After a long pandemic / baby / toddler hiatus, my brother and I took a short trip out West this summer. Our original plan was to visit Idaho’s Sawtooth mountains, but we made a last-minute switch to the Wind Rivers when (as is now all too common, alas), a fire broke out close to where we’d planned to hike. The highlight of the trip was a day hike to Lonesome Lake and the Cirque of the Towers, a destination I’ve long wanted to visit that is often listed as one of the most amazing locations in the Rockies. And that’s right! The Cirque is genuinely incredible, and the 18.5 mile / 3,600 feet of climbing out-and-back is challenging enough to make for a fun day out. One piece of advice: take it easy on the final ten miles of dirt road to the Big Sandy trailhead. It’s true that you can drive there in a regular car – we spotted a small Hyundai EV parked up – but it’s legitimately rough going and it would be easy to damage your vehicle in a pretty remote spot.