Cloud Peak Wilderness (highest in Bighorns)
— — a granite roof above the high plains.
Not only on a wall.
“Cloud Peak rises to 13,167 feet at the heart of the wilderness that carries its name, the highest point in the Bighorn Mountains and the roof of a granite world above the dry plains of north-central Wyoming. The Cloud Peak Glacier, a small remnant on the north face, is the only true glacier in the range. The wilderness covers about 189,000 acres in the Bighorn National Forest. — from the studio
Cloud Peak Wilderness (highest in Bighorns), on ceramic.
Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.
Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.
The place, in three passes.
The Cloud Peak Wilderness covers about 189,000 acres of the central Bighorn Mountains in north-central Wyoming, administered by the Bighorn National Forest. Congress designated the wilderness in 1984. Cloud Peak itself, at 13,167 feet, is the high point of the Bighorns and stands roughly midway between Sheridan and Worland. The standard approaches are the West Tensleep and Battle Park trailheads on the west side and the Hunter Corral on the east.
The high country is Precambrian granite, exposed by the Laramide uplift that raised the Bighorns about seventy million years ago. The summit ridge of Cloud Peak is a long curving wall of stone broken by glacial cirques on its north and east faces. The Cloud Peak Glacier, tucked under the north face, is the only true glacier left in the range and has been measurably retreating since systematic observation began in the nineteen-sixties.
The high passes typically open by early July and close with the first hard storm in late September. No fees or permits are required to enter the wilderness, but groups are capped at ten people and bear-resistant food storage is required throughout. The standard non-technical ascent of Cloud Peak is a long day from a high camp at Mistymoon Lake, with a final scramble up a boulder field; the round-trip from the trailhead is around twenty-four miles.