Where the wind comes sweeping down the plains.

Jill & I took off last Friday morning for a brief trip back to Oklahoma, for the first time in nearly a year. We had a lot of people to see, lots of things to do and seemingly not enough time to do it all. Of course our vacations/trips are always like this so I'm not sure why I would expect something different.

Friday starts with a quick flight into Oklahoma City from Denver. Yack picked us up from the airport and we hit Charleston's (first stop on our food tour of Oklahoma) for some lunch with Martha & Georgia. Choke down some food and off we went again.

Next destination would be Bartlesville to see Jill's parents and Grandma. We stopped over in Tulsa long enough to see a couple of the Solarcers. In BVille, we were treated to some mighty lasagna, as we continued our assault on our waistlines.

Saturday had us spending 1/2 day in BVille then heading to Stillwater to catch the OState/Texas A&M homecoming game. Duke had hooked us up with some ridiculously good tickets, so we'll be enjoying super views of the game. On our way to the game, we snagged some Eskimo Joe's pasta salads, which we snarfed down as we walked to the stadium.



I won't go into details on the game, as the wounds are still fresh. Two missed extra points and a OT loss is enough details. I've found its much easier for me to be an OState fan from a distance. The game was a great game, entertaining and kept you interested, but the outcome pretty much sucked. Oh the life of a Pokes fan...

After the game we took off, grabbing a bed at Shorty's in Yukon before arising and spending the better part of the day with my parents around Oklahoma City. We hit another food destination, Abuelos, to round out the trifecta of restaurants on our trip. Sunday night we settled for some Chilis as we were all still too stuffed from lunch, but we were joined by two more extended pseudo-family members Tony & Denise Baustert.

After dinner we gathered at Shorty's place for a bit, before turning in. We had a flight at 7am the next morning, which meant we'd need to be on the road at 5:30 CST which would be equivalent to 4:30 for us Mountain Time Zoners. We made the flight, Jill went to work, and I ran some errands.

Great to get back, even if it was a whirlwind tour. I started my new job at MarkWest the following day, so I've been a bit behind but trying to get caught up. The new job hasn't been the typical slow start, its been a "hit the ground running" experience thus far, which is great as my days literally fly by.

More on the new job and all that later.

Vacation Adventure - Grand Teton Finale

Morning breaks. Two words that were more welcome than any other words in my vocabulary. The night was cold. The gear did an admirable job, and we were actually somewhat comfortable. We had survived, but as we lay in the tent, we could feel how cold it was outside our small little 35sq ft paradise.

We each ventured out briefly, but quickly returned to the tent and the warmth of the sleeping bags. It was very evident that we were just going to have to wait it out, desperately needing the warmth of the sun to be able to get moving again. Being in the canyon, the sun would be several hours behind schedule, but blue skies were above and we were happy to be right there, right then.

Our first obstacle would be our shoes, notably Jills. Her shoes had gotten wet through the hiking and snow trekking, and they had become so frozen in the sub 20 degree temps that they were too rigid for her to even get her feet into. Of course, they were also so cold that she wouldn't have had them on for a minute before her feet would have started to freeze.

I fired up the trusty JetBoil stove and proceeded to "cook" her shoes. Hovering the shoe about 6 inches above the stove, I was able to quickly dethaw her shoes. It worked so well with hers that I proceeded to "cook" mine as well. My shoes were fine to wear, but Jills still needed to dry some, so we put them on a rock and waited patiently for the sun to help the cause.

I can't say enough good things about our gear, as it was impeccable. The North Face tent, although not spacious, kept us warm and very dry through some nasty conditions and packed up super small. The camp stove fired up easily and boiled countless liters of water, and the Thermarests kept us insulated from the icy cold ground at night. Good gear doesn't come cheap, but sometimes you get what you pay for. I had survived sub 20 degree temps in a 20 degree rated bag that was at least 6 or 7 years old.

In the meantime, our tent had started to build up enough heat inside that the condensation was getting annoying. We would need to wait until the tent dried out enough to pack up anyway, so we suited up with our clothes for the day and put the rain fly out to dry as we did camp duties.



