Our campsite, around 8:15am.
Our campsite, around 8:15am.
It's breakfast time. Karl and Mariann cook up eggs, which they share with the rest of us. Scrambled eggs with chopped up smoked sausage is a treat! Karl even brought a tiny expresso maker, and made good use of it. Karl and Mariann know how to eat in style in the woods.
Karl sips his expresso.
After breakfast, we pack up the tents, and our packs. It's another gorgeous day. Time to load up on sunscreen. Before we leave we fill up our water bottles with water from the stream, using our water filter pumps.
We head out ~9:15am, and admire the green walls of the canyon. There are many thin waterfalls running down the slope.
We'll eventually walk along the top of this canyon shelf.
Wendy takes a picture of a pretty flower along the trail. There are lots of yellow, blue, and pink flowers in this canyon.
Wendy's flower pic.
The trail heads straight down the middle of this long canyon. There are waterfalls on the sides, and straight ahead we can see the end of this valley, with a lot of snow on that slope. Makes us a little wary, but so far so good. Every so often we see some patches of snow on the ground now.
Such a pretty trail for a sunny morning. We can see snow ahead...
We reach the end of the canyon, and are relieved to see the trail climbs the south facing slope on the right, which is much less snowy. It's time to start the 1000 ft climb.
Gaining elevation...
A look back east reveals the western side of the Grand Tetons emerging above the canyon shelf.
About half way up?
Karl sets the pace up the mountain. Matt often falls behind, taking pictures.
Karl, Wendy, and Mariann, start to round the bend...
Finally we reach the beginning of Death Canyon Shelf, at Fox Creek Pass, where we pick up the Teton Crest Trail. Still some uphill left, and more snow in store.
A look east, from Fox Creek Pass...
To the west we saw some snowy mountains, past the field of yellow flowers.
A look west, from Fox Creek Pass...
The climb up to the top of the shelf passes through many snow patches. Some are hard packed and easy to walk across, others are softer, and we sink to our shins. Good thing we wore new waterproof boots.
We pull off at a scenic spot for lunch, and discuss options for the rest of the day. The going is slower than planned with the snow, and lack of trail in some parts. There are surprisingly few footprints in the snow, which makes means more time spent breaking a trail in the snow, and figuring out the best direction to take.
Karl points orthogonally to the Grand Tetons, here at our lunch spot.
For lunch Wendy has a salmon sandwich, Matt eats a peanut butter tortilla.
Yeah, that's a nice lunchtime view. We hiked up this boomerang shaped canyon...
We chat about what course of action to take, and decide that though we probably could push for the whole hike, it would be a bit safer and relaxing to look for campsite nearby on the shelf, and then drop our packs and day-hike out further. Then we can hike more easily in the snow with a lighter load, and still camp out on the beautiful shelf. We'll head back down the canyon tomorrow the same way we came in.
So we head further out on the shelf, descending a bit, through patches of snow, and patches of rock.
Standing on a rock, in the snow. Such a beautiful canyon shelf.
We find a nice spot near the trail with some flat dry ground to set up tents, and a stream near by to fill up on water.. Time to drop our bags and hike a bit lighter. But Karl and Mariann realize that we can't leave our food sitting on the trail, cause bears, or even chipmunks and marmots will eat it, and possibly chew through our packs. We spot a curious marmot.
Karl shimmies up a tree to investigate hanging the food from a branch, but we realize it would be too close to our tent areas. We decide to leave our tents, pads, and sleeping bags at this site, and bring our food on the hike. As we start the hike, Karl notices a little sign sticking out of the snow that says "group site". Excellent! There's gotta be a bear proof food container near by. Sure enough we find it and drop our food off, and continue the hike.
A look at the Tetons, from near our campsite...
You can see the entrance of Death Canyon which we entered last evening...
We hike across many snow patches, but it's a bit easier without a heavy pack. After a couple miles, we round the corner and make it to Mount Meeker Pass. The view opens up, and we can see some of the Alaska Basin.
Doesn't this mountain cliff look a little like the Capital building?
Well, there's still plenty of light left, and an accessible looking rock summit nearby. Matt suggests scrambling up the rocky slopes and making this summit the high-point of our backpacking adventure. Everyone agrees.
Karl and Mariann lead the way up this unnamed summit of 10300'.
There is a lot of lose rock, and it's important not to climb up behind someone, lest a rock get kicked and fall into your head.
Karl and Mariann near the top of this scenic peak...
There are cool anemone like flowers on this peak. "Anemone" was the name of Karl and Matt's band at Cornell, and so Karl decides to name this summit, "Anemone Flower Mountain". A just name.
"Amemone Flowers" at the top...
The view from the top is spectacular! Everyone hiking in the Tetons should climb Anemone Flower Mountain.
I call this "Parliament Row". We hiked up the canyon on the left, then along the flat shelf...
Karl poses for some pics on Amemone Flower Peak.
Karl points in a random direction.
Karl holds on to his hat on Anemone Flower Mountain.
A look out to the entrance of Death Canyon. A small piece of Phelps Lake can be seen in the crack.
We started our hike beyond Phelps Lake, seen in the distance...
A few more pics are taken on Anemone Flower Mountain:
Karl and Marrian pose next to the Grand Tetons.
Another "Capital Building" shot...
After a good 20 minutes up top, we make our way down the loose rock spree.
Wendy slowly makes her way down Anemone Flower Mountain...
A look back up Anemone Flower Mountain, with Wendy at the bottom.
We make good speed coming down, and running through the snow.
Karl scouts out the surrounding area...
When we reach the shelf area, we see person #4 and #5 of the day. A guy and girl set up camp, and ask if we have seen the girl's sandel that she lost back on the trail. She is wearing a plastic bag on her foot with a block of wood tied around it to walk on. She takes our picture.
Anemone Flower Mountain is in the background behind Karl.
We continue back, as the sun gets lower in the sky.
Sweet shot of the sun on the Tetons, and the green canyon slope. Anemone Mountain is the mound in the upper middle of the pic.
Karl and Mariann find a nice cooking spot down a short slope, to the edge of the shelf, and cook their dehydrated dinner. Matt and Wendy cook a chicken enchilada mix this time. Wendy adds some "pouched" salmon to the mix for extra protein. Matt can't find his plastic silverware, and thinks he might have lost it during lunch. He starts to use Wendy's unused knife as a spoon, and then dumps his enchilada mix into a tortilla to eat. We notice a marmot slowly drawing closer, VERY curious as to what we are eating.
Karl and Mariann check out the view of the canyon, while the marmot checks out the view of their food.
It's pretty chilly out, and we all have on our warm layers. Again there's no one in miles, and we have this gorgeous setting to ourselves. The sun is nearly set, and gives off a pink glow on the mountain peaks.
A nice view from our cooking site.
Looking southwest, across the canyon, we see the pink sunlight touching the mountain ridge for the last few minutes.
Our campsite, right along the trail, with the pink-draped Tetons through the trees, at the verge of sunset.
We put our food back in the bear-proof box, and head to bed as the sunsets. It was a tiring day, and sleep will be easy tonight. Though we didn't end up completing our inital loop hike, today was AMAZING, and the views were top quality.
Choosing to camp here, and spending the afternoon hiking on the shelf, rather than pushing through the snow, trying to make it to the next camping area, with unknown steep snowy slopes ahead, made for a relaxing day. Backpacking is truly worth the effort to be able to camp in a setting like this.