Grand Tetons

Ah, the summer of smoke!  As Labor Day approached, our planned trip to Glacier National Park was looking bleaker and bleaker due to the massive fires there.  But, following our MO of avoiding bad weather and smoke (perhaps to a fault), we looked elsewhere.  The Sawtooths in Idaho looked pretty good, despite the large number of fires in the northern part of the state... until the wind changed.  But, with heavy smoke expected to flow into Seattle, we had to do something.  Wyoming and Colorado didn't look too bad, until the departure day approached.  But we headed off anyway to Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming, with our fingers crossed (and our noses plugged), but not expecting much.  Truth be told, there was a bit of an unspoken undertone of "why the hell are we doing this ... driving for a couple of days to hike in the smoke."  And sure enough, within a half hour of leaving town, we hit smoke ... and it stayed with us the entire way to the Tetons.

But undeterred, we spent a day and a half doing a couple of day hikes while making arrangements for a 4-day backpack.  The smoke situation wasn't ideal, but at the top of our 2nd day hike (Surprise and Amphitheater Lakes), things seemed pretty good at the higher altitude... getting us excited for a good backpack.

For our backpack, we opted for a more leisurely, but expanded, variation on the standard Paintbrush Divide loop.  We started up Cascade Canyon and camped the first night along the South Fork.  On Day 2, we did a day hike up the South Fork to Hurricane Pass, before packing up and backtracking a bit and heading up the North Fork to camp the 2nd night.  The 3rd day involved going up the North Fork to Solitude Lake (which, surprisingly and appropriately, we had to ourselves for a half hour), then up and over Paintbrush Divide to Paintbrush Canyon, and our 3rd camp.  The final day was basically a big descent and slog out to the trailhead (pretty typical for the last day of a multi-day hike).  And what a great trip it turned out to be.  Big beautiful country with awesome peaks, pristine lakes, and way more flowers than we expected for this time of year.  All three upper basins (South Fork, North Fork and Paintbrush) were just magnificent.  We had generally good weather, with only minor smoke on the first day, an afternoon thunderstorm on Day 2, and some drizzle on the last night/morning.  Not too much wildlife, but we had a close encounter with a moose, a river otter (that hissed at Karen when she paid a little too much attention to it), and saw numerous marmots and pikas.

Upon our return to civilization, we scoped out continuations to our trip, but our need for a rest day and some incoming storms led us to scrap going to the Wind River Range, Colorado, or Salt Lake City ... and head for home.  A relatively short, but very satisfying trip.  The interesting thing we discovered is that much of the Tetons are very different than the post-card view from the east ... where the big peaks drop abruptly to a high plateau with lakes.  Numerous canyons cut through the eastern "wall" of peaks, and deliver you to classic high country!  Another take-away from this trip for us is to take some chances (kind of like theater and live music) ... you strike out some of the time, but much of the time it's at least good, and occasionally you hit a home run!

Smoky view in Eastern Oregon

The Grand Teton and Teewinot Mtn above Taggart Lake

The Grand Teton above Amphitheater Lake

Lower Cascade Canyon and Mt Owen

Monkshood

Morning Light, South Fork Cascade Canyon

Indian Paintbrush

Grand, Middle, and South Tetons (left to right) from near Hurricane Pass

Tarns in upper South Fork Cascade Creek basin

Munching marmott

Blue Gentian

Purple Asters

Campsite beneath Mt Owen and Grand Teton

Teton sunrise from North Fork Cascade Canyon

Moose ... just passin' thru

White Asters

Solitude Lake reflecting Mt Owen and the Grand Teton

Happy campers at Solitude Lake

Thor Peak and Mt Moran beyond ridge near Paintbrush Divide

Mt St John and The Jaw above upper Paintbrush Canyon

Descending towards civilization and Jackson Lake

Unknown berries

Teewinot Mtn and the Grand Teton

More Photos

Activities

• Day Hikes
• Taggert Lake
• Surprise and Amphitheater Lakes

• Backpack
• Cascade Canyon > Hurricane Pass > Paintbrush Divide > Paintbrush Canyon

5-Star Moments

• The moose encounter!  (see Random Scenes, below)
• The wide variety of flowers!
• (Non-smoky) Sunrise on the Grand Teton
• The incredible beauty of upper cirque of South Fork Cascade Creek.  Views of meadows, tarns, and peaks increasing with each step.

Random Scenes

• Eagerly anticipating a nice hot shower at the Climbers Camp after a long, hot day hike, Tom was confronted with one shower that didn't work at all, and the other that only dribbled cold water.  What's a man to do, but go cold!  A subsequent inquiry with the proprietor revealed that the non-working shower, in fact, had a lever on the shower head to adjust the water flow, while the "cold" shower was actually broken.  This lesson came in handy 4 days later (after our backpack), when Tom finally got to enjoy a proper shower!
• As we were breaking camp in mid-afternoon, Tom noticed some darkish clouds and felt a cool breeze, and mentioned to Karen that "it feels like impending doom".  But no, he thought, he's just letting his worrying gene get too active.  Ah, but less than 2 minutes after we started hiking to our next camp (and hadn't even reached the main trail), it started raining, and thundering, and lightning.  Not a problem with rain gear!  And it stopped by the time we reached our next camp and needed to set up the tent!  Must be good karma!
• Casually eating our oatmeal breakfast about 20 ft from our tent, when Karen suddenly says "Hey, there's a moose!" ... and it's very close and very much headed our way!.  Tom frantically (but unsuccessfully) searched for his camera, all the while keeping an eye on the big fella.  He got a bit spooked (probably from Tom's jerky movements), walked around a couple of trees, then within a couple of feet of our tent, and off for some riverside munching.  And we breathed a sigh of relief that he wasn't interested in hassling us!

Random Questions

• How many bears are there really in the park?
• If a bear attacks a dog, would the bear be put down ... like if he had eaten human food?
• What are these black berries?

Tom's Daily Stress Points

• Should we camp here, or there?  (stress level = medium low)

Sleeps

• Mountain Home, ID
• Best Western (comfy beds)
• Jackson, WY
• Wyoming Inn (comfy, expensive)
• Grand Tetons NP
• Jenny Lake Campground (site 40 ... roomy!)
• South Fork Cascade backcountry zone (site before group camp)
• North Fork Cascade backcountry zone (1st site on right)
• Upper Paintbrush backcountry zone
• Pocatello, ID
• Best Western (fine)

Noteable Eats

• Mountain Home, ID
• Wingers (ok dinner and breakfast)
• Jackson, WY
• Fiesta Mexican Restaurant (pretty good mex)
• Cowboy Coffee (decent muffins)
• Pocatello, ID
• McKenzie's (forgetful waiter, twice cold flat bread, 2 good beers)

Future Ideas

• Backpack from either the Jackson Hole tram or up Death Canyon, along the Teton Crest Trail, and out Cascade Canyon.  Ideal to camp on Death Canyon Shelf and the uppermost few sites in the South Fork Cascade backcountry zone.