Morning. Day 4 of Lupe’s great Summer of 2015 Dingo Vacation. SPHP was mildly disappointed. Although it had started raining shortly after Lupe returned to the G6 after climbing Sugarloaf Mountain the previous evening, the rain had fizzled out before too long. SPHP now saw it hadn’t even rained enough to do a decent job of knocking the dust off the poor G6. Oh well, it was a gorgeous morning in the Medicine Bow Range of Wyoming. Time for new Lupe adventures!
After a quick bite to eat, Lupe and SPHP headed N on the Gap Lakes Trail from the trailhead at the end of the road at Lewis Lake. It was 7:01 AM, 49°F, and partly cloudy with a slight S breeze. Lupe’s planned adventure for the day was to climb Browns Peak (11,722 ft.). It looked like a perfect day!
The Gap Lakes Trail started out gaining elevation at an easy pace. Less than 0.25 mile from the Lewis Lake trailhead, Lupe passed the junction with the Lost Lake Trail. She passed a couple of small lakes along the way to South Gap Lake.
There are lots of alpine lakes, most of them fairly small, in the Medicine Bow Range. South Gap and North Gap Lakes are among the largest lakes in the area. The Gap Lakes Trail headed N along the E shore of South Gap Lake. Lupe and SPHP thoroughly enjoyed the scenery. Lupe was headed for the gap between the long ridge extending N from Medicine Bow Peak and Browns Peak.
About the time Lupe reached the pass, there were several groups of people coming and going on the trail. Most were heading S back towards Lewis Lake and the trailhead. Others were heading N for the Shelf Lakes which are along the Circle Trail to the E of North Gap Lake. Lupe was heading for the Shelf Lakes, too.
When the trail got down to North Gap Lake, a portion of it went right along a boulder field at the very edge of the water. One group of people said the trail actually went up and over the boulder field. There was a faint trail leading that way from the N, but it wasn’t visible from the S. Lupe and SPHP just stayed down at the water’s edge. It was slow going, but it wasn’t too long before SPHP made it past the boulder field.
When Lupe came to the Circle Trail along the E shore of North Gap Lake, she left the Gap Lakes Trail. The Circle Trail led up a small hill to the first of the Shelf Lakes.
Lupe climbed a small hill N of the Shelf Lakes. Elk Mountain (11,156 ft.) was visible off to the NW.
There were two Shelf Lakes that Lupe went past on the NW side of Browns Peak. The second one was the largest. Beyond the second Shelf Lake, the Circle Trail gradually disappeared. Lupe continued NE and came to some more small lakes. One of the lakes still had a big snowbank covering part of it. Larger lakes could be seen farther N of Browns Peak, but Lupe wasn’t going there.
Although the Circle Trail is supposed to lead around to climb over the lower NE side of the very big ridge that forms Browns Peak, SPHP had lost the trail, which seemed to just fade away. The topo maps showed that Browns Peak is a pretty easy climb from the NE, so it wasn’t really a problem. Rather than look for the trail, Lupe and SPHP started climbing Browns Peak from the W end of the largest of a couple more lakes that Lupe came to. The climb was steeper this way, but it didn’t look too hard and would save some distance.
The key to getting up on Browns Peak without undue delays was to avoid the trees and boulder fields as much as possible. There were big patches of bushes extending far up beyond tree line, but usually it was possible to find a route through them. Lupe climbed and climbed. Each ridge she came to looked like it would be the last, but there were many false tops along the way. Each time she climbed one, another higher ridge came into view at a considerable distance and height above.
Lupe had gained quite a bit of elevation already when a strange thing occurred. Suddenly there was a loud crack and the roll of thunder. It was totally unexpected. Most of the sky was clear blue! The few clouds in sight were high and thin. Yet, somewhere not terribly far away to the SW, in the direction of Medicine Bow Peak, a bolt of lightning had struck.
It seemed ridiculous. The sky looked totally non-threatening, but SPHP was now concerned that weather was building just out of sight. Lupe and SPHP hurried onward. Browns Peak would be a terrible place to be during a storm. The summit is huge and pretty much featureless. There would be no place to take shelter anywhere near the summit.
