This part of the Wind River Mountains has fascinated me for years, but I only have ever seen it by air. The cirque is the bowl-shaped circle of peaks in the center of the photo taken a couple of days ago from an airliner. In the 1980’s I flew geologist, Charlie Love over it several times as he was getting photos for teaching and research, and I had often dreamed of hiking there.
Unfortunately, I was never able to realize that dream. The round trip hike is more than 24 miles over very rugged terrain with little for a trail marker over the pass. The floor of the cirque is over 10,000 feet elevation and the peaks range from 12,000-13,000 feet. One of its most famous mountains, Pingora Peak, casts a shadow on the right side of the interior of the cirque. Pingora is a Shoshone word for “high, rocky, inaccessible peak,” and at this time it appears that for me it always shall be.
#cirque #cirqueofthetowers #Pingorapeak #windrivermountains
Eskildoodle Photos and Feelings 