A sublte red glow to the east, outlining a mountain profile in black. ~5:15am
"It's dark and it's cold... And the crescent moon begins to glow..."
A sublte red glow to the east, outlining a mountain profile in black. ~5:15am
"It's dark and it's cold... And the crescent moon begins to glow..."
Sunrise isn't until 6am, and Matt and Wendy head back to sleep, but realize that this is a rare chance to see a sunrise from a super scenic location in the mountains, and they eventually put on sandels and head outside at 5:45am.
Matt walks over to a large rock, avoiding the snow while wearing his socks and sandels, while Wendy hangs near the campsite. After taking some pics, and watching the sky get brighter, he sees the curious marmot on a rock below, perhaps remembering the food we had from yesterday.
The marmot was up early as well...
The teton range on the left, just before sunrise...
Eventually the moment arrives, and the sun breaks over the horizen.
All of a sudden it's sunrise...
Looking back west, the sunlight increases it's coverage over the rock and snow...
Matt walks back to the tent and looks through the see-thru roof (handy for star gazing) and sees Wendy trying to get a bit more sleep.
Fortunately there was no rain or clouds, and we could leave the fly open and watch the sky at night...
Matt climbs in to the tent and considers getting a little more sleep, when he hears a loud bang on one of the tent poles and sees the marmot outside scooting around, trying to look innocent. He decides it's time to get up and start the day.
A view from inside the tent. The sun is warm, and dries out our boots.
Wendy looks snug, warm, and ready to emerge as a butterfly...
Matt hears some talking from Karl and Mariann's tent, and decides it's a good time to get Wendy up, and get an early start to the day. Mariann says the marmot was snapping at their tent this morning too. A good wake up alarm.
Wendy packs her bag, while Karl and Mariann eat breakfast in the distance.
The "pesky" marmot...
We begin the hike along the shelf, back the way we came, through the snow.
Cliffs to the right, valley to the left, hence the "shelf"...
We gain a bit of elevation and pass some familiar views, this time with the morning sun lower in the sky.
This must be the start of one of the waterfalls that run down the valley slope...
A fine view of Death Canyon shelf, and canyon. Anemone Flower Mountain is the dark rocky peak directly below Grand Teton itself...
We return to our lunch spot from yesterday and admire the views. Karl notices a baggy on the ground, and we see some plastic silverware nearby. My missing silverware! Amazingly it didn't blow away in all the wind last night. The bag is chewed through, and all the peanut butter is gone from my knife...
We stop for a break at yesterdays lunch spot...
My silverware I lost yesterday is discovered and the knife I used to spread peanut butter is completely clean. Licked by a marmot? A bear? :-)
Once again we reach Fox Creek Pass, the junction at the end of the canyon. Time to descend, and travel the 9 miles back to the car.
Next time I'll try taking the tram up to the mountain ahead, and hiking the loop thru Cascade Canyon...
There are a few steep snow patches we cross slowly. We hit the last steep snow patch, and Karl slips and slides down on his butt, paddling with his arms the 25 feet to the bottom. Mariann tries next, taking slow careful steps, and slips, and slides down in the same fashion. Matt attempts next, and tries running down, but he slips, and rides down on his seat. We all figure Wendy will follow in kind, and sure enough, we all end up with some wet pants.
There are many switchbacks leading down to the canyon floor...
Wendy poses next to some wild flowers on the path down...
As we near the bottom, Matt realizes his water bottle is missing, and thinks it might have fallen out when he slid down the snow path (though someone probably would have seen it). So he drops his pack and goes for a jog back up the hill, while the rest continue down and wait at the bottom. Fortunately Matt finds the bottle just before he's about to turn back. Then he runs back down the switchbacks triumphantly, enjoying the run without a heavy pack.
Matt's bag is a small speck somewhere near the bottom of the canyon. He must love that water bottle a lot to hike back up to get it...
Matt joins up, and we all head along the canyon floor, ready to re-cross all those streams.
Karl and I figure we camped somewhere on the shelf near the notch in the cliff on the left.
Karl and I pose with Anemone Flower Mountain standing proud between the trees...
We see only 3 more people in the canyon area, bring the total of humans we encounter to 8 over the 3 days we spent here. After crossing all the streams and fields that we saw yesterday, we arrive at the group site where we camped 2 nights ago, and stop for lunch.
