The Cirque of the Towers is one of the most incredible landscape locations anywhere I have visited. The dramatic “cirque” is a glacial bowl, perfectly formed over several millennia from the pressure of ice carving out the landscape. It is located in the Popo Aggie Wildnerness within the Wind River Range in Wyoming. These peaks are gorgeous and covered in snow year-round. They are jagged and tooth-shaped with alpine lakes at their base; the perfect landscapes to photograph!
The workshop begins at Allen’s Diamond 4 Ranch, just outside Fort Washakie, Wyoming. It’s a working ranch that outfits and (re)supplies hikers in the Wind River Range and sets the stage for our adventure.
After an early breakfast, we headed out and hit the trail! Riding the trails on these animals is incredible and so much fun. Crossing rivers and going up and down through the rise and fall of the landscape is an experience in itself.
After several hours and miles on our horses, we finally broke out from the trees, witnessing one of the most incredible vistas in the world, the mighty Cirque of the Towers!
Once we arrived at camp, we got things set up as a team, helping unload the caravan of horses, putting up tents, and helping set up the camp kitchen, essentially setting up our mountain home for the next week.
Over the next few days, we lived the camp life! We had meals around the campfire, had s’mores, told stories, and ate the most delicious and incredible meals prepared by our wranglers. This year, one of our camp hosts cooked an elk stew made from elk she hunted the year before. There were also plenty of tasty vegetables. Desserts are made over the campfire coals; what an experience!
Each day, we woke up before dawn, hit the trails for sunrise, and spent the day exploring the area, sometimes hiking up leftover snowfields, but all to experience the views.
As the week wound down, we were greeted in camp by a caravan of wranglers from the ranch who rode into camp the evening before our exit day. The final morning, we broke down camp and helped load up saddlebags, getting everything ready to depart and headed down the trail to the Ranch and a (very welcomed) hot shower. 🙂
Our final day of the workshop started after a delicious breakfast in the dining room at the ranch followed by an extensive image review going over the week’s photos captured by the group reinforced with a comprehensive post-processing workflow start to finish on an image captured during the trip.
At the end of the session, we said goodbye and began our travels home.
Join us for this incredible, fully-guided photography journey in 2024!
