From 1986 through 1993, when I lived in South Dakota’s Black Hills, the nearby Bighorns Mountains of Wyoming were my first choice for heading into the high mountains. The Bighorns have it all, a huge central core of designated wilderness (189,000 acres), an extensive trail system, tall alpine peaks, and exceptional mountain beauty. I made a dozen or so trips into the range, mostly for summer weekend backpacking trips, with some peak bagging on the side. Ever since Jean and I had started hiking together I’d wanted to take her to the Wyoming Mountains so that she could enjoy them as well.
1999 was also the year I had decided to make a career change. Mining geology was unlikely to keep me at home in the future, so I had decided to enroll in the UT MBA program to give me a better background for applying for different types of jobs locally. To ease the transition, I’d decided to give myself part of the summer off. I ‘d driven out to Rocky Mountain NP for some backpacking and then drove up to the Black Hills to mountain bike some of the Mickelson Trail in case I got the opportunity to update my Black Hills trails guide. Jean then flew into Rapid City, and after a break in day we were off to the Bighorns. We planned a loop similar to a five day trip I’d done in 1986 with Craig that would include a side trip to the top of Cloud Peak and a section of off trail hiking. The loop would begin at West Tensleep Campground, go north to Mistymoon lake then east to Medicine Cabin Flats and south to Seven Brothers Lakes before turning west past Lost Twin and Mirror Lakes before returning to West Tensleep.
7-29-99
After hiking up Crow Peak in the Black Hills we drove through Spearfish, SD for supplies, and then to Buffalo, WY where we had a huge, tasty meal at Bozeman’s. It was another hour drive to the Bighorn NF West Tensleep Campground. We found a site, set up camp, and enjoyed the cool mountain air.
7-30-99
We spent part of the morning re-organizing our gear and
talking with a wilderness volunteer at the campground. He stated that there had
been a noticeable increase in traffic into the wilderness since the publication
of an article I’d written on the range in Backpacker Magazine. I doubted that the
story had really had that much influence, but selfishly hoped that the story
had been well read.
Our five day trip would be Jean’s longest ever, and we both
noticed the corresponding increase in weight of our packs. We were surprised to
see a lot of hikers on the trail coming out as we hiked north from Tensleep
toward Mistymoon Lake. Still, we made good progress and arrived at Lake Helen near
tree line in time for lunch. We started to tire as the trail passed lakes
Marion and Mistymoon. Beyond Mistymoon there is one more short climb before you
reach the informal campsites on the upper reaches of Paint Rock Creek. We were
lucky the volunteer had warned us about the crowds. Among the groups scattered
about was a noisy cluster of seven tents pitched near the alluvial fan, and at
least another 9 parties scattered over the valley floor.
We chose a relatively poor site on the bench above the falls
on the east level. To my surprise, the Bighorns usually reliable dinnertime
showers did not materialize. We endured a bit of howling at the moon from our
neighbors, but were tired enough from the load hauling to fall asleep quickly.
Upper Paint Rock Creek 8 miles
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| Jean at Lake Helen |
7-31-99
We awoke to an unusual sight. Instead of the usual clear blue
skies, we had a totally cloudy day. Our plan was to take a day hike to the top
of Cloud Peak. This would be Jean’s highest summit ever. I had been there twice
before, and was confident that we both could make the climb. We thought the
clouds were the remains of a front that had given us two hours of light sleet
and hail early that night. It was an ominous start when Jean got both her boots
wet trying to cross the small creek near camp right at the start. We made good
progress on the start of the climb that follows the very northern fork of Paint
Rock Creek. The route then ascends to the main part of the southeast ridge with
some tricky (at least in the fog) route finding, Generally we were able to find
some cairns and some well-trodden tracks, but we also got side tracked a couple
of times onto rougher ground.
At around 12,000’ the southeast ridge narrows down for the
final climb to the top. The clouds showed no sign of breaking and visibility
was decreasing. I realized that on the descent it would be difficult to retrace
our route down with just a compass as the bearings for the main wide part of
the ridge and the valley that would lead us to our fork of Paint Rock Creek
weren’t that different. Jean is susceptible to altitude sickness and now was
starting feel its effects. About 30
minutes above the narrow point of the ridge we decided to take a break to eat,
and ended up getting chilled. My legs were shaking and my teeth chattering, so
we decided to turn back while the descent route would still be fresh in our
minds.
Considering the time and effort we’d put in to plan and
execute the trip, plus the 3 ½ hours of effort of the days climb, it was a huge
disappointment not making the top. But it was the right choice, continuing on
was dangerous, plus we had three more days of the trip ahead and it would have
been a shame to ruin it by forcing an epic descent.
Even going down, it was tough to find the top of the narrow
ridge section and the route required constant attention. We didn’t drop below
cloud level until we reached the small lakes that form the headwaters of the
creek. The descent ended up taking longer than the climb. We talked with a
woman who had been part of the only party we’d seen earlier on the mountain.
She had turned back in order not to slow up her son and husband. We retired back
to our camp to enjoy the warm red glow of a glorious sunset.