Soon the sun crested the peaks, and all was right with the world. Our original plan was to stay 2 nights up in Cascade Canyon, with our return doing a loop past Lake Solitude over the Paintbrush Divide (10,500 feet) and returning down Paintbrush Canyon to Jenny Lake. As we sat there, we discussed our plan of action. The ranger had told me "no one has gone over the divide, meaning the trail may be hard to find" the day before, which certainly made that trek more daunting knowing the snow pack would do nothing but get deeper with 1500 feet of elevation gain.

We thought about doing a day hike to the South Fork of Cascade, and keeping our campsite in the North Fork. Trudging through the snow to the South side didn't seem like a great idea either, as frozen shoes weren't much fun. So we made the executive decision to just retrace our 5.5 mile path back down. It was hard to argue with the logic of having a bed and a shower, two things that had eluded us for the last 3 or 4 days.

Jill starts the trek back down

One last glance back towards our homestead, vowing to retun

The sun was out, the skies were blue and the temps were rising rapidly. We neared the fork that would send us back to Jenny Lake, when we ran into another young couple decked out with overnight packs. We talked with them briefly and they told us how they too had their plans changed by the weather, and they were thinking about going over the Paintbrush Divide today if possible. We gave them an update on what to expect, wished them luck and continued on taking in more and more views at every corner.





We passed lots of people, many who were impressed/bewildered that we had taken on the overnight challenge. I quickly realized that people really weren't stopping to talk with me, as the guys we passed were pretty much only interested in talking with Jill. One commented on how good she looked especially considering we had been in the backcountry, while another told her how much she looked like his niece who is a lawyer in Houston. I received no complements strangely enough.

The views on the way down, even though we had seen them on the way up, did not disappoint. The Tetons are really a magnificent range, and the blue skies, changing colors and rushing water only added to the beauty of this setting.







As we continued our rapid descent, the people become more numerous which always signifies you are nearing the trail head. At higher elevations especially, most people don't make it more than 1 mile from the trail head, so we were sure we were getting close to the boat which would take us back to our car. We just missed a boat as we walked up, but thankfully another was shortly behind and before we knew it we were back in the parking lot and done. One last quick pic of us sporing our heavy packs then we were off to see the rest of the park.



Blue skies and 60 degrees greeted us in the parking lot. While it would have been ideal to have these conditions the entire trip, we were just overjoyed to get good weather at all. We drove around in the park stopping many times to take in views and snap a couple pics. We were close to peak on the leaves changing, but maybe 3-4 days too early.

Does it get any better?

Other horses must be jealous

Leaves a'blazing

We set sail from Grand Teton, stopping briefly in Jackson to grab some dinner before knocking out a couple hours of driving and grabbing a hotel in Rock Springs, WY. The next day would be a pretty easy drive into Cheyenne, arriving there around lunch time. We grabbed some food in Cheyenne, checked out the Sierra Trading Post store and then blazed the remaining hour back to our home where two anxious puppies awaited our return.

We unloaded the rental car, which in turn made our entry way in our front room like a tornado had just destroyed an REI store. Thankfully we had taken the next day off from work as a potential extra day of vacations or a recovery day. It was clear when we got up the previous morning in the icy, cold conditions that it would be a recovery day. A great trip, albeit with mostly crappy weather, that we will definitely be doing again. We're already planning our assault on the Cascade Canyon/Paintbrush Divide loop for next summer under hopefully better weather.

Vacation Adventure - Grand Teton Part 2

Our two adventurers have just exited the ferry boat and are staring down the daunting climb to the North Fork of Cascade Canyon. The hike isn't terribly difficult as a day hike, but strap a 40lb+ pack on your back and the task at hand becomes more intimidating. Take that task and add to it that you don't have extra time to rest or you'll be searching for your campsite in the dark and you start to get an idea of what we were facing.

We encountered a lot of people in the first couple of miles, as there are two destinations that are within a mile of the boat dock that many people frequent. The first was Hidden Falls, the first of many falls/cascades we would encounter today. The second destination is Inspiration Point, a overlook of Jenny Lake that gives views back towards Jackson Hole.



