We’ve been going to the Bighorn Mountains in Wyoming for almost 10 years. I think we’ve been 6 or 7 times since 2015. I’ve always wanted to climb Cloud Peak. At 13,167 ft it’s the tallest mountain in the range and the prominent one in the area that we regularly visit.

My wife and I have tried a few times before. Our first attempt was probably in 2016 or 2017. It was my first real backpacking trip and we were underprepared, lacked the necessary gear, and went too early in the year so the mountain was still snowed in. We didn’t even try to summit, but did overnight camp at Mistymoon lake, and I almost froze to death. That was when I learned that if you don’t have an insulated sleeping pad between you and the ground your body will try to warm the earth. It can’t do that…you will die.

On our second trip we got rained out. Last year my oldest son and I day hiked from the trailhead and didn’t have time to summit, but we did scout the approach and went part of the way up.

My wife, my middle son, and I left last Tuesday morning and drove almost two days to get out there. The plan had been to camp the first night in the Black Hills but it was pouring rain so we wussed out and kept going to Gilette, WY and got a hotel. It was still raining when we arrived at the trailhead around 10:30am the next day, but not too hard, and the forecast was positive. We got the packs out, got our food organized, and hit the trail to hike about 7 miles in to “base camp.”

One of the first obstacles is a water crossing through West Tensleep creek. It’s not hard, but falling and getting all your stuff soaked right out of the gate would suck. Thankfully nobody did that.



A few miles in we made it to Lake Helen. It was still drizzling a bit, but not too bad, and I was excited to get fishing.



I intentionally timed the trip so that my Wyoming Fishing license from vacation last year was still good. I suck at fly fishing, so I fish small spinnerbaits with a spinning rod. I’d brought two, but unfortunately chose the Shakespeare for this hike, and the worthless piece of garbage shattered on my third cast. I didn’t snag it on anything or hook into anything…I just cast like normal and half the forward portion of the rod broke off. To say I was pissed is putting it lightly. We were over three miles from the car at this point and I wasn’t going back. I thankfully carry some spare hooks and fishing line in my first-aid kit along with the medical supplies, so I lashed the broken pieces back together and taped them with medical tape. It wasn’t elegant, but it held together for the next three days, and I caught quite a few fish on it.

While I was fishing Lake Marion we saw a couple of moose grazing up the trail ahead of us. They were too far away for a good picture, but they were clearly blocking the trail. I fished for about half an hour while they grazed off, and then we continued on our way up to Lake Helen.
The rain had stopped by the time we got there, and the sun came out while I was fishing that one.






After Lake Helen is Mistymoon Lake. It’s deep and full of trout, with a fantastic view of Cloud Peak in the background. There’s a rock that sticks out into the lake on the south shore that’s my favorite place to sit with my feet in the water and fish. My son wasn’t feeling too good and was pretty happy for the break.



After resting up and catching a few fish at Mistymoon we hiked up around the lake and down into the Paintrock Creek drainage where we were going to camp for the next two nights.



It’s a steep drop down into the valley, and there were already some folks set up on the far side, so we stopped about halfway down the near side and found a level spot. Yeah, that’s Tyvek hosewrap for tarps…I know it looks ghetto, but it’s free when you have access to leftover scraps, lightweight, folds up really small, works awesome, and if it gets ripped you can trash it and replace it for the next trip. Not something you’re going to happily do with a $150 Dyneema tarp.



There was a little pond down at the bottom of the valley so after supper I went down and tried to fish it. No dice…there was nothing in it. But the view up the valley towards where we were going the next day was pretty good.




Day 2

We got a decent night’s sleep. There was a deer hanging around camp, but it didn’t bother us, and the sound of the waterfall across the valley was almost like a noise machine. We woke up around 7:00 and were on the trail by 8:00. We crossed the creek below Paintrock Falls and followed the trail up into the drainage. The first mile has some semblance of a trail that’s broken up by rocky areas. You kind of follow the creek, and the going isn’t too bad.



Then it gets nasty. About half a mile of very steep rockslide area. Granite boulders anywhere from the size of a basketball to the size of a house. You’re just scrambling from one to another, trying not to slip down in between them and get stuck like that guy in “127 Hours” or fall on one and bust your head open like a watermelon. Even breaking a leg or an ankle would be pretty disastrous in this place.



We made it to the top of that section and started working our way up the ridge towards a narrow saddle that you have to cross before you get to the last section that leads to the summit. This was still more giant rocks, and while it wasn’t as steep as the earlier section you’re between 12,000-12,500 feet at this point. My wife and son gassed out at this point, but I told them I wasn’t turning around now, and they agreed to wait for me at the base of the narrow saddle so I wouldn’t miss them on the way back down.