Upper Paint Rock Creek 9 miles
8-1-99
It rained again overnight but our front had passed through
and the morning skies were clear. Our route for the day was to be over Florence
Pass and through Medicine Cabin Flats to Seven Brothers Lake. It took two hours
to reach Florence Pass from Upper Paint Rock, but the walk is one of the
prettiest in the Bighorns. Shear cirque walls are all around and there are
snowfields, moraines, and waterfalls scattered amid an abundance of lakes. We
even spotted a large boulder rolling down the west wall of Florence Canyon. It
took another two hours to reach the creek ford In Medicine Cabin Flats and we
had lunch there. This was Jean’s favorite part of the loop. She badly wanted to
return, camp in the park, and successfully climb Cloud Peak.
In another hour we reached the side trail to Seven Brothers.
We passed several parties along this section including two groups of 10 or so.
Reaching the lakes required another half hour of steep hiking. We found the
last half of the trail to have been rerouted to emerge at the first lake. We
pushed on another half mile to come out at the big campsite on Lake 2, probably
the same spot where I had camped on my first visit in 1986.
We ran into a Boy Scout Troop that had used a shuttle from
the Bighorn Lodge to haul them from West Tensleep to the Hunters Corral Trailhead.
Our hike for the next day would feature two off trail sections, so I scouted
the start of the first section that would take us Lake Angeline, and found the start
marked by a large cairn.
Seven Brothers Lakes 10.5 miles
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| Medicine Cabin Park |
8-2-99
For my Bighorns hiking I used the guidebook written by
Michael Melius to the Cloud Peak Primitive Area published in 1984 (the area
became designated wilderness in that year), which is now long out of print. The
guide had great route descriptions, good maps, and a terrific sense of the
special places in the range. Much of my desire to write a hiking and biking
guide to the Black Hills came from the enjoyment of the Bighorns afforded me by
this book. The book described a route between Seven Brothers and Lake Angeline
and then a cross country hike over point 11,476’ down to Middle Tensleep Creek
at the mouth of the Lost Twin Lakes. I
had used this route in 1986, but it proved to be a tough go for Jean and me.
Jean had recovered from a badly broken leg that allowed her
to hike and backpack nearly at her pre-break level. But I should have realized
after our Cloud Peak adventure that it would be extra difficult for her to
carry a big pack over the huge talus that we would find approaching peak 11,476.
The route to Lake Angeline was torturous at best. A large,
patchy burn obscured much of the trail, which at least at that time was not
shown on any maps. To compound our problem, this was not a straightforward
route, but one of those twisty, turning ones whose course is hard to predict.
Jean is better than I at spotting old trails, and it was often her sharp eye
that bailed us out. But after about 80 minutes of hiking we emerged onto the
Lake Angeline Trail, though this trail didn’t look frequently used either.
Past Lake Angeline we climbed the rocky ridge to the north
of the lake. We did our best to walk on the tundra where the footing was
decent, but the upper part was just a field of huge boulders. The climb took us
two hours and it was tough on Jean, especially not being able to trust her leg.
Luckily, the west side of the pass was grassy and gentle,
and we were able to cruise down a gorgeous series of flowery meadows to the
north fork of Middle Tensleep Creek. We saw no evidence of people between Lake
Angeline and reaching the trail along Middle Tensleep.
We debated where to spend the night. Our choices were Mirror
Lake, just down the trail, or Lost Twin lakes, a mile or so climb out of our way.
Luckily, Jean was still game to try Lost Twins. The Lost Twin Lakes sit snuggly
in the bowl of a steep cirque surrounded by Darton, Bighorn, and another unnamed
12,000 foot peak. The dramatic rock face at the head of the lakes reminds me of
the diamond on Colorado’s Longs Peak. We found a cozy secluded campsite in the
few trees near the lake shore listening to a loud waterfall on the north side
of the cirque.
Lost Twin Lakes 8 miles
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| Lost Twin Lakes |
8-3-99
We both slept in late, partly because of an easy day ahead,
but also because we were both reluctant to leave such a beautiful place. We
talked with the only other camper at the lake, an ultrarunner from Virginia who
was planning to climb Bighorn and Darton peaks that day. The walk out was easy,
especially the flat section into Mirror Lake. Our decision to camp at Lost Twin
was validated when we found several large groups at Mirror Lake, including both
male and female college student groups. Several other groups were heading in to
Lost Twins and we saw a number of fishermen as well.
It always seems a shame to leave the mountains, especially
when you’ve put in the effort to do the approaches, and have worked yourself into
shape with a few days of carrying the heavy packs. Despite missing the top of
Cloud Peak, and our frustration with some of the boulder hopping, we were
really happy how things went. Jean was eager to come back, that’s always the
final test for a trip.
The Bighorns were the end of the hiking on this particular trip.
That night we drove to Murdo, SD, and the next night made it to Ames, IA to visit
Jean’s family.
Finished at West Tensleep Trailhead, 6.5 miles
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| 1999 Bighorns 5 Day Loop |
