once down, it was also some tough going to get to the lake at the base of Mount Hooker. There was no trail, and the area was covered in rocks, boulders and bushes, which made it difficult to maneuver through.

The view was amazing once we made it to the lake. From here we decided to hike up to Baptiste Lake, which was a long, steep climb over some boulders. The views at Baptiste Lake were amazing. After enjoying the area, we found a trail along the outlet to Baptiste Lake that took up most of the way back to Haily Pass. We then continued down the trail to Washakie Creek where we spent our last night before returning to the trailhead.