Grand Teton Day6 no.1

This day's itinerary was 15 miles! So we got at at 5 a.m. and started hiking at 7 a.m. Morning was wet and I saw some rain clouds not too far from Sunset lake. I was a little concerned about thunderstorm, but that the thing of long backpacking. You have no choice of weather, but you have opportunities to see many aspects of nature.

We left the pretty Sunset lake in the wet and started climbing the hill. Sunset Lake is pretty both under sunny or rainy. On the way of climbing, we saw two hikers. Their itinerary was quite similar to ours. 

The guy asked me, "Are you going to Paintbrush Divide today?"

I said, "Yeah."

He said, "I saw you have an ice axe. We are going too! See you there."

They also planned to go to Paintbrush divide on the day. Actually we passed them, then they passed us, many times of the trail all the day. It was very nice to see fellow hikers on the trail. 

After the first climb of the day we reached the Hurricane Pass. This is the boundary of National Forest and National Park. Again we were entering National Park. The view here was memorable. Tetons showed up in the morning sun. The light after the rain was bracing and it made the Teton look more magnificent.

Magnificent

The hurricane pass was ah-maz-ing! Not only massive Teton, but also some glaciers and beautiful color water under, lovely meadow, and Teton canyon can be seen. I think now this is one of my favorite places in the world!!! Extra point for this region is that day hikers can't be here, because too far away from any trailhead. So it is very remote. This is one of the gems of Teton.

 

After the pass we descended 4000 feet. It was a gorgeous trek. 

Then, now climbing again. This time climbing up to Paintbrush Divide. At the visitor center the rangers had recommended backpackers to bring an ice axe due to snow patches. I chose to be better safe than sorry, and carried an ice axe all the way. So I had been rather hoping some snow patches, but we would see.

By descending 4000 feet we were in the forest and now Teton was hidden, but by climbing again, Teton showed up. They are astonishing from everywhere. I always think great mountains are beautiful from every direction under any weather. One of them is Mt.Fuji. 

By climbing the valley got way below. I climbed and climbed by looking at the pretty meadow. One point 10+ day hikers were stopping on the trail and looking down the meadow. I wondered why. We overheard that there were two moose in the valley. I had never seen moose, so I got excited and searched based on their description. Well, some of them had binoculars, so it was easier for them. 

Moose here

Finally I got a picture of moose's antler....I am not sure if I can say this is my first witness of moose. I would not. It was too small.

If you could find moose in the left picture, you have very good eyes! You can click picture if you want to see in a large scale. 

Lake Solitude

Then we reached Lake Solitude. There were some day hikers here, so it was not very "solitude", but still very nice to be there. Actually those day hikers are quite hardcores. If you come here for day hike, it will be 14 miles with a lot of elevation gain. 

We ate lunch here and (of course) Mr.N jumped into the lake. It is a great description by Mr.F1, "Mr.N is a polar bear." Mr.N goes into cold water any time of the year. 

Then we started the final stretch of climb to the Paintbrush Divide.

To be continued...