Gradually the slope of the mountain was decreasing. Lupe was getting close to the top. Large, puffy white clouds coming from Medicine Bow Peak could now be seen. They drifted towards Browns Peak, but stayed a little to the S. For a little while, SPHP kept a close eye on them. At first they did seem to be building up, but then they just spread out as if a wind high in the sky was blowing the tops of the clouds off, limiting how big they could get. That single bolt of lightning and thunder proved to be the only one Lupe and SPHP heard all day.
The weather was going to be fine. It was breezy up on Browns Peak, but that was about it. A steady line of clouds grew up over Medicine Bow Peak, and then blew on by Browns Peak. SPHP stopped paying attention to them. It was time for Lupe to go to the summit of Browns Peak to claim it as her latest peakbagging success!
The highest part of Browns Peak is toward the SW part of the mountain, but not too near the end. The topo map showed three high points, all of similar elevation. The true summit was marked as being near the center of the ridge. The two other highest points were shown as being to the W and the NE of the true summit. Lupe went first to the high spot marked on the map as the true summit.
Then the weirdness started. The top of Browns Peak is huge and pretty flat. It is strewn with rocks and not much else. There’s not a single tree or bush. So its easy to see quite a distance up there. And although Lupe was at what was supposed to be the true summit of Browns Peak, both of the high points to the W and the NE looked to be clearly higher. There was even a jumble of rocks off to the NW that looked higher.
No problem, thought SPHP! Lupe can just go to all of these high points and see which one is really the highest. So Lupe began quite a trek around to various high points on the mountain. From (1) the true summit, she went to (2) the W high point, (3) somewhat farther to the SW just so SPHP could get a photo of Medicine Bow Peak and Sugarloaf Mountain from Browns Peak, (4) back to the W high point, (5) to the high rocks NW of the true summit, (6) back to the true summit, and (7) to the top of the NE high point.
The crazy thing was, although it always looked like Lupe was going uphill – when SPHP turned around to look from each high point Lupe reached, without fail all of the other high points always looked higher than where Lupe was at the moment! And they weren’t just a little bit higher, they always looked noticeably and significantly higher.
SPHP couldn’t remember Lupe ever having gone uphill so much to lose so much elevation! It was bizarre, it made no sense. After Lupe had visited every high point on the topo map and more besides, SPHP had no clue where the highest rock on the mountain was. It could have been almost any of them.
Possible explanations: Perhaps Browns Peak is cursed or enchanted. Perhaps SPHP has a brain tumor. Perhaps time and space are warped at Browns Peak. Perhaps it is all just an incredibly deceptive illusion. SPHP thought Browns Peak needed a better name. Why not Deceptive Peak, Illusion Mountain or Bewilderment Peak? Topless Mountain seemed a little racy, but might prove popular.
No matter. Lupe had run around sniffing practically the entire top of the mountain. Regardless where the actual true summit is, Lupe had caught a good whiff of it somewhere along the way. Time was marching on. The clouds had been getting darker and thicker while Lupe ran all over the mountain. It was time to head back.
SPHP had originally thought it would be fun for Lupe to take the Circle Trail down to Lost Lake on the SE side of Browns Peak. She could then have completed a nice loop back past Lost Lake and Telephone Lakes on the Lost Lake Trail on the return trip to the G6. In the end, though, Lupe just went back the way she had come to Browns Peak.
On the way down the mountain, there were interesting views to the N. Sheep Lake, Arrowhead Lake, and Crescent Lake could all be seen. Elk Mountain was off to the NW. Kennaday Peak was to the WNW. And very far off on the horizon to the NNE was Laramie Peak, where Lupe had started her Summer of 2015 Dingo Vacation just 3 days earlier. It already seemed like a long time ago!
Links:
Next Adventure Prior Adventure
Want more Lupe adventures? Choose from Lupe’s 2015 Wyoming, Colorado & Utah Adventure Index, Dingo Vacations Adventure Index or Master Adventure Index. Or subscribe free to new Lupe adventures.