Sunday, September 2, 2012

First Day of Teton Crest Trail 2012

 Well this summer I got to go on an adventure I'd waited for years to come :)  I've been hearing about the Teton Crest Trail since I was 19 or so.  Justin has been 6 times before, whether leading staff members through it, or troops.  I have been so excited to go!  We knew that if we didn't plan it, it wouldn't happen, so we decided to go the weekend before Weber State started its fall semester.  Sadee our niece came with us, and also some other friends from camp, Ben and Emily,  and Ian and Andrew.  We drove up Thursday night and spent the night in a National Forest campground.  Friday morning we drove into Jackson and on to Teton Village where we were catching the tram up the mountains to start our trek.  The sunrise was beautiful that morning:) 
 Getting all our food sorted out and getting packs packed up.  I was so proud of myself!  Not only did I pack all of my own gear (except our tent)  but I carried most of Justin and my meals!  I don't know how heavy my pack was, but my closest guess is between 25-30 lbs.  Yep, I'm amazing :)  Don't worry, Justin was carrying sooooo much stuff too.  He'd always rather be prepared (he is a scout you know) than be without.  I couldn't even lift his bag hardly.  Ok he's really the amazing one. 
 On the gondola ride up to the top...
 Our whole group at the top of the trail.  It was so windy up here!!
 Sadee on top of the world!!!

 Everywhere we looked it was so beautiful!  Day one was cool because as we hiked along, we could see just how far we'd come- the top of the tram was visible almost all day.  It was amazing!
 We stopped and ate our sack lunches at one of the group camping sites in the middle fork of Granite canyon.  We were so starving, and some of us napped a little after getting full.  Most of us just talked :)

 We took this picture right before getting back on the trail after lunch.  Our next stop would be Marion Lake to pump water as Justin knew we wouldn't have any that night and part of the next day. 
A winding river down in Granite canyon.
 Some of the first glimpses of the gorgeous wild flowers!
The top of North Fork Canyon. 

 Justin pumping water at Marion lake.  Thanks to Justin and Ian for pumping water for us!  It sure came in handy later on :)
 Since we didn't have permits, we camped outside of Teton National Park both nights.  Our first night was at Fox Creek Pass.  It had such a great view of the Grand Teton!   Dinner was amazing.  I swear food tastes so much better when you are backpacking.  We had Creamy Garlic noodles and chicken with fruit cups and a Nutroll for dessert!  So yummy! 
Our token Chaco picture of coarse!!
It had been really smoky from so many fires this summer, which made the sunset pretty red.  It's hard to see here, but it was so red! 

1 comment:

Jodi said...

I'm so glad you were able to finally go:) And great job with the garden. I can't wait to be able to have a garden.