Tetons – Only my footprints

Teton Crest Loop Day 4 – Fords, rain and fried chicken

I am pretty sure a horse was either dying or giving birth somewhere in the vicinity of my tent last night! A truly weird noise, moreso when you are alone in your tent with no humans in a five km radius. I have adopted a childlike approach to wildlife – I close the flaps on the tent and assume if I can’t see them, they can’t see me. A bit like the magic elf cloak in the Lord of the rings, I hope the animals will assume my grey tent is just a boulder.

In the end I had no animal encounters last night, and as this is my last night camping I am all good to cook breakfast in bed and have my tent smell like food, so I retrieved my bear canister and cooked while I waited for the sun to come up. The sun didn’t really arrive, but the rain did.

Job one for the day was fording the inlet, which was a piece of cake…. Hilarious that the path is labelled as closed.

Then I saw no humans for 15km as I wandered passed taggart lake and through the white meadows to phelps lake.

The trail was lovely but a bit boring after a while, there are only so many lovely trees you need to see

Lake Phelps was delightful and I finally saw some people and then a whole lot of people. Amusingly this is one of the few places in the world where you are advised to sing on the trail – it stops you surprising bears, wish I had that excuse everywhere! I surprised a few humans this morning with my off key melodies!

And that was it, an easy 21km stroll down the valley with a few lakes for the final day to arrive back at the Granite Canyon trailhead. Most people don’t do this valley section, instead they get a shuttle back to their cars from Jenny Lake, but I think the extra miles were worth it to see Surprise/Ampitheatre lakes, though these could be done as an easy day hike.

Am now in Jackson hole where I have ordered the ‘breakfast special’ of fried chicken and waffles with maple syrup – yes it was on the breakfast menu! In my defence I have tried to make it healthier by ordering berries on the side. It was delicious and I could have eaten two.

waffles and fried chicken at cafe genevieve

I would wholeheartedly recommend this trip as an easy couple of days hiking/camping. The itinerary hit all of the highlights of the park and then some. The trails are well groomed and the Rangers gave great advice – Tripp at the office in Moose was fabulous, ask for him by name

Bradley Lake to Granite Canyon 21km covered.

Additional Info

Backcountry campsite permits can be booked in advance on line, or the day before – see the nps website , and you can figure out where you want to camp using the backcountry camping guide. Note that bear canisters are available to borrow for free, but you will need to buy bear spray ($45)
Jackson and Teton Village are wildly overpriced for accommodation. I stayed in a dorm at the hostel in Teton village which was fine for $40 a night. Alternatively you can camp at Jenny Lake, Gros Ventre or Colter Bay, for $20-25 per night but there are no advanced reservations. Details here . there is some free camping en route to Jackson in the national forest but it is at least an hours drive away
Food and supplies are expensive here, stock up before you arrive at the REI in Salt Lake or the Walmart in Idaho Falls or elsewhere en route

Teton Crest Loop Day 3 – Dodging rocks

It is damn disconcerting to be woken up at 10pm, and then midnight, and then 3am to the sound of huge rockslides tumbling down the cliffs when you are sleeping in a flimsy tent in a rocky canyon. I contemplated getting up and hiking out but the fear of meeting the Bears was enough to keep me in my tent. I crossed my fingers that Eric’s tent next door would slow the rocks down if they came our way.

When light finally came it was another sunny morning, and I got up when it was warm enough to leave the tent to unbury my food and cook breakfast (I miss non bear country where you can cook breakfast in bed).

And then I wandered down the canyon to the valley and the String and Jenny Lakes. Both are lovely, but are on flat paths full of unfit day trippers many who asked how much further they had to walk to the viewpoint (not far!)

After a few miles of flatness I headed up the steep slope from the Lupine trail head to Surprise and Ampitheatre lakes at 3000m to get some stunning views of the Tetons from the east side. The highlight of the day was overtaking several groups of twenty something day hikers with small packs, while I am lugging a full 12kg (damn bear canister).

The lakes were lovely so I had a late lunch and chatted with some locals. This was my official destination for tonight but it was too early to stop so I decided to risk getting in trouble with the Rangers and hike onwards a to Bradley lake to chop off some mileage from tomorrow and to sleep at a lower altitude.

I was stopped in my tracks by this sign…..

After I while I realised that the English translation was “path open provided you are willing and able to ford a river”. Ok then. But I will save the river to the morning as the camp site is just before the river.

