Feeling the need to get one more good backpacking bash in before the irrevocable arrival of winter, a bunch of us piled into our rented van, after work, and proceeded to drive all night to Jackson, Wyoming. With five people sharing the driving duties, the road trip went well, but sleep was definitely in short supply. We rolled into Jackson as the sun was coming up, and Bill, a sixth member of our bunch, met us there for breakfast.
After leaving one car at String Lake, we got ourselves organized and departed from the Death Canyon trailhead by 9:00 am. In retrospect, the sunshine was nice to have during these first few hours, because it would soon be replaced by threatening clouds. The fall colors were beautiful, especially the yellow aspens. Rob was the first to spot a big animal: a bear according to him. Upon closer inspection with the binoculars, it turned out to be a moose. We came upon two additional moose further up the trail, and watched them from only 30 feet away.
As we climbed higher, the air grew noticeably thinner for us sea level folk, and we were pausing periodically to catch our breath. Finally, we topped out at Static Peak Divide where the cold wind forced us to put on warmer clothes. At an elevation of nearly 11,000 feet, we were 4,000 feet above our starting point.
The next few miles were pretty tough, as the altitude had really drained our energy. We stumbled to Sunset Lake, amidst nearby thunderstorms, and found a relatively flat spot to pitch our tents.
The morning of day 2 greeted us with a variety of precipitation: rain, slush, hail, and various combinations thereof. We loitered around camp for a few hours hoping in vain that the weather would clear. The temperature only seemed to drop, however, and by the time we managed to pack up all the wet gear, the surrounding meadows and hillsides were being draped with new snow.
The Teton Crest Trail took us over Hurricane Pass into the heart of the Tetons. Our intention was to climb South Teton, but the bad weather precluded us from doing so. On the way to our next campsite, we saw another moose and a black bear.
| Rob was the last one to crawl into his sleeping bag for the night, and he and Doug began talking in their tent – or so we thought.
In reality, Doug was talking to nobody, and Rob was still outside, biding his time… |
The wind that gusted through our camp that evening was enough to do a decent job of drying everything out. Rob was the last one to crawl into his sleeping bag for the night, and he and Doug began talking in their tent – or so we thought. In reality, Doug was talking to nobody, and Rob was still outside, biding his time for a few moments. Shortly, Ruthie and Bill heard heavy footsteps outside of their tent and strained their ears to listen. The footsteps gave way to sniffing and scratching on the rainfly, at which point the tent occupants became very agitated: “Hey guys, there’s a bear out here!” Doug, on the other hand, didn’t seem to express an overwhelming sense of concern. “What color is it?”, came his reply. As the alarmed chatter grew to a crescendo, Rob couldn’t keep the charade up any longer and had to succumb to laughter, a good thing too, since Bill was within seconds of bursting though the tent door with pepper spray in hand. It took Ruthie and Bill a little while to see the humor in the whole episode.
We awoke to yet another new coating of snow. Each day seemed to be colder than the last, and the snow appeared to be following us down out of the mountains. We hiked out of the Tetons through Cascade Canyon and along the edge of Jenny Lake. The total mileage came to about 25 miles, and we glimpsed only one other hiker while in the backcountry.
We drove up to Yellowstone and spent the night in the Grant Village campground. We awoke, once again, to icy tents, and the campground closed for the winter as we drove off. On the way home, we took the three hour whirlwind tour of Yellowstone, stopping at the more notable points of interest. We didn’t quite beat the winter weather, but it was a great adventure nonetheless.
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