The real reason I came on this backpacking trip was to see the Cirque of the Towers. I had seen awesome pictures from other people and wanted to see it for myself. I was not disappointed. And pictures probably don't do it justice. The Cirque is gorgeous.
We woke up and ate breakfast. This was a day hike and so we were able to leave our heavy packs behind and hike really light. That was soooooooo nice. The terrain was uphill for three miles so it was great to just have a day pack. And not just a little uphill we were hiking the steep stuff and at a high elevation. It was a good workout just as a day hike. We left camp and headed towards Jackass Pass.
We gained lots of elevation right out of camp and then walked through a beautiful meadow towards another pass.
Our first views of the first lake we were going to pass. This is looking down on North Lake
This is looking back at North Lake.
After we passed North Lake we started to climb again. Saying goodbye to North Lake.
The views were amazing and we got to watch as the Cirque got closer and closer.
I think at this point we thought we had gone over the pass.............we were wrong. We climbed down to arrowhead lake and then back up to go over Jackass Pass. It was a long steep climb. I was grateful I didn't have a full pack.
The view from the pass looking down on Lonesome Lake.
Then we headed down to the lake, knowing we would get to climb back out later in the day:)
Lonesome Lake is very big and a popular place for backpackers to stay. This area of the Windriver range also has a lot of rock climbing so we saw lots of people hiking with all their climbing gear.
Getting closer to the lake.
Views from down by the lake.
We hiked a little further towards Lizard meadows. Not sure if we made it. When my apple watch dinged 5 miles we stopped and had lunch next to the river. After lunch we headed back to camp. We lost the trail a few times on the way back and so we took a little different route back to camp. The trail was more rugged this way. There are not a lot of signs in this area of the Windriver range and so even with a map it was easy to get off course. Luckily we knew the general direction. We made it safely back to camp in time for a nap.
I had an awesome hour and a half nap. It was still pretty early in the day and so we decided to hike to clear lake so we weren't bored all evening. The hike to clear lake is like hiking up squaw peak. Once you started to go uphill you went straight uphill. It was a calf burner for sure.It was only 1.5 miles from camp.
The meadow next to the lake was very brown. That was really suprising.
The lake was beautiful. Lots of people were camping close by.
I was pushing to go further and check out Blue Lake as well but Amber reigned me in. It was dinner time so we needed to head back to camp. The views on the way back were amazing.
This ended up being a great hiking day. We saw so much beauty and enjoyed cooler mountain temperatures. It was so nice. We headed back to camp to bathe in the freezing lake and have dinner.
The problem with backpacking is you usually can't have fires so once it is dark you are stuck in your tent. It really is a bummer. So then I end up with tent selfies.
It was rather chilly in the evenings. We were sleeping at around 10,000 feet so I bundled up at night. I should have slept great because we had hiked all day and physically I was exhausted. But you know every little sound is a bear coming to attack you so I never sleep great. Oh well!
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