Moccasin Lake

Moccasin Lake high in the Wind River Range is a secluded area in Wyoming's Wind River Reservation at about 8,000 feet altitude.  A long winding road with many switchbacks leads to it.  In this area grow a variety of pine trees that are used for building the Sun Dance lodge and sweat lodges.

During the Sun Dance in July, Shoshone who are charged with constructing the lodge take a truck to this area and select the most perfect trees to be cut for building the lodge.  In this photo, you can see how the glaciers scoured the mountainous slopes so that very little vegetation grows in the region beyond the lake. In the far distance is St. Lawrence Basin, a grassy plateau that is a summer pasture for cattle owned by members of the Shoshone nation.

I never went up here with Tom Wesaw, but did hike on the Bear's Ear Trail in the late 1960's, which goes deep into the mountains.  For several years during the 1970's, the Shoshone Tribe declared this area to be off- limits to non tribal members.  It was a protest against too many non-Indians using the Reservation for recreational purposes.  Even a couple of years ago, the road to Moccasin Lake had been blocked again and for the same reasons but the blockade was later lifted.