Have chowed down on a big dinner, eating most of the food I have left as am hungry and feeling a bit crap. Partly from the altitude and partly from too much sun (managed to leave hat and sunscreen behind as thought it would be cold, not so!)

bradley lake with the sun setting behind the mountains

6.40 pm and in my tent ready to snore, hoping no one shows up to kick me off the site given I don’t have a reservation

Last day tomorrow, which is probably just as well as my armpits are offending me, and what I thought was gas leaking from my cooking canister was actually my socks! Thank goodness I hike solo!

From Holly Lake to Bradley Lake via Surprise and Ampitheatre Lakes

Total distance = 36km; Ascent = 1100m

Teton Crest Loop Day 2 – Lakes and lakes

To my surprise and delight I was warm enough in my tent last night though it was between 5-10 degrees below zero. I had three layers of merino on top, two on the bottom, my divine down booties (a new and much loved post Sweden purchase), a down jacket, two pairs of gloves, woolly hat and two buffs, and of course my sleeping bag which is rated to minus 7 degrees. I got so hot I had to take the booties off. However I didn’t sleep much given the altitude, but I did get to see the most glorious stars from the tent and an amazing sunrise

Today started off slow – I am not moving that fast at 3000m and with a really heavy pack – those bear canisters weigh a tonne. I wandered around the basin for a while and checked out the gorgeous lakes
Then it was up past sunset lake to the first pass of the day – hurricane! There was a blizzard a week before but thankfully there wasn’t much snow left and you could find the trail. The reward for getting up to 3500m was a gob smacking view of the three boobs right up close

the view of the tetons from hurricane pass

And below the pass the stunning schoolroom glacier and lake

After that, a lovely meander down the south fork of the cascade canyon, along a lovely gushing river and then back up the north fork of the cascade canyon to the inappropriately named solitude lake. The lake was lovely but busy

After that a lung busting 600m up to the paintbrush divide where I caught my last view of the Tetons from the west side

last view of the east side of the tetons from paintbrush divide

I am camping tonight at the lovely Holly Lake a little way down the paintbrush canyon. I arrived early but can’t really go further as I don’t have a permit for the campsites further on. Am cooking up Mac and cheese for dinner! Hopefully will get some more sleep tonight. I also have company tonight, Eric from California just showed up to pitch next door, so hopefully if we have nocturnal bear visitors that will head for his tent

From Alaska Basin to Holly Lake via the Hurricane Pass and the Paintbrush Divide

Total distance = 22km; Ascent = 1600m

Teton Crest Loop Day 1 – Bears and boobs

With hubby safely returned to his natural urban habitat after our Utah adventures, I headed up through the beautiful wide open spaces of Idaho (resisting the temptation to visit the potato museum) to the Teton National Park (named by early French settlers as the mountains look like boobs – trois Tetons = three boobs).

The plan was to spend four nights in the backcountry but I was a little bit worried by the recent snowfall, the forecast of subzero temperatures (minus 10), and of course the Bears!!! This was my first foray into bear country

The ranger reckoned I would be OK and gave me bear canister for my food (very much like the expression ‘don’t shit where you sleep’, in bear country you don’t eat where you sleep).

hmmmm, I’m not so good at following rules

I went for a run that afternoon and broke all the rules on this sign! But I did manage to get some bear spray before I hit the trail for real!

I didn’t get off to an auspicious start, as with my usual crap urban navigation skills, I couldn’t find the trail head in Teton village. I had wanted to leave the car there as it was safer. But after 5km of wandering past McMansions, and meeting multiple construction workers who didn’t know where the trail was, I gave up and drove to the trailhead at Granite Canyon.

For the first seven miles I didn’t see anyone and was worried I would run into a bear at every corner. I contemplated holding the bear spray in my hands and going around every corner like a cop in a cheesy 80s sitcom but suppressed the urge (I felt less bad about this two days later when I ran into a guy doing precisely that). I eventually encountered some humans – a couple and then two guys, so no longer think I am completely nuts to be here.

After 15km, I reached the gorgeous Marion lake, and then shortly after traversed the Fox pass at 3000m to arrive at the Death Canyon Shelf which stretches above a deep canyon for 5km. This was where my permit allowed me to sleep tonight (long story, camping here requires permits which can be a pain but means it isn’t overcrowded or overused).

the back of the Tetons from Mt Meek Pass

It was too early to stop so I continued over the Mt Meek pass and found a divine campsite 6km on at mirror lake! I cooked a lovely dinner and have now put every item of clothing on that I have and am in my tent hoping no bear comes to visit. Still at 3000m so have a bit of a headache but the view is worth it.

the beginning of the sheep steps (the snow line at the bottom of the cliff) to Alaska Basin

From Teton Village to Alaska Basin via the Granite Canyon

Total distance = 32km; Ascent = 1600m

Additional Info

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