I crossed the saddle and starting up the last section I caught up to another group of guys who had passed us earlier. Bigger rocks, steeper, more scrambling.




Finally making it over the last rock pile and coming out on the top by the big rock cairn was an awesome feeling. The view is fantastic. Photos don’t begin to do it justice. It’s a 2,000 foot sheer drop off the back side to a small glacier that feeds a couple of small lakes.



Off the other side, in a drainage one ridge over from the one that we climbed up there is a whole series of lakes that are supposedly full of trout. There’s a waterfall that looked tiny from where I was, but you could hear it from all the way up there, so it has to be bigger than it looks. I think this area is my target for our next trip.




I didn’t stay at the top very long because I wanted to get back to my wife and son as quickly as possible. I really didn’t like leaving them and was afraid I’d have trouble finding them again amongst all the rocks. I started back down off the peak, which was actually worse than going up because you had to be really careful not to fall and kill yourself on the rocks. At the saddle I made a mistake and jumped off a rock into a big snowfield. I figured it would be pretty solid but I sank almost up to my hip and my shoe came off. Thankfully I was able to recover it and keep going…won’t do that again. Once I got across the saddle, I reconnected with my wife and son with no problems and we started down together. This was still sketchy as heck, and you kind of just had to guess at the best route. There were some cairns, but good luck seeing them, and even if you did follow them it wasn’t much easier going than just picking your own way.



Thankfully we made it down without any injuries. It took us about 8 hours round trip to do 5 miles. We did take a lot of breaks for my wife and son, but even alone I doubt I could have done it in under 6. I can normally walk about 3.5-4 mph on flat roads and average about 2mph in hilly terrain with a pack, so this was definitely a more challenging environment! We soaked our feet and filled our water bottles at the creek, then made our way across the valley back to camp.

Earlier in the day we’d seen a civilian helicopter flying in the valley, and as we were making our way down a Blackhawk came in and started working its way around the area. When we got back to camp, he came in low and landed in the valley right below us. A couple of guys in red jumpsuits got out and one of them started towards us, so I went down and met him. Apparently they were local Search and Rescue guys, and somebody had pushed their Garmin InReach button around 8:00 that morning on Cloud Peak and they were trying to find him. I gave them what little info I had from talking to the other groups of hikers that we’d encountered that day, but we never saw anybody in distress while we were up there. I told them that another group had told us they were camped down the valley, so they flew off that way and didn’t come back…maybe the dude who pushed his button was one of them?



After the helicopter left we ate some dinner and I went down and rinsed off in the waterfall. It was freezing cold ice-melt water, but it absolutely hit the spot.



We went to bed early, but I had to get up around 10:30 to take a piss, and when I got outside the moon hadn’t come up over the mountains yet, and the sky was completely clear. I could see the Milky Way and more and brighter stars than you ever get to see at home. It was awesome.

Day 3

After breakfast we packed up camp and started back down the mountain. Mistymoon in the morning is pretty epic.



About ⅓ of the way around the lake we encountered a bull moose grazing just below the trail. We went off trail and gave him a wide berth, but he just kept eating and didn’t seem very interested in us, or any of the other groups that came along either. He’s pretty close to the center in this picture, and you can see how close he is to the trail:




After we got around the moose, I fished my rock some more and caught a few before we headed back down to the car.



The hike back was pretty uneventful except for when I had to go into a lake after a stuck lure (that was my lucky lure, I’m not losing it!). Back at the car our worthless Igloo cooler had not done it’s job well and some of our food was trashed, but we did manage to find an open dispersed campsite near the trailhead, and set up the tents to spend a couple more nights. Thankfully we had those tyvek tarps, because it rained quite a bit that night but we stayed dry.

Day 4

The last thing I had hoped to do on this trip was a day hike to Lost Twin Lakes. It’s about 11 miles round trip to two lakes set back into a cliff face, with one above the other. This would be my third time hiking there, but I’d never made it to the upper lake before. The first time I had my FIL with me and he didn’t have the energy to try it (found out later he had an aortic aneurysm that had not yet been discovered, so I’m glad that didn’t rupture while we were up there!), and the second time a storm came in and we had to go down. So this trip was my opportunity to finally do it.

The hike starts with a nice gradual climb through a pine forest, with a nice soft trail. Then there are a few switchbacks down to a waterfall that I jumped in on the way back.



