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.
