Northern WRR Day 3: Titcomb Basin

We woke up to a brisk morning in Titcomb Basin with no smoke in sight! However, the wind remained, reminding us why it is named the “Wind” River Range!

The plan today was altered to spend a day exploring the Basin and resting our legs for the rest of the journey. After breakfast we got out daypacks and headed up the Basin at 8:30am. Throughout the day we would see a couple people here and there, but it really felt like we had this spectacular place to ourselves. The further we got into the Basin, the better and better it became.

The wind was persistent and very strong all day, mostly coming from the south/open end of the Basin. For some reason, I expected it to blow down off the mountains rimming the basin in the other direction. It was windy enough that there were frequent white caps on Upper Titcomb Lake!

Once we got past the lakes, we were basically inside the “bowl” at the end of the Basin, and it was incredible. Every view in every direction was just stunning, and you could just sit there and study every nook and cranny. There is evidence of several rock shelters built for overnighters to buffett the winds coming from the south.

At the end of the “flat” part, I decided to hike up the scree going toward Knapsack Col and Twins Glacier, while Jim explored the base area. The climb up wasn’t that bad, and once at that ledge, it provided an excellent perspective of the area. Looking at the Twins Glacier, I think I was closer to Knapsack Col than I expected. While we discarded hiking over the Col as part of our itinerary given our performance to that point, in hindsight, I think we could have made it, albeit slowly. Next time.

When I returned to meet up with Jim and have lunch, we came across a couple ice climbers in the rock shelter pictured above. They drove in from Denver the evening before, started their hike at 11pm from the Pole Creek TH, hiked 17 miles to arrive at this point, and departed immediately for their ice destination around the corner of the Basin. Once there, they found the ice to be gone, and returned to the shelter to get something to eat – AND IMMEDIATELY RETURN. Meaning: eat, hike back 17 miles, and drive back to Denver. Say it with me – “INSANE!”.

After lunch, we meandered and explored our way back to the campsite the rest of the afternoon. We contemplated a couple different side trips, but instead just soaked in the entire area on a beautiful (and windy) day. The awesomeness of Titcomb Basin really can’t be understated and we basked in it.

That evening, some clouds came in (I feared smoke might be reentering) and provided a beautiful light show for about an hour through reverse sunset on Mount Sacagawea and then on the clouds. What a treat!