Day 71 - Central Wyoming to Grand Teton

My first stop this morning was to the site of a massive bug attack in the 90s hit movie Starship Troopers. This brutal terrain, nick-named Hells Half Acre, is interesting geologically but is not accessible, hidden behind a tall fence. Since I couldnt hike down I took some pics and drove on to my second destination.

Twenty dirt road miles off the highway, Castle Gardens, is another pretty but inaccessible geological feature, known for its pictographs. Accessibility is important to natural sites and we are darn lucky in the US to have so many incredible sites made accessible by paved roads. Castle Gardens was a bit disappointing visually but the pictographs were fun.

My third Central Wyoming stop was Boysen Reservoir, a lake created when the Wind River was damned in our great dam everything period fifty years ago. The lake was peaceful and scenic with the Wind River Mountains in the background, but the Wind River flowing north of the dam was even nicer.

As I continued west the mountains started to rise and the road began to bend: I was entering the Bridger-Teton and Shoshone National Forests outside of Grand Teton. As I crossed the mountain and began down the other side the impressive Tetons came into view. The tectonic plate below the Tetons pushed the mountains up and the valley down, creating a tall mountain range without any foothills, and creating the awesome view. I drove into Grand Teton, taking photos along the way, and enjoying the views from the Jackson Lake Lodge. I then retreated back east out of the park to the National Forest boundary to a campsite high on a ridge.

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Day 161 - JMT Purple Lake and Tully Hole

We got our first glimpse of smoke far across the valley as we climbed higher. Up on a ridge after a morning climb, we followed a side trail to an open viewpoint beyond the trees. Selfie:) The smoke, while visible, seemed to give the mountains a blue glow-- like a highlighter to a sketch. You could still see the edges of the mountain ridges, the story of their creation. We could hike in this. But the smoke looked worse farther south. Or it was getting worse as time rolled incessantly forward. On day two we had ran into a northbound hiker we nicknamed Speedy Steve. Speedy Steve had hiked 18 miles a day through eight consecutive smoke-filled days, including atleast three "very bad days" when he couldn't see the surrounding mountains, the sun glowed a haunting orange and ash accumulated overnight. On the way to Purple Lake we ran into three dirty, beat up, tired north-bound hikers with a similar story. They had to spend one night in an emergency hut at Muir Pass to avoid the...

Day 41 - Escalante Coyote Gulch

This one or two night Coyote Gulch hike was an easy test of my newly learned navigation skills. Anxious to get started I awoke at 545 just as the sun was rising. I followed an obvious landmark, a tall thin spire called Chimney Rock, northwest to Hurricane Wash (a drainage running into Coyote Gulch). After a couple of hours of walking up over and around slick rock, I entered the famous Coyote Gulch. The walls around me raised up, darkened and th water flow increased--like nature hinting at the scenic beauty ahead. The normally crowded Coyote Gulch was fairly empty on this early Thursday morning, giving the canyon a very peaceful and quiet feeling-- fragile almost. Down steam, I ran into the famous Jacob Hamilton Arch and then thirty minutes further-- the Coyote Natural Birdge. Both were beautiful due to their see through the wall character, but both would be overshadowed in my memory by the Stevens Arch tomorrow. Pics. By 1pm, I had hiked for six hours...

Day 42 - Escalante Stevens Arch

The Stevens Arch is so massive that legend says daredevil pilots would fly through it. I was excited to see it! Having napped most of the afternoon, I awoke promptly at 545, packed up my things and hiked down to the Escalante River as the first morning light was pouring into the canyon. Hiking around more waterfalls and ledges and along the stream before anyone else was up was nice. My written directions said to look for sandy hill to my right which led up to my only exit from the canyon-- the Crack-in-the-Wall. I ran into the confluence of the Escalante River, a point which my guidebook noted was passed my exit route, requiring a ten minute backtrack. This was fine though because I had tons of time and wanted to see the Stevens Arch. I crossed the knee-deep Escalante River several times before the Arch came into view. Like a window in the Roman Colloseum, the Arch seemed almost engineered by man in this tall curving canyon wall. I hiked under the arch and couldn't eve...

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