An Autumn Day in the Wind Rivers

By Dina Mishev

Yes, it snowed in Wyoming two weeks ago. I’m an optimist though, and I fully believe the few inches of snow that fell in the Tetons and Wind River Range (as well as across much of the rest of the state) will melt before winter comes for real.

If it doesn’t though, memories from an early October hike into the Cirque of the Towers can last me until it melts in June.

But this snow will melt in the next few weeks. I hope.

Teddy Roosevelt famously said the Tetons are “what mountains are supposed to look like.” He obviously never visited the Cirque, in the huge mountain range southeast of the Tetons, the Wind Rivers.

At the base of the Tetons, it is possible to turn your back and have a (fairly) wide-open valley in front of you. In the Cirque, no matter which direction you turn, there are mountains ready to smack you silly with their granitic spires, buttresses, arêtes, ridges, faces, summits, and well, towers.

Standing in the middle of the Cirque, with Pingora rising in front of you, Shark’s Nose is to the left, the Warrior hulks at your back, and Jackass Pass, with Haystack Mountain hiding behind it, rises to your starboard. It’s as close as you can ever get to being embraced by mountains. I get warm fuzzies just thinking about being there.

Nothing against the Tetons, of course. In fact, the Cirque, a nine-mile hike in from the Big Sandy Trailhead southeast of Pinedale, is the only place I’ve found that compares (and doesn’t involve flying across multiple time zones).

And, unlike many places in the Winds, the Cirque isn’t that difficult to get to. Fit hikers can make it in and out in a day.

It’s not that strenuous of a hike. You do have to ascend the 10,760-foot Jackass Pass … but the Big Sandy Trailhead, where you start, is already at 9,150 feet.

A girlfriend and myself were in and out, with a leisurely stop for lunch at the top of the pass, in six hours.

Although the Cirque, which was given its poetic name in 1941 by Frank Garnick, who also, with brother Notsie, named Pingora, is home to around 200 climbing routes, you don’t have to be a climber to appreciate the beauty of the place. (Although if you are a climber, know that the northeast face of Pingora (5.8) and the east ridge of the Wolf's Head (5.6) are included in "Fifty Classic Climbs of North America.")

I’ve seen people back there with fly rods before. Hikers comfortable on rock can scramble up some interesting stuff. It’s perfectly acceptable to merely gawp as well.

If you want to head into the Cirque this fall (or next summer), head for Pinedale on U.S. 191. Coming from Rock Springs, you’ll want to take a right on WY 353 at Boulder, about 10 minutes before you get to Pinedale. Coming from Jackson, go 10 minutes past Pinedale to Boulder, where you’ll take a left on WY 353. You’ll enjoy beautiful new blacktop for 20 miles or so. And then the road becomes dirt, but the kind of dirt road you can go 60 miles per hour on.

Shortly after the road becomes dirt, signs begin to appear. Keep following the ones for Big Sandy Lodge and/or Big Sandy. The last five miles, the condition of the road deteriorates a bit: you’ll want to slow down from 60 miles per hour to 25 or so. Even so, any car can make it. There are no stretches requiring high clearance. When I was there two weeks ago, you should have seen some of the RVs hunters had hauled back there.

The trail to the Cirque is the same one that takes you past Big Sandy Lake. When the trail forks six miles in at Big Sandy Lake, take the left fork up Jackass Pass.

A 14-year resident of Jackson, Dina Mishev is the author of Total Tetons, an app available in the iTunes store. She is also a host of the Wyoming PBS show Wyoming Chronicle and is always looking for interesting people to interview. Email her if you've got any suggestions.