Bill wanted to get a photo of the Gore Range from the top of the Williams Fork Mountains, across the Blue River Valley from the cabin. He hiked up the back side of the Williams Fork (it is now a Wilderness Area) and camped at 12,300 feet on the summit ridge.
2 (of 70) Detailed route. Two unnamed valleys. 3 (of 70) 4 (of 70) Mt. Keller seen from Ute Pass, on the way to the trailhead. The cabin is out of view to the left of the image 5 (of 70) Mt. Powell seen from Ute Pass - a destination later this summer 6 (of 70) The route was unmarked, steep, sweaty (2800 feet up, starting at 9600).There were only game trails. This was the best one, but didn’t last long. A hermit thrush serenaded for a long time. So did an olive-sided flycatcher, and meadow larks were singing in the high valleys 7 (of 70) First view of the ridge after 3 hours of uphill bushwhacking. 8 (of 70) I ate lunch at the trees near the middle, and reached the ridge to the left of the top snowfield. 9 (of 70) looking back down the valley 10 (of 70) a little higher... 11 (of 70) 12 (of 70) ... higher still 13 (of 70) alpine forget-me-nots 14 (of 70) 15 (of 70) 17 (of 70) nearing the ridge 18 (of 70) I peeked over the ridge and got my first view of the Gore Range 19 (of 70) panorama of the Gores (for a bigger (2.3MB) version, click here 20 (of 70) the cabin is located at the * 21 (of 70) 22 (of 70) 23 (of 70) 24 (of 70) 25 (of 70) sky pilot 26 (of 70) views from the ridge during the afternoon 27 (of 70) 28 (of 70) the route up 29 (of 70) Grays (right) and Torreys on the horizon 30 (of 70) 31 (of 70) cairn... 32 (of 70) ... with columbine 33 (of 70) tomorrow's route 34 (of 70) 35 (of 70) 36 (of 70) 37 (of 70) Mounts Guyot and Baldy on the horizon 38 (of 70) vast stretches of pristine tundra 39 (of 70) looking north - that's Green Mountain Resevoir in the distance 40 (of 70) Ute Peak to the north 41 (of 70) campsite 42 (of 70) Bierstadt sunrays over the cabin 45 (of 70) looking east as the sun sets 46 (of 70) 47 (of 70) low angle illumination 48 (of 70) As the sun disappeared, the colors were only just beginning 49 (of 70) 50 (of 70) looking north 52 (of 70) last rays of daylight over the Gores 53 (of 70) SUNRISE! 54 (of 70) 55 (of 70) dawn on the Gores 56 (of 70) looking south 57 (of 70) 58 (of 70) looking north 59 (of 70) panorama of the Gores at sunrise. For a bigger version (1.8MB), click here . 60 (of 70) 61 (of 70) Time to start down - last view of the magnificent Gores 62 (of 70) 63 (of 70) Destination - a pristine valley with no sign of humans - no tracks, no trails, no fire circles... 64 (of 70) looking back up 65 (of 70) campsite was at the high point 66 (of 70) last view of the ridge before plunging into trailless, steep, and dense forest 67 (of 70) primrose 68 (of 70) Indian paintbrush 69 (of 70) Falls near the end of the descent |