Jill and I barely paused at the two destinations in the initial mile, as we were anxious to keep moving and to get away from the masses. We made good time as we went, but making sure we kept our head's up to check out the incredible views we were submersing ourselves with.





As we pressed forward we passed lots of day hikers on their way back down from higher points. We stopped and talked briefly with many of them as most people we passed were surprised/impressed we were camping in the high country. Several people we passed mentioned rapidly increasing snow levels as you approached Lake Solitude, which was not that far from our campground.



Despite the warnings and a lot of people using words like "brave" and "adventurous" to describe us as we told them our plans, we kept moving towards the North fork of Cascade Canyon. We moved at a steady pace, but tried to make sure we were enjoying the view up as every turn offered something more outstanding than the previous one. Happy to be under blue skies again, we certainly made sure we were taking in all the sights.



We were moving along pretty good when something caught my attention. In this area, you have to be on your toes as there could be a grizzly bear or bull moose around the corner. I quickly went still and motioned to Jill. Looking over to our right I saw the culprit, which was far from a grizzly.



After 5.5 miles, we hit the fork in the road. The snow was definitely getting deeper in a hurry, but we were within 1 mile of the campsites. We stopped and took a break and then started the final push to the campsite. Since we had not gotten started as early as possible, daylight wasn't plentiful but we should be fine.

The final mile to the campsite steepened up quickly, and coupled with the deeper snow made for a pretty slow trudge. The temps were high and the sun had been on the valley, so the snow on the trail was melting quick, which provided a challenge to us to try and keep our shoes from getting soaked. I had been wearing my waterproof hiking boots, but a blister had forced me to opt for my non-waterproof trail shoes for this hike. Finally we crested a small ridge and got our first glimpse of what would be our temporary home.





A very scenic, albeit snowy, home awaited us. I hiked up ahead trying to scout the campsites to see what looked like our best option. I was genuinely concerned about the 6-8" snow pack we'd be camping on, the 9,000 feet of elevation and the temps that would surely be sub 20 degrees. We picked a camp on the far south end of the camping area, as it was the lowest elevation and we found a small ridge we could settle up next to in case of any winds that night.

Jill & I were both new to snow camping. We had some frantic conversations about our best plan of action. Should we dig out the snow so the tent could be against the ground or should we just put it on top of the snow? Should we really be doing this? Is our gear going to stand up to the test? It was getting serious, as wrong decisions in these conditions can be dire.



After using our garden spade to clear a small area, it was quickly clear to us that removing enough snow to clear an area for our tent was not feasible. Maybe with a shovel, but not with just a garden spade. Time for plan 2, set the tent up on top of the snow. The good news for us was that we had the tent, with a footprint under it, and then Thermarest sleeping pads to help insulate the cold that was transferring up from the snow.

We set up the tent, and immediately turned our attention to dinner. Still a bit disheveled, I walked by the stove and knocked over 16oz of clean water that was to be used for making our dinner. Geez.

Normally losing a little water wouldn't be a big deal, but when you have to posthole in 6-8" of snow to get to the creek it becomes a bigger deal. Anytime you had to venture off the beaten path, your shoes and pants got cold and wet in a hurry. Luckily we had more clean water that we had carried up in a Camelbak bladder and we were able to get it boiling (JetBoil stoves are simply incredible) in a hurry.

As we ate dinner, we were treated to one of the most spectacular sunsets I've ever seen. The red hues bouncing off the jagged peaks in the Teton Range were things that dreams are made of. Jill & I felt really lucky to have been able to be in this place at this time, regardless of the cold night that we were about to face.



So as the sun set behind us, Jill managed to find the "bear box" to store our food in. After securing our food, we settled into our small, but incredibly light and effective tent for what would likely be our coldest evening thus far. Its an interesting phenomena, that you can actually psyche yourself into staying warmer by mentally preparing for it. The night before in Yellowstone, Jill & I had let down our guard and both gotten cold. Tonight we could not afford to let our guard down.

