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

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Day 48 - Canyonlands Island in the Sky Pt 2

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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...

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