Then there’s a long climb up and over a ridge, back down, and another short climb up to Mirror Lake. My wife and son were ready for a break at this point, so I went fishing. The lake is shallow and the fishing isn’t fantastic, but I caught a few.




After the lake you have to climb through a canyon along the creek, and eventually get to an open meadow. The fishing was pretty good there, and I caught a few Brookies and a Cutthroat.



Back on the trail, you eventually round the corner and can see the cliffs above Lost Twin Lakes ahead. It’s a pretty impressive sight.



Then it’s up over a couple of steep sections and you finally arrive at the lake.



We ate lunch on some big slabs of granite by the edge of the lower lake, and I caught a few fish. My wife and son decided they were content staying there, so I made my way alone around the lake and up to the upper one. The going was pretty rough…no trail, and more huge boulders like Cloud Peak.



I finally made my way around the lower lake and over the lip to the upper one. There was one couple there who were headed down, but after they left I had it completely to myself. I tried fishing on the near shore, with no success. There was a big granite slab stretching out into the middle of the lake about ⅔ of the way back, and while I didn’t relish the idea of climbing over a bunch more rocks to get there, the best things in life are usually the ones you have to work for, so I went for it.



My line barely hit the water before I was catching fish, and all of them were nice big ones. I lost track of how many I caught. It was amazing. They were just hammering it, and you’d get one on about every other cast. Most of them I released at the waters edge, but this one broke my line right as I got him in and I had to handle him to get my lure back. He went back into the water for a nice clean release anyway.



I could have stayed up there all day, but by this point I figured they were probably starting to worry that I’d died, so I started back down. I took one last picture by the outlet on my way down…I’m definitely coming back here. Probably to camp and spend a couple of full days fishing.



The hike back is mostly downhill and pretty easy. It has its own set of great views, too.



Days 4 and 5

We’d accomplished everything we came to do, the weather forecast was not great, and we were running out of food anyway, so it was time to go. On the way out we climbed up to an old fire tower that my son wanted to do because we’ve done it every other time we’ve been there. It’s a short drive and a short climb, but a pretty epic view.



We had wanted to go west to Thermopolis and spend the day at the Star Plunge water park that we visited and really enjoyed last summer, but apparently the state of Wyoming and the owner are involved in some kind of contract dispute, so it’s closed. Lawyers suck. Instead we went east and stopped at the Spearfish Aquatic Center and rode water slides until I was dizzy. That was a really nice facility and I highly recommend it if you’re in the area with kids.

After the water park we continued east and stopped at Texas Roadhouse in Rapid City for dinner where my son just about ate himself sick, lol. We made it to Mitchell, SD around nightfall, stayed at a pretty sketchy motel but survived, and went by the Corn Palace in the morning before we left town. Not something I’d go out of the way to visit, but it was worth a stop if you’re in the area…the murals on the outside are pretty cool. They’re handmade every year out of different colors of corn.



Another uneventful 12 hour day on the road with the only bad part being Chicago (isn’t it always?) and we made it home before 10:00. Pretty good trip overall and I feel like we’re pretty well prepared for the big one we’ve got coming up this fall.

Excellent! Thanks for the pictures and great write-up.

Great trip and great pictures. The scale is hard to get a read on but this pic is crazy. That is some tough terrain.

How many miles total was the trip?

It was about 7 miles one way from the trail head to our "base camp", then about 2.5-3 from there to the summit. So that particular trip was about 20 miles overall, but we did it in 3 days. Probably 1.5 miles of the actual climb portion was rocky like that. I know the pics make it hard to really tell the scale...probably the best indicator of the size of the rocks is the pic with the two guys climbing above me. Those rocks were huge. Thousands of pounds. And some of them would still shift when you stepped on them....super sketchy.

Great adventure.
People still wonder why I live here.
Next time you are in or near Thermopolis let me know, I am 1½ hour from there.

PC

quote:

Originally posted by PCWyoming:
Great adventure.
People still wonder why I live here.
Next time you are in or near Thermopolis let me know, I am 1½ hour from there.

PC

Maybe next year, although I'm not sure if I'll have the vacation time because we're planning a drive to AK. If they open up the water park again it would improve my chances of convincing the family to go. I'm perfectly happy to just soak in the hot springs at the State Bath House (especially after a few days camping or hiking in the woods), but the kids like the slides.

Thank you for posting the photos and report. Absolutely stunning scenery! What a great trip!

I really enjoy hearing about and seeing your trips! Thanks for taking us places we'll never go!

Great photos!