We built a snow wall around the edge of the tent vestibule, where the gear would be stored and lined the outer walls of the tent with all the left over clothing and gear we could find. Any insulation from the outside world would be a good thing. Jill had been very fortuitous and packed us good, warm sleeping clothes. Having completely dry sleeping clothes would prove essential. We talked for a bit, and faded off into the deadly silent, starry night and hoped we wouldn't get too cold.

What's the point of an "adventure" if you don't feel poor decisions could be life threatening right?

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?

Vacation Adventure - Part 3

So we pull the quick UTurn and dash back towards the Norris area where we can get through to the Canyon area of the park. The Canyon area features the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, as well as two large waterfalls and some great overlooks. Off we went with daylight fading to see the rest of the park.

As we passed through the Norris area, we stopped briefly to evaluate the campground. Jill & I have learned that campgrounds at National Parks are slightly less noisy than a Frat house during Rush, but with little daylight our hands were pretty much tied. The Norris campground was surprisingly empty, and pretty scenic. We didn't grab a spot, but we made note of it so we could compare the conditions in the Canyon area and make a decision.

As we started driving to the Canyon area, it was quite evident we were gaining elevation quickly. Snow was much more prevalent, and the outside temp was dropping quickly. This may make our decision that much easier, especially consider tonight was supposed to be even colder than the previous night we had spent.

On our way we got stuck in one of the traffic jams I mentioned in an earlier post...



When the traffic jam broke up, we found ourselves with our first views of the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. We stopped at several different vistas and proceeded to get great views of Upper and Lower Falls. With the exception of Niagara Falls, Lower Falls is probably the biggest waterfall I've seen, impressive setting for sure.





After seeing the Canyon area attractions, we made the call to forgo back country and head back to the Norris area to setup camp there. We arrived in plenty of time to get camp setup and get dinner cooked before the sunlight faded. As we had a surprisingly scrumptious dinner of beef stew and pasta primavera, Jill pointed out some thermal features just a bit north of our campsite.





Shortly after dinner we hiked up to go check out the nearby thermal features. A bit of a tricky hike led us to an open field where we saw this feature pictured below. The colors don't even look like something that should exist on this planet, which seemed to be pretty typical of Yellowstone.



After getting back from our brief hike, we settled in for the night. Of course as we started to get ready for sleep the campground was invaded by masses of people scrambling for a place to stay for the evening. Suddenly our open area where we setup camp was surrounded by bumbling campers trying to solve the mysteries of setting up there tents in the dark.

Note to self: AVOID CAMPGROUNDS AT ALL COSTS

After a couple hours, Jill & I both overcame the noises and got to sleep. What we would realize the following morning was that even though we chose lower elevation, we should have realized camping that near a stream would make for a chilly evening. We both mentioned the cold the next morning as we packed up camp and planned a course for Grand Teton National Park where our we would turn the adventure knob straight past 10 all the way to 11.

More to follow...

Vacation Adventure - Part 2

As we arrived back at the parking lot, we noticed found our snow covered car and started the process of unpacking and repacking on the go. We grabbed some food from our food cache in the car and immediately hit the road. Our plan for today was to drive the big loop around Yellowstone (something like 100 miles) and then find another backcountry campsite that we 4-5 miles in that we would call home for the evening.



We had camped in the Old Faithful region the previous evening, and our ultimate destination tonight would be the Canyon area. The ranger at the back country permit office had told us the wildlife was abundant in the Canyon area, including wolves & bears two things we were interesting in catching a glimpse of while in the park. That meant our route for the day would be Old Faithful area to Madison to Norris to Mammoth Springs to Tower Falls and finally to Canyon. Yellowstone is a big park, and we were doing the accelerated tour per the usual for our vacations.



We stopped at the big attractions in the area, checking out what we could see. The big problem we were having is that due to the chilly temps and the super hot thermal features most of the large geyser pools couldn't be seen very clearly as the steam arising from them made viewing very difficult. We did our best to try and catch a bit of wind to carry the steam off briefly so that we could get a closer look, but it was pretty clear that we wouldn't be seeing Yellowstone in the best conditions this time around.







