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Day 3 ~ August 4, 2006 ~ Exploring Deep Lake & Temple
Lake Cirques
We had breakfast around 8:00am and Jack returned from his morning foray soon after. He was quite pleased with what he'd seen this morning and said that he'd found some nice surprise compositions. We lounged on the giant granite slab next to camp, which had become our "kitchen", looked at topos and started making plans for the upcoming days. Jack was anxious to get over to the Cirque of the Towers. Rick and I both wanted to do more exploration of our current area. And I especially wanted another opportunity at evening light on East Temple Peak. So we made tentative plans to split up and re-group the next day. Jack would head over to the Cirque of the Towers today and we'd join him tomorrow. We marked some locations on the topos where we'd likely camp in the Cirque of the Towers (though it turns out we did not make camp in that area) and noted a time window when Rick and I were likely to arrive in the cirque the next day. Jack would keep and eye out for us and hopefully we'd be able to hook up again. This was the second time during the trip where each of us having all our own overnight equipment gave us the flexibility to split up and pursue our individual objectives. Jack packed up and headed off to the Cirque of the Towers.
As I plunked my way down the ridge towards Camp 2, I could see that we had "company." There were 6 or 7 tents pitched not far from where we'd made camp. And as I arrived, Rick informed me that the group of 8-10 teenagers had arrived earlier in the afternoon. They were a little loud, but seemed to be making attempts to follow good backcountry etiquette. Rick and I caught up on the events of the afternoon. He was feeling better after some rest and a short nap. I washed up a bit. Then we filtered water and cooked up some dinner. I was hungry!
Around 7:00pm we both gathered up our cameras and we each found new compositions from the night before. We set up and waited for the warm evening light. The clouds coursing across the sky this evening were amazing - big, dark thunderstorm clouds mixed with wispy, tenuous cirrus clouds. The light was intermittent, changing as it struck different banks of clouds. But the sun was mostly covered and, again, we would not see alpenglow on East Temple Peak tonight. But just before the sun slipped below the far horizon, it reflected an eerie light across the basin from the clouds above. And the dark storm clouds behind the mountains provided a moody atmosphere. Then it quickly became dark.
As if on schedule, I was in bed by 9:00pm and fast asleep. Total distance traveled: 4.6 miles, Total vertical: 510 feet ~ Download Route: GPX, Google Earth
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We woke
early again this morning. 5:30am turned into the usual alarm clock setting.
Jack woke a bit earlier since he wanted to hike up to the Temple Lake cirque
for sunrise. Rick and I decided to stick close to camp and shoot from the
Deep Lake outlet where we'd shot the night before. There are many small
pools of water that provide great reflections. I really wanted to get a good
image of the morning light hitting the Cirque of the Towers. This proved to
be a difficult lighting situation, but I tried to make the most of it.
Temple Peak catches the early morning light quite nicely and we both made
images pointing in that direction also.
I also needed to do some doctor-work on my feet. Yesterday's
climb to Deep Lake had created some warm/hot spots in the usual places. I
get blisters on my heels no matter what boots I wear, or how broken in they
might be. I simply have big, wide, but skinny feet that are very difficult,
if not impossible, to correctly boot-fit. I'd be doing more climbing this
afternoon, so I knew I should take some preventative measures. So the
solution? Moleskin and athletic tape - it's worked for many years. With that
taken care of, I was ready to continue my circumnavigation of Deep Lake. I
made my way around the South end, over and across some very interesting rock
forms and above a small part of the lake hidden from the North by a large
rock shelf. Then I climbed up a fairly steep ravine full of wildflowers
leading to the top of the ridge separating the Deep Lake and Temple Lake
basins. As I ascended, I could see the storm clouds brewing. Past experience
has taught me to be very wary of lightning, especially in the high country!
And this ridge was very exposed. I had not heard any thunder, but I still
didn't want to take an unnecessary risk. It was also quite apparent that the
rain was moving in. So I donned my rain gear. I stayed low, off the top of
the ridge, found a comfortable, dry spot sheltered under a rock overhang,
amongst some boulders and low trees, and watched the storm move in across
the Temple Lake basin. Well, OK... Actually, I took a short cat-nap! I awoke
to rain pitter-pattering the rocks and tundra around me. The temperature had
dropped probably 15 degrees. And at the height of the rain and light hail, I
watched 2 hikers practically running down the trail. They were ill-equipped,
one wearing shorts and a cotton hooded sweatshirt. And they were extremely
exposed on the open tundra. I don't know if they were camped lower in the
Temple Lake basin, but they quickly passed out of sight down the valley. They never
saw me. 
I stayed in my safe spot watching the storm pass. I really
enjoy watching storms and how they change the quality and color of the light
on the land. The scene looking back down the valley towards the Cirque of
the Towers through the sheets of falling rain was amazing. Eventually, I
pulled out my map and GPS to check out where I was and see if I might want
to hike to the saddle between Temple and East Temple Peaks. To my surprise,
I couldn't quite recognize where I was, viewing the topo map on the GPS. I
zoomed out one click, still nothing looked familiar. Zoom out some more -
Jalisco? Isn't that in Mexico? Zoom out some. Yep, the GPS thinks I'm
somewhere between Jalisco and Mexico City. Ha! How did that happen?? I
turned the unit off and back on again. Hey! OK, now we're back in the Wind
River Mountains. 
