"Epic White Cloud Backpacking Loop" revisited, August 16, 2022
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DSCF0485.JPG13 viewsThe upper reaches of Iron Basin are wide open, making for pleasant travel. I'm now getting views of the steep ascent above Bighorn Basin. Clouds have moved in, a relief from the heat of the direct sun, but also making me anxious about the possibility of thunderstorms. I had hoped to get an earlier start.
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DSCF0486.JPG8 viewsThe trail appears when the sides of the basin constrict the choice of path. Finally heading downhill, toward some steep switchbacks. Someone I asked to do this trip with me years ago complained, “too much up and down!”. Isn’t that what the mountains are about?
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DSCF0487.JPG11 viewsThe objective comes into view; the D. O. Lee/WCP-9 saddle on the skyline (mid-frame). I plan to leave the trail just above that rock outcrop near the bottom of the frame below D. O. Lee Peak, which is on the skyline, just right of center. My route climbs through the trees to the right of the frame, entering Bighorn Basin (about mid-frame, on the vertical axis). I believe the trail descends to Ocalkens Lake (on the extreme left of frame); I’d rather not lose that much elevation.
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DSCF0490.JPG11 viewsThe final approach to the ascent to the D. O. Lee/WCP-9 saddle is strewn with huge potato bug looking insects I later learn from Tempe Regan, a biologist studying at BSU, are Mormon crickets. The plan is to climb the firmer rock on the buttress on the left, to the horn, pass it on the left, and traverse to the ridge on a goat trail. The route is steeper than it appears here, using a 30mm (35 mm equivalent) wide lens. I’m concerned about lightning, having already felt a few passing raindrops, but have hea
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DSCF0491.JPG9 viewsLooking southeast, further up into Bighorn Basin.
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DSCF0494.JPG8 viewsI arrive at the D. O. Lee/WCP-9 saddle about 5 pm, an hour and a half after starting. I can see rain falling to the east-southeast, and felt a few drops on the ascent, but there was none of the feared lightning. Below is the inlet to Cirque Lake. Below that is Sapphire and Cove Lakes, all in the Big Boulder Lakes Basin.
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DSCF0495.JPG10 viewsFrom the D. O. Lee/WCP-9 saddle, the view west-southwest beyond Ants Basin, across the Sawtooth Valley to the Sawtooth Range. There are numerous storm cells in the distance.
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DSCF0496.JPG9 viewsFrom the D. O. Lee/WCP-9 saddle, the view northwest beyond Bighorn Basin. Right of center is the entrance to Iron Basin where I came from. Three quarters to left of frame, close to skyline, is summit of Watson Peak. Just right of center, vertically in the center, is the horn I climbed behind. A faint goat trail leads toward the bottom right corner of the frame.
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DSCF0497.JPG12 viewsThe view down, east-southeast, into the upper reaches of Bighorn Basin from the D. O. Lee/WCP-9 saddle. The Sawtooth Range can be seen across the Sawtooth Valley.
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DSCF0498.JPG10 viewsFrom the D. O. Lee/WCP-9 saddle, the view west-southwest beyond Ants Basin, across the Sawtooth Valley to the Sawtooth Range. This is view is slightly further west than photo 495.
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DSCF0499.JPG9 views5 mountain goats, including two lambs, came bolting down from the D. O. Lee/WCP-9 saddle to this spot above the cascading waterfall that leads down to Cirque Lake on the left. One lamb split off from the group, staying high above the tarn. The others gathered just in front of the rock in the center of the photo. I turned around to put the long lens on my camera, but when I turned back, they had vanished. There were tracks in the snow.
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DSCF0500.JPG9 viewsThis appears to be the juvenile, high above the tarn, keeping a close eye on me.
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