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 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 35 - Escalante River

Our group of eight intrepid but novice backpackers and two incredibly experienced guides gathered for breakfast at 8am to meet, greet and bulk up for 5 days in the Escalante River area. We laid out all our gear to ensure we had the needed hiking, camping and survival supplies and drove to our trailhead for departure. We hiked along a trail following the course of the Escalante River for a mile or so before getting to our first of many river crossings. Wet feet were not something we could avoid so we simply hiked across and sometimes down the river. When the river ran close to the canyon walls we knew we would have to find a shallow entry to the river, then cross the river to the bench on the other side. Guides Andrew Skurka and Alan Dixon offered instruction along the way on map reading and route finding and information on local vegetation and geology and how the knowledge of both helped make your off trail travel more efficient. For example in geology their were two main ro...

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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