Streams with bridges are nice and easy...
Karl and Mariann cook up some jiffy-pop popcorn, and Matt makes a peanut butter, almond, and popcorn tortilla wrap (sorry no pic).
Stopping at the group site for lunch brings back lots of fond memories from way back 2 days ago...
The rushing cool stream is inviting to Karl, who takes advantage of this running clean water, and washes up.
Karl hangs his shorts up on a branch, which is convenient for this picture...
Once lunch is finished, we bid farewell to this hospitable site, and start the final ~6 miles at around 12:30pm. We figure we should be back at the car in 3 hours.
On our way back to the canyon entrance/exit...
After a few miles we reach the cascading stream at the canyon opening. The hike is much more gorgeous then we remembered coming in on Friday.
We joke about bringing an innertube ride the stream on the way back down...
This switch back offered a nice cool mist as it neared the stream...
There's a peak at Phelps Lake...
On second thought, maybe an innertube wouldn't have been such a good idea...
We descend down towards Phelps Lake, and then the uphill climb, we all dreaded begins, with just under 2 miles left. A guy in his upper 30s, with his two sons (maybe 5 and 2 years old) and wife sees us in our packs, and starts talking to Matt. He's excited to think about backpacking, and asks all about our trip, and if we saw the Alaska Basin. Matt fills him in, and tells him he should climb Anemone Flower Mountain next time he's out there. He's becoming more and more separated, ahead of his family, getting lost in talk of backpacking and adventure, until he hears his son yell, "Daddy!", and then reality hits him, and he says, "oh yeah, I gotta head back. Have a good time!".
Yellow wild flowers face south towards the sun, and Phelps Lake...
The uphill climb is slow, but steady, and no one takes a break, cause the sooner we make it to the car, the sooner we can hit the showers! Though it's been 3 days in the woods, the weather has been quite comfortable, which has helped us from getting extremely sticky.
As we pass a group of older people, a man says, "Smile, you're almost done." Wendy thinks that it was her expression which drew this comment...
Phelps lake falls behind, and we are just a mile from the car...
We're almost there, and no one is stopping for a water break. It's the home stretch, and every delay means a delay to take a shower (this is of varying importance to each of us).
We reach the Chevy Classic ~3:20pm, and take off our boots (they served well!) and put on some more comfortable shoes. Then we load up our packs and selves, and Matt maneuvers the car back along the uneven dirt road, sometimes generating rollercoaster like dips to the sides. We arrive back at Jenny Lake Visitor Center, and enjoy the restrooms and grocery store there.
We check out a map of Yellowstone and find a camp area with showers, so Karl and Mariann drive their Honda Insight, and Wendy and I drive the Chevy Classic north to Yellowstone, planning to meet at the campground.
The drive north is beautiful with several scenic views of the Teton range. It takes a little over an hour to get inside Yellowstone and to the campground. The drive in Yellowstone is dull, with flat forests that have burned down trees.
Wow. Jackson Lake at 6800', and Grand Teton in the distance at 13770'. ~7000' of sheer mountain...
We arrive at the campsite, fearing huge crowds on July 3rd, but there is space for us. We set up tents, surrounded by RVs and other campers, and these REALLY loud and annoying kids with parents who don't believe in discipline. Wendy realizes the advantages of backpacking in the wilderness and tenting in solitude.
We head out to the shower facility, and have to pay $2 in quarters for 6 minutes of shower water. The showers turn out to be quicker than desired. Then we head to the restaurant in "town" and dine with good food, good company, and good beer ("Old Faithful Ale", what else in Yellowstone?).
After dinner, we buy some food at the store, and head back to camp. Karl plays some of his latest tunes on Matt's guitar, and Matt starts munching some of Wendy's peanuts. Karl keeps, playing, and Matt keeps eating. When Karl finishes, Matt has finished the 16oz jar that was 3/4ths full, or roughly 2000 calories in peanuts. Not THAT surprising if you know Matt's eating habits...
We head to bed ~10pm, and listen to the kids "next door" yell, and the parents joke around. Finally around 11pm, I hear the parent tell his kids,
"You don't have to be scared of bears. Bears are scared of humans. If they see a human, they think GUNS, and DEATH. If you just make a noise, they'll be scared away."
At least the kids got quiet after that, and with the white noise of a car alarm, we got some sleep...