{"id":1953,"date":"2015-10-10T08:10:55","date_gmt":"2015-10-10T14:10:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/?p=1953"},"modified":"2019-03-16T12:32:30","modified_gmt":"2019-03-16T18:32:30","slug":"browns-peak-wyoming-8-12-15","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/?p=1953","title":{"rendered":"Browns Peak, Wyoming (8-12-15)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Morning.\u00a0 Day 4 of Lupe’s great Summer of 2015 Dingo Vacation.\u00a0 SPHP was mildly disappointed.\u00a0 Although it had started raining shortly after Lupe returned to\u00a0the G6 after climbing Sugarloaf Mountain the previous evening, the rain had fizzled out before too long.\u00a0 SPHP now saw it hadn’t even rained enough to do a decent job of\u00a0knocking the dust off the poor G6.\u00a0\u00a0Oh well, it\u00a0was a gorgeous morning in the Medicine Bow Range of Wyoming.\u00a0 Time for new Lupe adventures!<\/p>\n

\"Dawn<\/a>
Dawn on 8-12-15, Day 4 of Lupe’s Summer of 2015 Dingo Vacation<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After a quick bite to eat, Lupe and SPHP headed\u00a0N on the Gap Lakes Trail from the trailhead at the end of the road at Lewis Lake.\u00a0 It was 7:01 AM, 49\u00b0F, and partly cloudy with a slight S breeze.\u00a0 Lupe’s planned adventure for the day was to climb Browns Peak<\/a><\/strong><\/span>\u00a0(11,722 ft.)<\/span><\/strong>.\u00a0 It looked like a perfect day!<\/p>\n

\"Lupe<\/a>
Lupe\u00a0at Lewis\u00a0Lake waiting impatiently for\u00a0SPHP to hurry up and finish eating. The sun is already shining on Sugarloaf Mountain<\/a><\/span><\/strong>\u00a0(11,300 ft.)<\/strong><\/span>\u00a0(L)\u00a0and Medicine Bow Peak<\/a><\/span> (12,013 ft.)<\/span><\/strong> (R)!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\"Lewis<\/a>The Gap Lakes Trail started out gaining elevation at an easy pace.\u00a0\u00a0Less than 0.25 mile\u00a0from the Lewis Lake trailhead, Lupe passed the junction with the Lost Lake Trail.\u00a0 She passed a couple of small lakes along the way to South Gap Lake.<\/p>\n

\"Lupe<\/a>
Lupe near the Gap Lakes Trail in the Medicine Bow Range.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Lupe<\/a>
Lupe now close to a pond just E of South Gap Lake, a small portion of which is visible in the background. Photo looks W.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Lupe<\/a>
Lupe reaches South Gap Lake less than a mile from the trailhead.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Looking<\/a>
Looking SW towards Medicine Bow Peak from the Gap Lakes Trail near South Gap Lake.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

There are lots of alpine lakes, most of them fairly small, in the Medicine Bow Range.\u00a0 South Gap and North Gap Lakes are among the largest lakes in the area.\u00a0 The\u00a0Gap Lakes Trail\u00a0headed N along the E shore of South Gap Lake.\u00a0 Lupe and SPHP thoroughly enjoyed the scenery.\u00a0 Lupe was headed\u00a0for the gap between the long ridge extending N from Medicine Bow Peak and Browns Peak.<\/p>\n

\"Looking<\/a>
Looking now towards the N end of South Gap Lake and “The Gap” or pass that separates it from North Gap Lake.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"South<\/a>
South Gap Lake. Looking SW.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Lupe<\/a>
Lupe reaches “The Gap”.\u00a0 There was a great view of South Gap Lake looking S back towards Sugarloaf Mountain, which Lupe had climbed the previous afternoon.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

About the time Lupe reached the pass, there were\u00a0several groups of people coming and going on the trail.\u00a0 Most were heading S back towards Lewis Lake and the trailhead.\u00a0 Others were heading N for the Shelf Lakes which are along the Circle Trail to the E of North Gap Lake.\u00a0 Lupe was heading for the Shelf Lakes, too.<\/p>\n

\"First<\/a>
First look at North Gap Lake from the pass. Photo looks N.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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.\u00a0 One group of people said the trail actually went up and over the boulder field.\u00a0 There was a faint trail leading that way from the N, but it wasn’t visible from the S.\u00a0 Lupe and SPHP just stayed down at the water’s edge.\u00a0 It was slow going, but it wasn’t too long before SPHP made it past the boulder field.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The N end of North Gap Lake from the E shore.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Near here the Circle Trail leaves the Gap Lakes Trail to head NE to the Shelf Lakes.\u00a0 Photo looks NW.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Just<\/a>
Just E of North Gap Lake the Circle Trail goes up a hill. This photo looks back to the W at North Gap Lake from partway up the hill on\u00a0the Circle Trail.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When Lupe came to the Circle Trail along the E shore of North Gap Lake, she left the Gap Lakes Trail.\u00a0 The Circle Trail led up a small hill to the first of the Shelf Lakes.<\/p>\n

