I finished tying my shoe in the back of the van just as the black brooding sky unleashed the rain which had been building all day. It had taken me much longer to drive out 50 miles of dirt road than I had anticipated and now it was 5pm, and pouring rain. This is Wyoming mountain rain though, and so far my experience was that it never lasted more than a few minutes. So I sat down, fully packed and dressed, to read my book and wait for it to end. The minutes dragged on as the patter patter on my roof continued and some thunder rolled in the distance. At 7:15 the rain stopped and the evening sun broke through. I began a conversation with myself about the feasibility of just day hiking into the Cirque of the Towers. If I leave tonight my gear will likely get wet again, I’ll only make it 3ish miles before sunset on a trail I’m unfamiliar with, and the pups and I are so strong we can make it 16ish miles.

So, I unpacked my backpacking gear, repacked for a day trip, and went to sleep early so we could set out at sunrise.

We were up and skipping down beautiful wet, well-marked, easy trail before 7am. I passed a few wet, cold, grumpy-looking groups headed to their cars, and congratulated myself on making such a good decision. I was dry, my pack was nearly empty, and we were motivated! The first 5 miles of the trip is a heavily used trail to beautiful big Sandy Lake hemmed in by big mountains. There were many tents scattered around the lake when I arrived at 9am and I stopped for a snack and to grab some water for the big climb. I had met a guy earlier this week while I was in Titcomb who had just hiked this trail, and he had warned me that Jackass Pass was no joke. I was feeling strong and we had all day to climb what I thought was 3 more miles up to the Cirque and then wander back.

We climbed up steep switchbacks and the terrain immediately changed as the trees fell away. Granite piles, boulders, and jagged peaks surrounded us. It was breathtaking. The trail became more and more difficult to find and I had to rely on cairns to find our way through the rocks. Hallie couldn’t see the “trail” but wouldn’t cede to my knowledge so we argued about which way to go. Some places were more a scramble and I had to lift each dog up and them climb up after them.

This pass just went on and on. Steep climbs followed by plateaus, and then more climbing and route finding. Finally we crested what seemed like the top of the pass, and looked out on half of the Cirque. It was still morning and clouds were blowing by the peaks. And there was a big hill blocking my view. Damn it. I watched a couple a mile, 2 miles?, away walking around the hill and toward me. “I think we have to go over there to see it properly”, I told the dogs, who were busy hunting marmots and pika.

So we walked DOWN, steeply, and then back up and around.

The view was. . . WORTH IT.

I sank to the ground and cried out my gratitude for getting to be here, and I listened to the chorus of mountain song that circled around me until I was shivering from cold and emotion. It was lunchtime and I was worried about Hallie making it back to the car, so we turned and headed back.

It was just as hard on the way back down.

I made a deal with Hallie, that if she could make it down the pass, I’d gladly carry her the final 5 miles of easy trail back to the car. A deal I later told her I wasn’t going to be able to follow through on.

yeah, that’s the trail. what do you mean you can’t see the trail? It’s obviously over, around, and through these giant boulders!

Both dogs out walked me that day. They trotted along sniffing and bounding and looking like the strong capable hikers they’d spent all summer becoming. I was so proud of them and very grateful I didn’t have to carry them, because I was BEAT. We saw a moose by the river, and passed several groups of other hikers. One group asked where we’d gone today and when I told them we’d been to the Cirque and were headed back to the trailhead. They looked incredulous and impressed. I beamed and zoomed by them, intent on making it before I collapsed.

We walked, Ok I stumbled, back into the parking lot at 4pm on the dot. My gps said we had done 19 miles with 6,000ft of elevation gain, by 4pm. Above 10,000ft. WE ARE HIKING MACHINES I sang to the puppies and did a little limping-hop-dance with my trekking poles!

The Cirque of the Towers is incredible! Go see it! Spend the night out there;) day hiking it is kinda dumb and it’s really really pretty out there. Wyoming mountains are incredible, and I’m so glad this butt-kicker of a hike was my farewell hike in the Wind River Range.