Square Top Mountain reflection
— — a flat-topped mountain doubled in still water.
Not only on a wall.
“Square Top rises behind the Green River Lakes with a level summit ridge that looks cut with a straightedge. On a windless morning the lower lake holds the whole mountain — granite, snow patch, sky — flipped clean across the surface. The trailhead at the lakes is the standard entry to the Wind River high country, and the view down the lake to Square Top is one of the most repeated in Wyoming photography for a reason. The reflection is the picture the mountain takes of itself. — from the studio
Square Top Mountain reflection, 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.
Square Top Mountain stands at 11,695 feet at the headwaters of the Green River in Sublette County, Wyoming. Its flat summit and sheer west face make it one of the most recognizable peaks in the northern Wind River Range. The mountain rises directly behind Lower and Upper Green River Lakes, which sit at about 7,950 feet and are reached by a paved-then-gravel road off U.S. Highway 191 near Cora. The whole drainage is administered by the Bridger-Teton National Forest.
The Green River Lakes are a chain of glacially carved basins at the very head of the Green, which runs about 730 miles south to its confluence with the Colorado in Utah. Lower Green River Lake is the larger and lower of the pair; its long, narrow shape aligns almost exactly with Square Top's south face, which is why the reflection works the way it does. The lake is cold year-round and freezes through much of the winter. Snowmelt from the Wind River high country keeps it filled into August.
The Green River Lakes Trailhead and campground sit at the foot of Lower Green River Lake and are the standard entry to the Bridger Wilderness and the Highline Trail. The road in from Cora is open roughly late June through mid-October, depending on snowpack. Morning is the calm window for the reflection — afternoon winds funnel down the valley and the mirror breaks up. The campground is first-come, first-served, and the trail to Upper Green River Lake along the east shore is about three miles each way and gentle.