\"Looking<\/a>
Looking NE at the first of the Shelf Lakes that Lupe came to along the Circle Trail.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Lupe climbed a small hill N of the Shelf Lakes.\u00a0 Elk Mountain<\/a><\/span><\/strong> (11,156 ft.)<\/strong><\/span> was visible off to the NW.<\/p>\n

\"Elk<\/a>
Elk Mountain NW of the Shelf Lakes. It was actually quite a long way off. This photo was taken with a telephoto lens.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

There were two Shelf Lakes that Lupe went past on the NW side of Browns Peak.\u00a0 The second one was the largest.\u00a0 Beyond the second Shelf Lake, the Circle Trail gradually disappeared.\u00a0 Lupe continued NE and came to some more small lakes.\u00a0 One of the lakes still had a big snowbank covering part of it.\u00a0 Larger lakes could be seen farther N of Browns Peak, but Lupe wasn’t going there.<\/p>\n

\"Looking<\/a>
Looking SW back at the largest of the two Shelf Lakes.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"The<\/a>
The clear waters of another small lake NW of Browns Peak.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Crescent Lake and Elk Mountain NW of Browns Peak.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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.\u00a0 The topo maps showed that Browns Peak is a pretty easy climb from the NE, so it wasn’t really a problem.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 The climb was steeper this way, but it didn’t look too hard and would save some distance.<\/p>\n

The key to getting up on Browns Peak without undue delays was to avoid the trees and boulder fields as much as possible.\u00a0 There were big patches of bushes extending far up beyond tree line, but usually it was possible to find a route through them.\u00a0 Lupe climbed and climbed.\u00a0 Each ridge she came to looked like it would be the last, but there were many false tops along the way.\u00a0 Each time she climbed one, another higher ridge came into view at a considerable distance and height above.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Climbing Browns Peak. Yes, it looks promising, but there are higher ridges beyond this one. Lupe didn’t care. She was busy having fun while SPHP struggled on up.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Lupe had gained quite a bit of elevation already when a strange thing occurred.\u00a0 Suddenly there was a loud crack\u00a0and the roll of\u00a0thunder.\u00a0\u00a0It was totally unexpected.\u00a0 Most\u00a0of the sky was clear blue!\u00a0\u00a0The few clouds in sight\u00a0were high and thin.\u00a0 Yet, somewhere not terribly far away to the SW, in the direction of Medicine Bow Peak, a bolt of lightning had struck.<\/p>\n

It seemed ridiculous.\u00a0 The sky looked totally non-threatening, but SPHP was now concerned that weather was building just out of sight.\u00a0 Lupe and SPHP hurried onward.\u00a0 Browns Peak would be a terrible place to be during a storm.\u00a0 The summit is huge and pretty much featureless.\u00a0 There would be no place to take shelter anywhere near the summit.<\/p>\n

Gradually the slope of the mountain was decreasing.\u00a0 Lupe was getting close to the top.\u00a0 Large, puffy white clouds coming from Medicine Bow Peak could now be seen.\u00a0 They drifted towards Browns Peak, but stayed a little to the S.\u00a0 For a little while, SPHP kept a close eye on them.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 That single bolt of lightning and thunder\u00a0proved to be\u00a0the only one Lupe and SPHP heard all day.<\/p>\n

The weather was going to be fine.\u00a0 It was breezy up on Browns Peak, but that was about it.\u00a0 A steady line of clouds grew up over Medicine Bow Peak, and then blew on by Browns Peak.\u00a0 SPHP stopped paying attention to them.\u00a0 It was time for Lupe to go to the summit of Browns Peak to claim it as\u00a0her latest\u00a0peakbagging success!<\/p>\n

The highest part of Browns Peak is toward the SW part of the mountain, but not too near the end.\u00a0 The topo map showed three high points, all of similar elevation.\u00a0 The true summit was marked as being near the center of the\u00a0ridge.\u00a0 The\u00a0two other highest points were shown as being to the W and the NE of the true summit.\u00a0 Lupe went first to the high spot marked on the map as the true summit.<\/p>\n

\"Lupe<\/a>
Lupe at where the topo map showed the true summit of Browns Peak. Another high point to the NE is in view and looks clearly higher.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Then the weirdness started.\u00a0 The top of\u00a0Browns Peak\u00a0is huge and pretty flat.\u00a0\u00a0It is\u00a0strewn with rocks and not much else.\u00a0 There’s not a single tree or bush.\u00a0 So its easy to see quite a distance up there.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 There was even a jumble of rocks off to the NW that looked higher.<\/p>\n

