Day 72 - Grand Teton Cascade Canyon

Everyone I passed on the Cascade Canyon trail today had wide, grinning smiles that said "this is the best day ever!" Cascade Canyon is reached by boat across or hike around famous Jenny Lake at Grand Teton. I chose to hike.

First stop was the powerful Hidden Falls, flowing strongly with glacial melt from the surrounding high mountain sides. The mist off the falls came fifty feet to the overlook. Next stop was a hike up the mountain side to the "inspiration point"-- a high view across the lake to the valley.

Then Cascade Canyon put this inspiration point to shame. After about a mile of gentle upward hiking the views opened up to the glacier U-shaped valley on all three sides. There was even a lake formed by spring runoff about two miles in. Continuing up canyon, views of Grand Teton and sister peaks came into view, until I reached the end of the canyon. I turned back at this point, having heard stories of difficult snow travel up the east and west high passes and having eight miles left to return.

I returned down the canyon quickly and then looped 4.4 tired miles around Jenny Lake, all the time enjoying gorgeous views of the white and grey pinnacles across the lake. Back at the van, I drove on to a close-by informal and free national forest campground that an online site had described as having "the best views of the Tetons in the park." Thank you Internet. Here was the view.

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Day 57 - Rocky Mountain National Park

Ever since I decided to go west for my big trip, I had dreamed of high mountain lakes with snowy peaks arching in every direction, with chilly air making every moment crisp, and with clear skies bringing all into perfect focus-- pure bliss. Today was the first of many great mountain lake days to come. Hiking here was far easier here than in the San Juans because the snow was packed down on the trail, but I brought my mini crampons for the downhill. I made it safely past a narrow ridge with narly black peaks across the gorge (pic 1), then up to Mills Lake (pic 2) then Jewel Lake then the Loch (pic 3) then down before the afternoon rain started falling. I hiked around some lower, more accessible lakes but the sky was now overcast and pictures no good. I drove up the open portion of the Ridge road amid a very light dusting of snow before heading back to camp for dinner and bedtime. I did manage to capture some fine Elk grazing in a meadows on the return trip and a g...

Day 43 - Capitol Reef

Capitol Reef, a national park centered around a 90 mile ancient seabed reef was next on my list. A sensationally scenic three hour drive from Bryce, back through Escalante, and then through a national forest led me to the park. A stop by the visitor center to get the lay of the land and insider info on local free BLM campsites complete, I set out on Chimney Rock trail up the the top of the first reef to get a view. Yes sir!! The weather was ideal for hiking and the views completely blissful, but I was frankly tired today. I set out along the scenic road down the west side of the reef and remember wanting to take a nap-- but still having a sense of urgency to complete the desert portion of my trip-- I pushed on and set out to hike down the Capitol Gorge and Grand Wash canyons. The Capitol Gorge had a "Pioneer Wall" with inscriptions from the early 1900s and the Grand Wash had a nice narrow section with towering canyon cliffs all around. I took a photo of the surrounding reef...

Day 54 - Great Sand Dunes

I awoke to clear skies, a dry mattress and pillows, a second hot shower and a waffle-filled motel breakfast. I decided to head east to Great Sand Dunes National Park in order to climb 700 foot sand dunes surrounded by snow-covered alpine mountains--a rare site. Just about every road in Colorado goes over a pretty high mountain pass eventually, and this three and a half hour journey didn't disappoint. And Great Sand Dunes didn't disappoint either. After securing a dune-side campsite and waiting out a rainstorm, I set out to climb the dunes for a sunset view. Great Sand Dunes is also famous for its Medano Creek wave-like flow and ankle-deep water, making it popular with young kids. I hiked through it and started climbing the dunes, first to a high dune on the east side and over to the next highest dune and then the next highest et until I got to the highest one-/ properly called High Dune. I sat down, setup my phone to capture a time-lapse of the beautiful sunset my eyes were ...

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