Teton Crest Trail
This weekend offered a good excuse to get the blog rolling again. Sorry for the lull in posts, that is, if anyone is out there keeping track of us.
BJ’s brother Brandon drove into town late Thursday night to hike the Teton Crest Trail with us over the weekend. We couldn’t have picked a better weekend out of the summer There were no crowds. We had warm Indian summer nights. And the fall colors were insane.
Click on the image to see all photos from the trail.
We started the weekend with a bike ride in the Big Holes. Shannon and Jimmy also joined us for a long loop in Horseshoe Canyon. Shannon’s quote of the day: “when do we hit the downhill?” That was after about 20 minutes of continuous down but these Teton trails can be quite deceiving.
Despite an early wake up the following morning, we somehow managed to delay riding up the tram and starting our hike until noon. Shannon, Jimmy, and their service dog Keoki met us at the top of the tram to hike with us until Death Canyon. BJ, Brandon and I pushed on to spend the night on Death Canyon Shelf. With three of us in a tent and unusually warm temps, I slept outside of my sleeping bag the entire night.
The next day we continued on through Alaska Basin and spent the night in the South Fork of Cascade Canyon. It’s no wonder how the canyon got its name. We must have used the word “beautiful” over 200 times.
On day three, with a couple sore knees and a few blisters (one of which BJ nicknamed my sixth toe), we walked out Cascade Canyon and back to our car.
Catching Up:
Just a few weeks ago we joined Sam, Mareike, and Schmitty for an amazing three day hike in the Wind River Range. Located just south of Jackson, this was surprisingly our first time in the Winds. It was cold but not freezing, wonderfully mosquito free, and we had beautiful weather. The lakes are endless in the Winds and the fish are plentiful. Although somehow they were able to evade both BJ and my many casts. Wait, that’s not true … BJ caught a minnow.
In late August my dad and Fran drove out to visit us in their ’85 New Horizon RV. We spent a few days in Teton Valley and then took a road trip together out to Craters of the Moon, Stanley, and Sun Valley, Idaho, spending some time in a natural hot spring, hiking along Redfish Lake, and celebrating my dad’s 75th birthday at Redfish Lake Lodge.
The following weekend, we joined Andy and Claudia and drove to Helena to visit Kevin, Crystal, and their two kids Carly and Haven. They showed us around Helena, helped us find a local bike ride called the Ridge Trail, and cooked us amazing amounts of delicious food. The visit was long overdue and we’ll definitely be back.
For further reading pleasure, our friends Tom and Julia are on an epic trip around the world. Their stories have been so much fun to follow. Check out their blog here: http://www.weddingsandwhitewater.com/
BJ put this mountain biking video together after our ride in the Big Holes: