In late August, I ran the Solitude Loop in the Bighorn Mountains with Ian as part of The Fifty. I love the Bighorns, having climbed in Ten Sleep canyon several times. The land is big, the sky is big, the alpine scenery is at once muted and vibrant. It feels very wild, and “Solitude” is an apt name for this loop, which circumnavigates Cloud Peak. This one was special, a true spiritual journey with a very dear friend.
All photos by Ian.
We started at Bighorn Lake instead of Coffeen Park campground (the normal start). I was concerned about getting up the road to Coffeen Park in my small, yet mighty 2WD bread truck. It turns out the road up to Bighorn Lake is probably not very much better, and we added ~5 miles onto an already long day. But the views of Cloud Peak on the way in are amazing.
We estimated it would take us more than 18 hours (that was the FKT). Overnight was the best weather window we had, so we started shortly before sunset, going clockwise.
Cloud Peak in the twilight.
For most of the night, we followed singletrack and granite cairns through alpine tundra and evergreen forests. This brought memories of nighttime hikes and runs through the White Mountains, where I cut my teeth. It’s funny how similar the scents of pine and feel of granite underfoot can be in different places.
“We are a way for the cosmos to know itself.” - Carl Sagan
Sunrise started about when we crossed the halfway point in the southern part of the loop. Here we entered granite canyons which cut across the range, just south of Cloud Peak.
Big canyon meadow, where we saw a bull moose.
A couple of geologists loving life.
The morning light show was spectacular as we climbed up to the trail’s high point.
Ian did all of our runs with his camera and multiple lenses, most of the time running with camera in hand. He’s a tremendous photographer (with very strong legs and undefeatable positivity).
Early morning headed into the western part of the loop. This side opened up to high tundra with many lakes.
Nearing the final pass, still with 10-ish miles to go. Sitting down was very needed at this point.
After we crested the final pass, we ran down to Coffeen Park and still had 4 miles to go to the car. We got drenched in a storm, waded up a steep trail through ankle deep runoff, and both of us were moderately hypothermic and shivering by the time we made it to the car. The next day on the way home, we needed a few drying stops.