The fourth year of summer backpacking trips, and this was maybe the best one yet! The Cirque of the Towers is a 23 mile loop in Wyoming, with two passes and endless lakes. This trail was a really beautiful place to spend a few days out of the heat and poor air quality that Colorado was experiencing this summer. It was definitely a trek to get there, but well worth it!

We drove to the trailhead on a Wednesday morning starting around 6am and made it to the trailhead before noon. We made sure to stop at the last gas station to get snacks and gas before we would be out of service for several days. (And we were glad we stopped for gas because we likely wouldn’t have made it back if we didn’t go with a full tank of gas.)

The first day was a fairly chill day of hiking, though it was a long day with a 6 hour drive. Once we made it to the trailhead, we hiked for about 7.5 miles. It was an elevation gain of 1,200 feet but it felt mostly gradual and flat. This took us about 4 hours to complete and then we went to work setting up tents, unpacking food, and making dinner for the night. The first night is always the hardest because you have to fit the most food back into your bear can and you are just not into the rhythm of setting up camp yet. So the set up of our tents and getting settled took a little longer than normal, but it was nice to be back on the trail and at a beautiful lake!

BUT THE STARS that first night were incredible! We have been lucky to have some really awesome sky views on several of our backpacking trips, and this was another great night! I highly recommend bringing a friend who has to get up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom so that they will wake you up and tell you to come look at the stars. It will be 1000% worth it. Promise. The pictures below are good but still don’t capture the magnificence of the stars in the middle of nowhere!

The second day was our easy day with a short 4 mile hike and a 500 foot elevation gain. So we took an easy and slow morning, and then spent the day chilling by our new home near Shadow Lake. We absolutely loved this lake! It was so peaceful! Plus, there weren’t a ton of people camping around that area, so we had plenty of space. We enjoyed the afternoon and evening, as we prepared for our big day next.

Day 3 was our hard day – 2 passes, 7 miles, and over 2,000 feet of elevation gain. …except that it ended up being closer to 9.5 miles and 2,500 feet of elevation gain. You see, the day started out well. We got all packed up and ready fairly quickly (for a crew of 7) and headed to the passes. We knew we needed to pack enough water to get over both passes because the water at the lake in the middle of the passes (Lonesome Lake) was not drinkable even with a filter. We also knew that we were likely going to have all sun and no clouds again, so we wanted to get up and over those passes sooner rather than later.

We made it to the base of the first pass at a decent time, but took a short break where we learned that there was a missing mom and 2 daughters somewhere. We thought we saw them with our binoculars but it turned out to not be them. (Long story short… it all turned out ok and everyone was found and reunited, but it did take some of our precious cool-air morning time. But we are so glad they are okay!) The first pass, Texas Pass, was definitely the hardest one. We spent a lot of time getting up and over this pass. There was a little bit of a snow field still left on the other side that we had to cross but it wasn’t terrible.

We made it to the bottom of Texas Pass and to the lake we couldn’t drink from. We decided it was time for lunch. We found a few shady trees and took a little bit of a break. It was getting really hot at this point so we really enjoyed the shade. Most of us put on more sunscreen and long sleeves after lunch so that we wouldn’t get too burned.

The second pass, Jackass Pass, was not as hard to get over though it was hot. Once we got over this pass, we headed down to Arrowhead Lake… and this is where things got tricky. There were two directions we could have taken: (1) up, around, and over the lake or (2) in the shade through the boulder field. We obviously chose the boulder field because we were so done with the sun at this point in the day. It didn’t look too terrible, but once we got into it, we realized there was not a way over the boulders with our packs on. This was devastating. We had spent so much time already over on this side of the lake and now we needed to filter more water and go the long way, adding another 2.5 miles to our journey. We were not excited.

Once we regrouped and decided to go around, the only thing we could do is to just keep going. There was not another option and we needed to make it past this lake and the next lake before arriving at our destination for the night. It was long, and hot, and honestly really not enjoyable at all. But we made it… eventually. The only bummer was that by the time we made it to Big Sandy Lake, it was about 7pm and all the good camping spots were taken. So it took us a while to find a spot where we could all fit and ended up hiking to the far side of the lake.

Overall, day 3 was beautiful but also really long and tiring. I don’t know how we could have split it up any more than we did, but I am glad we made it. We were all so glad to finally be at the campsite. Plus it was finally a warm night (maybe even too warm). It was nice not to have to shiver all night in the cold though!

Our final day was a quick 5.5 mile hike out and all downhill. It was a very easy hike out which was nice. And then we headed straight to Big Sandy Lodge to get burgers! We loved that they had a lodge right by the trailhead because the next place for food would be several hours away. They were so kind and it was some really great food!

As a whole, I would recommend the Cirque of the Towers and I would do it again some day too! Some people do this trip in less time than we did, but I enjoyed getting time at each lake and time to slow down a little. Backpacking trips always make me so thankful to God, who created all of these beautiful places for us to explore!

The heavens declare the glory of God, and the expanse proclaims the work of his hands. Day after day they pour out speech; night after night they communicate knowledge. — Psalms 19:1-2 (CSB)