No problem, thought SPHP!\u00a0 Lupe can just go to all of these high points and see which one\u00a0is really the highest.\u00a0 So Lupe began quite a trek around to various high points on the mountain.\u00a0 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<\/a><\/span><\/strong> and Sugarloaf Mountain<\/a><\/span><\/strong> 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.<\/p>\n

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!\u00a0 And they weren’t just a little bit higher, they always looked noticeably and significantly higher.<\/p>\n

\"Lupe<\/a>
Lupe at the W high point on Browns Peak. Photo looks at the NE high point (L of center) and true summit (R of center). Here they both look easily higher.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Medicine<\/a>
Medicine Bow Peak (R)\u00a0and Sugarloaf Mountain (L)\u00a0from Browns Peak. Photo looks SW.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Lupe<\/a>
Lupe now at the high rocks NW of the true summit. Photo looks NE towards the NE high point, which looks higher yet.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Lupe<\/a>
Lupe is still at the NW rocks high point, but now the photo is looking back at the now obviously higher W high point.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Lupe<\/a>
Lupe on the NE high point on Browns Peak, the only high point that she actually had to climb up. Photo looks SSW towards the true summit (near L side of horizon seen here) and the NW rocks high point (more to the right side of horizon seen here).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Lupe still on the NE high point. This photo looks SW towards the W high point.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

SPHP couldn’t remember Lupe ever having gone uphill so much to lose so much elevation!\u00a0 It was bizarre, it made no sense.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 It could have been almost any of them.<\/p>\n

Possible explanations:\u00a0 Perhaps Browns Peak is cursed or\u00a0enchanted.\u00a0 Perhaps SPHP has\u00a0a brain tumor.\u00a0 Perhaps time and space are warped at Browns Peak.\u00a0 Perhaps it is all just an incredibly deceptive illusion.\u00a0 SPHP thought Browns Peak needed a better name.\u00a0 Why not Deceptive Peak, Illusion Mountain or Bewilderment Peak?\u00a0 Topless Mountain seemed a little racy, but might prove popular.<\/p>\n

No matter.\u00a0 Lupe had run around sniffing practically the entire top of the mountain.\u00a0\u00a0Regardless where the actual true summit is, Lupe had caught a good whiff of it somewhere along the way.\u00a0 Time was marching on.\u00a0 The clouds had been getting darker and thicker while Lupe ran all over the mountain.\u00a0 It was time to head back.<\/p>\n

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.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 In the end, though, Lupe just went back the way she had come to Browns Peak.<\/p>\n

On the way down the mountain, there were interesting views to the N.\u00a0 Sheep Lake, Arrowhead Lake, and Crescent Lake could all be seen.\u00a0 Elk Mountain was off to the NW.\u00a0 Kennaday Peak was to the WNW.\u00a0 And very far off on the horizon to the NNE was Laramie Peak<\/a><\/strong><\/span>, where Lupe had started her Summer of 2015 Dingo Vacation just 3 days earlier.\u00a0 It already seemed like a long time ago!<\/p>\n

\"Looking<\/a>
Looking NE at Browns Peak.\u00a0 This photo was taken two days earlier on 8-10-15 when Lupe was on her way up Medicine Bow Peak.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Links:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Next Adventure<\/span><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 Prior Adventure<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Want more Lupe adventures?\u00a0\u00a0Choose\u00a0from\u00a0Lupe’s 2015 Wyoming, Colorado & Utah Adventure Index<\/a><\/strong><\/span>,\u00a0Dingo Vacations Adventure Index<\/a><\/strong><\/span> or Master Adventure Index<\/a><\/strong><\/span>.\u00a0\u00a0Or subscribe free\u00a0to\u00a0new Lupe adventures<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/em><\/span>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Morning.\u00a0 Day 4 of Lupe’s great Summer of 2015 Dingo Vacation.\u00a0 SPHP was mildly disappointed.\u00a0 Although it had started raining shortly after Lupe returned to\u00a0the G6 after climbing Sugarloaf Mountain the previous evening, the rain had fizzled out before too long.\u00a0 SPHP now saw it hadn’t even rained enough to do a decent job of\u00a0knocking … Continue reading Browns Peak, Wyoming (8-12-15)<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1940,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[274],"tags":[105,284,106,286,26,285,104,287],"class_list":["post-1953","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-2015-wyoming-colorado-utah","tag-american-dingo","tag-browns-peak","tag-carolina-dog","tag-circle-trail","tag-dingo-vacations","tag-gap-lakes-trail","tag-lupe","tag-medicine-bow-range"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/adventuresoflupe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/P1060607.jpg?fit=1651%2C1238&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1953","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1953"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1953\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20833,"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1953\/revisions\/20833"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1940"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1953"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1953"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1953"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}