Skip to main content

Day 74 & 75 - Grand Teton Village

Uncle Steve and Cousins Lanny and Landon were set to arrived today for a two week Yellowstone vacation amid my adventure. I did laundry, thoroughly cleaned my stinky shoes and converted my one-person camper van into a four-person voyage van. I rolled up the bed, broke down the second storage rack and raised the two middle seats in order to make space. 

Steve and Lanny missed their connecting flight to Jackson and since the airline didn't fly to Jackson for two more days, they instead flew to Salt Lake City and took a bus up here, arriving 22 hours late. Cousin Landon's flight was on time at 9pm so I picked him up and we went down to Jackson for pizza and beer. The only pic of the day:


The next day Lanny and I set out to hike up to Taggart and Bradley lakes after a lazy morning. The weather was ideal for hiking at mid 60s and sunny. A "wind event" two days ago knocked over dozens of trees into the trail and Rangers were out with chainsaws clearing them. After Bradley Lake the trail climbs up 2000 vertical feet to a canyon cliff edge used as a climbing entrance to Grand Teton. The fallen trees and a lack of time blocked our progress so we turned back and drove on to Jackson to meet Steve and Lannny. 




The travel-weary fellows seemed chipper and excited to be here despite their horrid 24 hours of travel cancellations and waitings. We celebrated their arrival with a tasty dinner and drinks at the Mangy Moose bar before walking around the mostly-empty mountain town of Teton Village in search of other party-goers. We walked through the beautiful Four Seasons hotel before enjoying a night-cap at The Spur bar just before it closed. 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

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 172 - JMT Mount Whitney

Our day began in silence, at 315am in pursuit of the summit.  We walked carefully, looking for slick, sandy rocks and icy sections--not wanting to fall. Hiking along a cliff edge in total darkness was thrilling, vividly black and white.  By 5am, we had reached the three mile marker and the turnoff up to Whitney summit. We removed the heavy items from our bags and set off towards the summit sunrise. The trail was spectacular, a special creation of this nation, winding from one side of the mountain to the other, going down and around one side before coming up to another, creating anticipation with each turn. Looking back, the sloping ridges caught the early sunset delicately.  As we hiked along the two mile upper trail, the views east would open up for the narrowest of moments.  This opening was my favorite.  14,000 foot cathedrals of nature thrusted towards the heavens at each turn. The summit was almost in sight, the highest peak in the lower 48 states nearly at...

Day 52 - Mesa Verde

The Anasazi first settled on the mesa tops of Mesa Verde in 500 AD, then moved into the cliff dwellings this park is famous for in 1100 AD, then mysteriously abandoned the area entirely in 1300 AD. Like the other tourists, I was interested in seeing the cliff dwellings!  Unfortunately many sites are closed in Colorado until Memorial Day, so I wasn't able to go into the two largest dwellings, Cliff Palace or Long House, settling instead for Balcony House.  Balcony House is a small cliff dwelling built in a defensive posture on an inaccessible cliff. You have to climb a 30 foot ladder to enter the dwelling and then you have to crawl through a 3 foot wide hole and up more ladders to exit. Adventure and history are a nice combo. The ranger taught us about building techniques, spiritual structures and customs, and theories about the Anasazi culture and disappearance (draught or war). Pics.  After the guided tour of Balcony House, I did self-guided tours of a historical museum,...