Whooshing winds whip up watery white caps While whipping willows hiss a whispering wail And whistling swallows whiz by wistfully I wonder wherefore would this weather well? Why it’s windy Wyoming welcoming you
One of the breathtaking panoramas one can see hiking the Lookout Lake trail
Looking more like a clump of British Columbia ripped up and
deposited in south central Wyoming, the steep grey cliff faces of Medicine Bow
Peak (aka Snowy Range) stand tall amid a scattering of tarns and glacial
rock-strewn valleys. The hiking here is breath-taking, that is if the
ever-present Wyoming wind doesn’t blow you off your feet first and knock the
wind out of you instead! I guess either way it takes your breath away, huh?
We have explored this area in all seasons, but summer in particular celebrates the scenery the best. We hiked up to Lookout Lakes trail that parallels the cliff side of Medicine Bow peak up to the saddle pass that overlooks the dozens of lakes in this glacial valley. The views are stunning. If you hike one trail in this area, hike this one.
The first lake one encounters on the Lookout Lake trail after the trail head is indeed Lookout Lake. I think they named it this way to warn you, look out for the wind!
Time to learn some German, this is Krummholz meaning “Crooked Timber” or Elfin Timber”. These are Engelmann spruce or sub alpine fir that grow on the boundary between the forest and alpine region. They are wind-shaped, short and squat, dwarfed by the harsh environment they survive in. This one could be as old as the US, no kidding!
A rare naked Krummholz. Seriously this gives you an idea of the density of the branches and how low to the ground they are.
This is a view from near the saddle pass on the Lookout Lake trail. Note the shear cliff face, this is Disaster Cliff, where a plane of 66 passengers died flying straight into it in 1955.
A nearby plaque commemorating the loss of the 66 passengers aboard the ill-fated flight
A reminder that we are not alone on these hikes. Here a “kitty” has left it’s tracks in the wet trail. You can see the front and back paws of the mountain lion overlapping in this image. Mountain lions like to hunt at dusk and dawn, best to be off the trails by then!
The view from atop the saddle pass, looking at Brown’s Peak and the Gap lakes
We also made a stop by the miner’s cabin and mine, one of
the many mines in the area.
The miner’s cabin, I guess you would call this an “open house”. Get your offer in soon, this one is going fast!
“Comfy” bunk beds in the dilapidated miner’s cabin. Note how short they are, less than 5 feet long.
Red Mask mine. Various attempts at mining silver, gold and other ores here, it never produced much.
The next day we hiked the Lost Lake trail on the other side of the pass. I will let the captioned pictures speak of the beauty and history of this region.
Sandy Lake looking back at Medicine Bow Peak
No your eyes are not deceiving you nor did I use a green filter on this photograph, this is a natural deposit of Green Quartzite. Mined in this area, it was used as decorative stone. The gem quality of this rock is used in jewelry and called aventurine, maybe because we were “adventuring” when we encountered it?
Telephone Lakes, named because the local miners managed to string a telephone line up this far so they could call home and for supplies.
I must have been to a hundred different “Lost Lakes” over my 30+ years of hiking the west, this is one of them. I found Suzie at this one! Uh guys, you can call this Found Lake now, I know where it is!
Side note: We based ourselves at one of our favorite hideaways, Saratoga Hot Springs Resort and Spa, in the tiny western town of Saratoga, Wyoming. The resort is nestled around a natural hot spring with multiple teepee-covered rock hot tubs and a massive Olympic sized hot spring pool. We are welcomed on arrival with warm homemade cookies. Even better the resort has the Snowy Range Brewery on-site with a selection of microbrews, a Biergarten and a good restaurant to boot. If you are a golfer, there is a golf course and driving range on site as well. Check out the historic Wolf Hotel downtown for prime rib dinner and nearby Lollypops for a quaint breakfast in a restored old general store and billiard hall. There is a “hobo” hot springs in town as well which is well maintained by the city.
