This hike took place while I was working in Pierre, SD for South Dakota Department of Water and Natural Resources. I had met Craig at the Homestake Mine in SD’s Black Hills in 1982 while I working as a graduate student on my MS thesis, and he was working as a mine geologist. We had kept in touch, and did some hiking together after I moved to Pierre. The Black Hills are a wonderful place to hike, but lack the high alpine areas of the higher ranges in the Rocky Mountains. But just few hours drive to the west is the Bighorn Range. At the heart of the Bighorns is the 189,000 acre Cloud Peak Wilderness with 13,000 foot peaks, high mountain lakes, and fantastic alpine scenery.
But
as much as the Bighorn Mountains overshadow the Black Hills, the Bighorns are
overlooked in their home state. It’s tough to compete in Wyoming with world
class destinations like Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks, or the
nearly 100 mile long Wind River Range.
I’d
already made one long trip to the Winds, and was hoping that our trip to the
Bighorns could provide that same euphoria of high peaks, alpine lakes, and
remote wilderness. The Bighorns delivered. Over the seven years that I lived in
South Dakota, I made 13 trips to the Bighorns, and visited most of the heart of
the range accessible to non-technical climbers. And when it came time for Jean
and I to go on long trips together in the mountains, the Bighorns was one of
the first places we visited. (1999 Bighorns)
For
our first visit, our goal was to hike a partly off trail loop described in the trail
guide by Melius through the heart of the southern half of the wilderness, and
to climb Cloud Peak, the high point of the range.
Medicine Cabin Park.
9-13-86
Hunters Corral to Seven Brothers Lake, 7 miles
We
left Lead at 8AM and got to the Hunters Corral Trailhead on the east side of
the Bighorns NF at 12:45 with a stop in Spearfish for breakfast, and one in
Buffalo for lunch. There were four cars and a group of horse packers at the trailhead,
but we only saw one day hiker on the trail.
We
lumbered out with heavy packs, guessed to be in the 60 lbs. range. The weather
was ideal, I hiked in shorts all day. I felt good, no sore spots and was not as
tired as I expected. Despite our faith in the guidebook, I found two small
errors in the description of the trail junctions. The trails were in good
shape. The first three miles were on old road through Buffalo Park, and the
last four miles on Trail 45 into Seven Brothers Lake were rocky. Our sky clouded over in
the afternoon, but the air warmed just after sunset.
Craig
was a little more pooped than I, but he had a very heavy pack and wasn’t used
to carrying it. He had only been on two overnight hikes, so this trip would be
a lot different for him. I wasn’t sure what to tell him to bring, as I really
didn’t know what our conditions would be.
It
was cold by the time we set up camp. There was one other party at Seven
Brothers. Craig had a new 3-man $50- tent from target that we used the first
night. I had my clip flashlight as a backup. My stove was working poorly, but a
hot meal wasn’t on the menu. Cantaloupe were in season, and Craig had brought several.
I was shocked, it was hard to imagine carrying anything with a higher weight to
nourishment ratio. I was embarrassed that I hadn’t helped him food shop. We ate
as much of the cantaloupe as we could, and hoped the stove would be working
well the next day.
After
dinner, we took a short stroll to check out the peaks west of us in the Seven
Brothers Basin and up towards Frozen Basin. Our route the next day would be the
crux of the trip, west over the crest of the range, and without a trail. Snow
line looked to be at 10-11,000’, we’d be going higher than that. Later that night we watched a beautiful
thunderstorm to our south that had the consideration to dump its rain elsewhere.
9-14-86,
To Mirror Lake, 8.75 miles
We
were up at 7 and had broken camp by 8 with temps in the high 30s. It started
raining as soon as we left, and I feared we’d be in for a rough day. The rain
soon quit, but the clouds were moving so fast it was hard to tell what the
weather would bring. We followed an unofficial route south toward Lake
Angeline, up and over ridge 10,205’. The route was marked by cairns, and was well
described in the Melius guide. We intersected Trail 88 coming in from the North
Fork, and followed it to Angeline.
At
Lake Angeline we debated trying to climb one of the nearby 12,000 footers, but
the weather seemed too unstable to risk an extra summit trip. Our route went
north of Angeline up a ridge topped by peak 11,476. It was a tough climb over a
long boulder field, but the wind kept us cool. In a major breakthrough I’d
convinced Craig to hike in shorts. Now I was nervous he’d get cold, but the
exertion kept us both warm enough. It was too cold to linger on 11,476’, so we
headed west down the boggy tableland toward the drainage of Middle Tensleep
Creek. This high elevation meadow is one of the nicest walks in the range, if
you discount the rough footing, and the lack of a trail. It would be especially
beautiful during the spring flower bloom. Going downhill it was a chilly walk,
even wearing my wool jacket and gloves. Somewhere along the way I broke my
watch, by trying to jam it through a tight strap on my pack.
