Friday, September 29, 2006

Vacation Adventure - Grand Teton Part 1



As we said goodbye to Yellowstone and hello to Grand Teton, we finally got some good weather. Not just good weather, but fabulous compared to what we had experienced so far. Things are looking up. As we drove, we stopped at many pullouts and overlooks to take in not only the gorgeous mountain views, but the much welcomed blue sky and sunshine.

Final glipmses of Yellowstone, with some clear skies.


Finally a pic with some blue skies


Views on the north end of the park




Lunchtime views


The Tetons pale in comparison


Views are abundant in the park





We drove up the Signal Mountain overlook, and snapped some pics at the top before heading back down. From Signal Mountain you can get great views of Mt. Moran, the Tetons and the lakes. Jill convinced me to do a couple more "Beauty and the Beast" posed pictures with her.

Posin' till closin'


We grabbed some lunch (a very good lunch) in the park to fuel up for the upcoming grueling hike we were about to face. Jill started packing the backpacks as I went to talk to the Ranger about getting a back country permit and the conditions.

That canyon in the middle of the photo would be the start of today's journey


The first thing the ranger told me wasn't what I wanted to hear. He said the words "snow" and "several inches" a couple of times. Not so good. I describe our plan, mentioning camping on the North Fork of Cascade Canyon, doing a day hike the next day, then proceeding over the Paintbrush Divide (10,500ft) on our way back to the boat. His response was "No one has been over the Divide yet, so finding the trail is going to be difficult".

Time for Plan B. I asked if we needed snowshoes and he assured me we didn't, that it wasn't that bad, just be prepared for some snow. He didn't seem to be too concerned about us heading up the canyon or the conditions up there, so I signed up for the permit and headed back to the car to help Jill finalize our packing.

Once we were packed up, we went up to the Jenny Lake boat dock to catch a ferry boat ride across the lake. The fairy would cut off almost 2.2 miles of hiking with 40lb packs, which made it well worth the $9/person round trip price.

So as I leave you this time, our two heroes are set to board the boat and head across the lake to the Canyon of DOOM! Actually its Cascade Canyon, but Canyon of DOOM! sounds more interesting, no?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Those are some incredible pictures and yes...Canyon of DOOM is much more interesting.