Gannet Peak from Vista Pass

It took an entire day to hike from Lozier Lake to Peak Lake, a hard day in which we had to cross three passes. After leaving Lozier Lake, 10,600 ft., the New Fork trail heads due east and crosses an unnamed pass, 11,040 ft, before descending to Clark Lake and then to Trail Creek Park. We ate lunch down here, constantly bothered by biting flies at this lower elevation, 9,300 ft.

Green River canyon The Shannon Pass trail heads south before climbing steeply up to Vista Pass, 10,060 ft, where the photograph above was taken. The broad summit in the upper left, the one with the fluted west face, is Gannet Peak, Wyoming's hughest peak. The peaks in the middle are those that surround Peak Lake cirque. From left to right, these include Ladd Peak, 12,957 ft, Mount Witecap, 13,202 ft, Twin Peaks, 13,185 ft, Winifred Peak, 12,775 ft, and American Legion Peak, 13,205 ft.

East of Vista Pass, the Shannon Pass trail descends into the Green River Canyon, shown opposite. The rugged ascent up the Green River canyon toward Cube Rock Pass, 10,685 ft, is spectacular. This area, more so than any other that we passed through in the Wind Rivers, is carpeted with wildflowers of every hue. At the upper reaches of the canyon, the granite walls crowd in and the trail is lost amongst the talus. Here and there, however, faint vestiges of a trail can be found threading its way up the rocky and increasingly barren hillside. Immediately ahead looms a steep couloir that leads up to the saddle between Mount Oeneis and an unnamed peak. Forunately, this isn't the way. The trail instead turns sharply left at Cube Rock Pass.

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Part of a Los Alpinistas story by Richard J. Hughes.