Lower
down we followed an unnamed stream until we intersected the trail to Lost Twin
Lakes. The campsites at Lost Twin are among the most magnificent in the range.
I would stay there twice on later trips, but this time we would pass them by.
Once on the trail it was an easy two miles to the west end of Mirror Lake,
where we set up camp. After our bushwhacking and boulder hopping, I had some
repair to do on my boots. My left boot had sprouted a hole on my Pacific Crest Trail
trip in July, and my rubber cement patch needed fixing. The right boot looking
likely to fail next. On the upside, my stove (my Svea 123 dating back to the
Appalachian Trail) was working well. I needed to clean, fill, and prime it
before every use, a ritual I probably should have been doing already. We had
the normally heavily used lake to ourselves and enjoyed another warm evening,
capped off by a brief slush storm right at dusk.
9-15-86,
To Upper Paint Rock Creek, 11 miles
We
had a long day planned to put us in place for our climb on Cloud Peak. We again
woke to a clear sky, then had another brief thunder and lightning storm. Our
weather on this trip was far more erratic that the typical Bighorns summer
weather. Summer mornings and evenings are usually clear, but a late afternoon
storm arrives almost like clockwork. I guess this was just hint that we were
out of the preferred weather window for the alpine part of the Bighorns.
Upper Paint Rock Creek Campsite.
We
cooked up oatmeal for breakfast and broke camp in shorts and flannel shirts. We
had an easy three mile hike to the West Tensleep Trailhead, spotting two deer
along the way. West Tensleep is the usual trailhead for Cloud Peak, and one of
the most popular in the range. But we were doing a loop, and had chosen to
start at Hunters Corral, as it required the shortest drive. There were two cars
at the trailhead. We talked with a guy carrying a movie camera who said he’d
tried to climb Cloud Peak the day before, but had a late start and had gotten
caught in the storms. He hadn’t gotten back to Lake Helen until dark.
Craig at Lake Helen.
The
hike up the West Tensleep Trail is one of the prettiest in the range. First you
skirt the shore of West Tensleep Lake, then walk through a series of meadows
and open forest. By Lake Helen you are back in the alpine zone and pass Lake
Marion before reaching the major junction near the outlet of Mistymoon Lake. Craig
and I had lunch at Lake Helen, it was hard to imagine a more scenic spot. The
skies were clear, and the wind had calmed so I took off my shirt and bagged some
rays. Even though my pack was still huge, and my boots were shot, I felt good
and strong. Despite the hole in my boots I’d had dry feet for three whole
days(!)
At Mistymoon Lkae.
The
rest of the day’s hike was an outstanding trip past a series of mountain lakes,
surrounded by alpine peaks, and with Cloud Peak looming above us. This is one
of those places where you just can’t stop taking pictures. The weather had
seemed to stabilize, so we hoped for the same for our summit day. At Mistymoon
we saw two day hikers who were based at West Tensleep, one of who we’d seen the
day before.
We
passed up camping at Mistymoon for a slightly higher and slightly closer camp
at Upper Paint Rock Creek. A friend from work had told me about the spot and it
was perfect, with easy water and a screen of scrub trees for a wind break.
Dinner was the chicken with noodles flavor of Great Beginnings, which didn’t
quite match up to the beef flavor. That night the moon was so bright that it
was hard to tell when it got “dark.”
9-16-86,
Climb of Cloud Peak, 9.5 miles
By
morning it was overcast with some rainy looking clouds, but the weather cleared
by the time we started. The route up Cloud Peak was unmarked, but well
described in our guidebook. The lower section is easy to follow, but things get
tougher once you reach the southeast ridge, where you begin to feel the
altitude.
Cairn on the Cloud Peak hike.
After
a narrow spot on the ridge at around 12,400’ feet we were above the snow line.
It was much harder walking through the snow, but we had great views into the
Wilderness Basin and to the southeast. The summit of Cloud Peak is a broad
unglaciated plateau, and a bit of a surprise. Though Cloud Peak is the highest
in the range, both Black Tooth to the north, and another peak to the NW looked
higher. But the views of the rugged range to the north and down to Glacier Lake
on the east face are as spectacular as anything in Wyoming.
