Whiskey Mountain

Left Side

Right Side

Today I met the Wind River Mountains in person.  No rabbit hole now, but real in person conversation with this mountain range that has filled my thoughts in these pandemic months.  Until a month ago, Wyoming would not let a Californian enter its territory unless they quarantine for two weeks in a kind of in state prison.  But now that our caseload has spiked, they let us cross the border and play like locals.  I have been in Wyoming for three days, and today was my first hike in this long-awaited wilderness escape. 

From just south of Dubois, a gravel road ends at a parking lot, and from there I started up a wide canyon along its right side.  While most of this mountain range is composed of igneous rock of extreme age, this northern end is sedimentary layers of limestone, sandstone, and dolomite.  I like to understand such origins if possible because it makes the trek more interesting.  The layers on both sides of this canyon are tilted in about the same direction and of similar colors and shapes.  Surely, it was Torrey Creek, along whose right bank I was trudging, that began cut through these sedimentary layers a long time ago.  


I had a close view of the right wall, but the left wall was about a mile away.  Using zoom, I try to compare the tow walls, which appear to be of the same origin.

After climbing for two hours, I entered a forest that hid the geology. Several small meadows, green and lush with wildflowers, appeared as if it were springtime among the trees.  

At 9,000’ elevation, a full contingent of foraging bees and wasps, and those top predators, mosquitoes search for lunch among the flowers.    

At 10,200’ I came to a ridge and looked across a broad valley at jagged peaks with snowfields below them.  Glaciers had filled this valley 20,000 years ago and carved it deeper and wider than is was.  But when they melted, all the rocks they were carrying down to some lowland were plopped in piles as if giant gofers once lived here.  

The hike started at 7,000' and topped out at 10,000, in just 3 miles—a steep trudge that went from sagebrush almost to timberline.  I could see the snow fields and the jagged peaks and felt privileged to for this good introduction.  Springtime was in the meadows—it comes late at high elevation, with fields of wildflowers.   

It was great to get into the wilderness again and even to realize that I am soar and out of shape.  I will have to ease into the longer hikes, the more spectacular destinations to come later in the adventure.  

Michael Angerman is making a map of nightly locations, as he has done for many of my trips.  Please see    Michael's Map