July 24: Indian Pass/Titcomb Basin Dayhikes

Dorf enjoying a break on the hike up to Indian Pass.

We arose early, just before 6 AM, still smelling and seeing smoke as we had the day before. We also had our first wildlife sighting other than a marmot when a started mule deer scampered through our camp and down to the lake. By 7 AM we had Yumi’s pack loaded for our hike up to Indian Basin and Pass.

We didn’t get off to such a great start. The trail, visible from our camp site, was across the stream we didn’t feel like crossing near our camp so we decided to do a little off trail detour figuring we’d find the trail further up the basin. We eventually wound up in an old woman’s awesome camp site by mistake. She’d obviously been here before to find such a great spot, but the poor lady, who appeared to be pushing 70, looked like she’d recently taken a fall and landed on her face. Some of her front teeth were missing and she had iodine stains covering a few facial cuts. For some perverse reason I thought she may have come out here to die.

Indian Basin held an incredible amount of scenery.

Once she got us back to the trail we continued the gradual climb up to the pass. The trail was not well marked but some well-placed cairns kept us on track. It would have been difficult NOT to get to the pass but it wouldn’t have been to totally lose the trail on the way.

Again, the scenery was almost surreal yet so beautiful. Water was everywhere from the melting snowpack, soaking the ground or making its way down the mountain in small streams. Surprisingly, we only saw one tent in the Basin that day and I made another mental note to come back here, camp and stay a while. We did more rock hopping in an hour than we did the previous 7 days on the trail but I didn’t mind one bit. Once we got a little higher the rock hops were interspersed with short traverses over small snow fields.

Looking down on a glacial lake from Indian Pass.

As we climbed further we saw a small lake spawned from Harrower Glacier reflecting its aquamarine color in the sunlight. It was at that moment I realized how remote this place was. After 6 miles of hiking, hopping and climbing we made it up to the pass at 10:30. To be honest, the view into the Fitzpatrick Wilderness wasn’t the greatest I’d seen, but Knife Point Glacier was an impressive sight to our right (north) and we were able to get a signal on Yumi’s cell phone. So much for feelings of remoteness. We called our kids from close to 12,000’ then began the descent back down to our camp, arriving at 2:30.

Feeling somewhat burned out from the 12 mile hike up to the pass and back, we laid down in the tent for a while while it sprinkled just a little bit. Yumi and I talked a little bit about how bummed she was having to eat dehydrated meals for another few days and basically said she wanted to cut this trip two nights short. After thinking about it for a few seconds I agreed, thinking we would head on up to yellowstone so that she could see Old Faithful and some other parts of the park we had missed in 2003. I wasn’t happy about it, but not too pissed, either. I knew I’d be back and attempt Fremont another time---hopefully next summer. I told Yumi that we’d begin hiking out tomorrow via Lester Pass and the Pole Creek trail.

Yumi taking in the sights at the foot of Titcomb Basin

After about 30 minutes the sprinkles stopped and I knew we’d have to hike into Titcomb Basin just to get a feel for the area before we left tomorrow. Shortly after announcing my plan we were on our way into the Basin. Again, I was disappointed that we hadn’t hiked a few more minutes two days earlier as there were plenty of great campsites to be had. Of course, how was I to know we’d be cutting the trip a few days short at the time?

The views into the Basin were unlike anything we had seen before. Where Indian Basin was bright and gradually leading up to the pass, Titcomb was dark and foreboding, almost like something out the Lord of the Rings films. We made it to the head of lake 10,548, then separated for about a half hour. yumi stayed by the lake while I climbed another 150’ or so to the top of a ridge so that I could bet a better view of the Basin. “Incredible” is the only word to describe it.

I returned to Yumi’s resting spot and we hiked back to our camp site and prepared dinner. We spent the rest of the evening sitting outside talking about our hike up to the pass, the kids and soccer.

Titcomb Basin.