Wilderness Basin from the southeast ridge of Cloud Peak.
Despite
being an avowed peak bagger, only my ascents of the Colorado 14er standbys
Grays and Torrey were higher then than Cloud Peak at 13,164’ (and 11,746’ for
that matter) on my life list. The Wyoming 13ers are a big contrast to the much
better known Colorado 14ers. While the 14ers are almost all walkups, the 13ers
are almost all technical climbs, depending on your definitions. The 46 or so
14ers are scattered across a number of rangers while 31 of the 35 or so 13ers
are clustered in the center of the Wind River Range. Two other 13ers are solo
peaks, the Grand Teton and Francs Peak in the Absorakas. The Bighorns have the
last two, Cloud Peak and Black Tooth. Black Tooth and its partner Mt Woolsey
are technical climbs which I never attempted. I would eventually climb ten
different peaks in the Bighorns including four “12ers” and made one other climb
to Cloud Peak to balance out one other failed attempt.
Craig on Cloud Peak with view of Black Tooth and Woolsey.
There was a USGS marker loosely in place at the summit. As we explored around
the top, storm clouds began forming, and the temperature began to drop. We cut
short our visit and headed down, with me wearing both a wool shirt and sweater
after reaching the summit in just a flannel shirt. The walk down was tough as
well, but we had better luck following cairns with the advantage of looking
down. We spent a little of our time fixing cairns and building a few new ones.
Cairns were acceptable route markers in the wilderness at the time. Fortunately,
my knees didn’t hurt on the descent, but my ass was sure dragging.
Summit of Cloud Peak.
My
right boot held up through the climb, but I expected it to blow out sometime
the next day. I was very sore after the climb, probably as much from the
descent. We’d done a shorter distance without our packs vs. the first three
days, but I guess the climb made a big difference.
Glacier Lake from Cloud Peak.
Back
in camp we split the last of our supply of Old Granddad, which went straight to
our heads. We had about 16 easy miles to cover over the next two days, which
would be a great walk if the weather held.
After dinner we walked to a small lake about ¾ of a mile to the east.
Prior campers had left a frisbee and waterbag, so we cleaned those up. The lake
was too pretty let it be trashed. The evening did its usual warm up, which we
spent by playing frisbee by the alluvial fan near the falls.
Craig descending Cloud Peak.
9-17-86,
Hunters Corral via Florence Pass and Soldier Park, 15.2 miles
This
was probably our coldest night of the trip with frost and frozen water bottles.
We cooked another breakfast of oatmeal, and hit the trail wearing all our
clothes. But the hiking warmed us up and by Mistymoon Lake I’d stripped down to
shorts. Craig said he had found some nice campsites just to the west of the
lake and the junction with the Solitude Trail, but Mistymoon just looked too
cold for camping to me.
We
had another beautiful hike from Mistymoon to Florence Pass. The climbing was
easy, and there was not much wind at the pass. Lake Florence was too rocky to
have camp spots. From the pass we descended down the very steep valley of North
Clear Creek. The upper valley was just one long avalanche chute. There was no
way I would go up in there during winter. The Solitude Trail was in great
shape. A crew had taken the time to build a great trail tread through what was essentially
a long boulder field.
Upper Paint Rock Falls.
We
soon arrived in Medicine Cabin Park, probably the most scenic valley in the
Bighorns. The long valley was probably once a lake, but long ago filled in with
sediment. We had great views back to Bomber Mountain and the Mather Peaks to
the southwest. Most of the rest of the hike out was through the woods, with a
few small, open parks. We saw a group of four out hunting elk, but we did not
imagine they would have much luck. 
Florence Pass.
We
left the Solitude Trail for #24, which was also in good shape, and passed north
of the Seven Brothers. By the time we reached Soldier Park we were close enough
to the trailhead that we decided to hike all the way out and drive into
Buffalo. It was early enough that there didn’t seem to be any reason to camp
three miles from the trailhead. I felt a little guilty about not staying out
the entire week, but I could tell Craig also wanted to head in.
Map of 1986 and 1999 Bighorns trail loops.
We
ended up staying in Buffalo with the plan for day hiking the next day if the
weather held, or to go back to Lead if it did not. The next day brought heavy rain,
so we drove back to the Black Hills with a stop at Devils Tower to hike the Red
Beds Trail and the Prairie Dog Town loop, and hiked up Harney Peak the
following day.