We made our way to the Norris area, taking in the views and hitting a couple scenic driving detours along the way. I've heard horror stories about Yellowstone roads becoming gridlock in the peak tourists months, but we had little problem zooming in and out of parking lots and side roads.





As we blazed through the park we got to witness lots of animal activity. We saw tons of elk, buffalo, deer and a couple moose on the first day. We kept our eyes open in all the open fields and valleys looking for the elusive bear and wolves, but no luck so far.

I've seen hundreds, probably thousands, of buffalo in my life but something about seeing these creatures in the wild made them feel very different this time. On our first back country hike to our campsite Jill had walked to within about 30 feet of one without even noticing it. We had been warned multiple times that buffalo were by far the most unpredictable animals in the park and to steer very clear of them. When you see one in the back country and realize how enormous they really are, that warning about running 35mph and goring people becomes very prevalent in your mind.



We continued north reaching the area surrounding Mammoth Springs just after lunch time. There are a lot of things to see between the Norris and Mammoth area. A lot of Yellowstone isn't what I'd called "pretty", its almost a scorched Earth looking place at times, but the landscape is certainly interesting and worth checking out. Finally we got a glimpse at some of the amazing and unusual colors the thermal features offered, but as you can see the weather was still pretty nasty.







As we started to leave Mammoth Springs township, we got to see a big herd of elk grazing on the lush grass near the establishments. One big bull elk was king of this heard, bugling to let all know this group was all his.

What happened next was not only quite unexpected but VERY eye-opening. As an older gentlemen in a PT Cruiser drove up to the curb to get a close shot of the elk. Without much provocation, the bull elk came sternly charging towards the PT Cruiser. Jill & I were literally about 15 feet behind the PT Cruiser waiting to turn left as traffic passed. The elk put his enormous antlers down and starting crushing the passenger side of the PT Cruiser. Confused, and I'm sure a bit scared, the older gentlemen started to get out of his car. Everyone in the area shouted at him to get back in the car, and thankfully he did. The elk proceeded to just gouge the side of his car before the guy finally figured out to get the heck out of there. Picture that guy on the right of the picture below smashing the side of your car. Not fun I'm sure.



As we witnessed this event, I was thinking "We're next in line if this guy drives off". I was anxious to get the heck out of the way of that elk, and luckily I caught a break in traffic and zoomed away from the scene. After that incident though, Jill & I were both much more cautious. Its easy to get lulled into thinking wildlife see enough people/cars to not be threatened, but these are still wild animals and mating season can be a tense time for these guys.

After grabbing some lunch at Mammoth Springs, we turned east and headed toward the Tower Falls area. The drive between these two areas was easily the most scenic views of the park, and this area really has some beautiful countryside. One thing you can be assured of in National Parks is that when you see a bunch of cars stopped on the side of the road, there is some wildlife that is causing the stoppage and Yellowstone is certainly no exception.

We came upon a huge herd of buffalo near a pond toward Tower Falls. We stopped and snapped some pics as we watched the herd amble along.





We hopped back in the car leaving the traffic behind and headed off towards Tower Falls. As we left Mammoth Springs I thought I had noticed a sign mentioning a road closure between Tower Falls and Canyon, but I wasn't 100% sure so we pressed on. Jill double checked the park map, which simply said the road between the two areas was "Closed until at least 2005". Interesting development, but we kept going as we were determined to cover the park as best we could. Besides we were in a rental car, so if we needed to jump a bridge or off-road to get to our destination we could right? Maybe I should have gotten that insurance....Hmmm...







As we got to Tower Falls, our fears we confirmed. The road between Tower Falls and Canyon was closed, due to some unknown reason. Not so good as daylight was fading fast. We were only about 10 miles from the Canyon area, but since we would have to backtrack around, it would likely take us at least 2 hours. Back country camping this evening was not looking like a reality.

And if you can believe it, despite all the pictures and endless babble this only gets us to about 3pm. I'll add the conclusion to the story in Part 3, followed shortly by Part 4 (The Grand Teton Experience).

Tune in then, same bat time, same bat channel.