Circle the Cirque Crest

Across the island studded lake is Striped Mountain, Mt. Pinchot and Mt. Ickes in the Pinchot Pass area.

Tour de Lakes

Circle The Cirque Crest - By D.W.Donehoo (All rights reserved)

Next we headed uphill to the top of a ridge that overlooked the middle lake of the basin which I will call "Monument Lake" because of the great monument-like pillar on the shore of the lake.

This lake was interesting because of the high cliffs, the monument, its elongated shape, and because it had what looked like a terminal moraine just off shore across the lake, possibly a remnant from the glacier that still had a little piece of itself clinging to the walls. The shores of Monument Lake were rocky and barren with some swards of grass here and there. Due to its setting, it was a rather attractive lake, and we were glad we visited it. Above to the north-west, we could plainly see the easy looking pass into the basin leading to Marion Lake. We then descended down an easy grass and granite slope to benches overlooking Lower Cartridge Basin Lake.

Here we once again admired the tiny island with its red wildflowers and trees, looking like a small sailing ship making ready to set sail. We turned the lake on the west side and went out on a rocky peninsula to admire the island a little closer at hand. Eventually we made our way back to camp and spent the evening soaking up the alpen-glow drenched vista while eating dinner, and finally watching the stars come out one by one until everything was silhouetted by a star-studded canopy.