Wind River Range Day4

Photographer's Point

The final day in the Winds. It was easy because of only downhill to the trailhead. We again stopped at the last (and twas first) viewpoint, Photographer's point. This time the scenery was a little different due to clouds. It was differently beautiful. 

Then the rest was all downhill to the end. After saying goodbye to Chip, we  soon arrived at the trailhead. 

There were many cars in the parking lot. Whoa. Cars were from Washington to California on the West coast, from Montana to Arizona in the West, Quebec to Mass on the East coast. Cars were from all over the North America. I was surprised why so many people came here at the beginning, but after backpacking it was not surprising. People came to the Winds just because it is beautiful. 

At the parking lot, we sorted out stuff so that we could quickly check in bags at the airport. We finished backpacking around 11 a.m. and the flight was 11:59 p.m. on the same day. The same day flight sounds aggressive, but we had 12 hours. 

First we went to the nearest town, Pinedale. This is the town CDT hikers to hike out and resupply food. 

Pinedale is a small town, however, surprisingly there are many restaurants and coffee shops, a couple of motels, and an outdoor store. 

First we were craving for "real" food, not camping food. So we went to Wind River Brewing Company. We took outdoor seat which was very relaxing. Mr.N got beer and I had a sip. Half of the table were occupied and some groups were obviously after backpacking in the Winds. It was obvious because they wore hiking shoes and looked so happy with beer and food. 

We both ate12 oz ribeye steak. 12 oz is 340 gram. Yes, it is big! Why not? 

After we filled out tummies, we checked out the small and only outdoor store, Great Outdoor Shop (this is the name of store, it is actually great) in Pinedale. This is just next to Wind River Brewing Company. Mr.N had come to the Great Outdoor Shop to get a shuttle to a trailhead. This shop offers hikers shuttle service. Their way is quite old-school. If hikers make reservation for shuttle, the shop calls registered drivers living nearby. The shop asks if drivers can give a ride on the day until the shop finds one. 

When Mr.N asked shuttle, he didn't have a reservation. So the owner started calling drivers one by one and luckily Mr.N got a ride. 

Another interesting stuff I saw at the shop was a sticker saying "REI sucks, support small business".

badlands

After enjoying the small town, we started driving to Salt Lake City. The driving was like in the Western movie. 

Add caption

Badlands were seen here and there. "Badlands" is a terrain like sandy rocks like the ones in the left picture. Nothing wrong with badlands, but I don't know why they are called badlands. I asked Mr.N this question, but he didn't know the answer. Does some of the readers know?

Badlands and vast prairie and road. That's it. This is the West. This kind of scenery is exactly the one Japanese people think about America. 

The left picture is the road we drove to Salt Lake City (SLC). Somehow one cop car was parking along the road as you can see. 

This view reminded me of the song "Magnificent Seven", so I tried to play music with my iPhone, but AT&T didn't have a good coverage in Wyoming. After a while the moment we got into Utah, AT&T provided LTE (Apparently AT&T covers UT well but not WY). So I played Magnificent Seven. 

In SLC, we went to In-N-Out Burger. I was excited about seeing it when we had arrived in SLC a week ago as I wrote here. We took out the food and went to the last stop, Great Salt Lake. Because we were in Salt Lake City, why not stop at the Great Salt Lake?

We went to the visitor center and I learned how salty the Great Salt Lake is. The most salty one I had known was Mono Lake in the Eastern Sierra.

Sunset at Great Salt Lake

We ate hamburger and french fries with view of Great Salt Lake. It was really nice. In-N-Out is delicious, especially after a week of backpacking, and much cheaper than Five Guys. I do hope In-N-Out expand more in the U.S. 

Then we flew to Boston. Due to time difference the flight arrived around 6 a.m. on Monday. Obviously it was hard to work on that day.

Overall, this summers Wyoming trip with Grand Teton National Park and Wind River Range was wonderful.

 

Wind River Range Day3 no.3

It started raining, but soon it stopped. The good thing about Wyoming is that rain doesn't last long. That's why nobody cares the weather. Even thunder clouds are nearby, people start hiking. 

Soon after rain stopped, sun came! I felt much better. Finally I was able to stop without feeling cold. Then we took a nap under the tree with some sun. Comfy, comfy!

2nd night campsite

On the second night we had planned to camp at the Eklund Lake, but there was not a good spot with view. We decided to walk a mile more to the meadow. With one more mile, we would be back to the out-and-back portion, so we knew that the meadow has a good view with water source. The last dinner in the wilderness was pasta! Anything is delicious in the mountain. 

While we were eating dinner, a party of horses were hiking back to the trailhead. People were on the hourse ride. Looked fun. They stopped at the pond at the meadow and horses drank water there. Hummm. Also horses dropped stuff. Hummm. We got water from there. Oh well.

Campfire

In this regions, Bridger Wilderness, fire is allowed below treeline. This night was below tree line. There was already a fire ring where we camped. Why not have a fire? Campfire in the wilderness is my favorite. 

 

 

As we enjoyed pasta and fire, the sun was setting. In the right picture did you notice orange sky AND orange campfire?

Alpenglow

Then we were preparing aftermeal tea. Then we noticed that the mountains were in alpenglow. We walked over the best position to see alpenglow and looked at that with tea. What a gorgeous time. The previous night was in that basin. I felt I walked a long way for a day.

While we were around campsite, one hike approached us and asked if it was okay to camp in the same area. Of course okay. The meadow is huge. Later we found out he was a section CDT hiker and he was going to spend a few days in the nearby town, then go to the next section to meet a friend. Mr.N said that long distance hikers on CDT have small backpacks for big hikes. Indeed he had a small pack. It is funny that overnight backpackers have huge backpacks and 3000 mile hikers have small ones (well except for people who make mules deliver their backpacks).

moon

After alpenglow was gone, waxing gibbous appeared and it gave us substantial light. It was nice. Everyday in the wilderness the moonlight was increasing.

When I am in the city, it is impossible to notice how bright moonlight is. In the wilderness I am sometimes amazed how moonlight is bright especially when it is full moon. City like Tokyo, San Francisco, Boston are full of lights and you will never have time to think about moonlight. 

The same thing is for stars. You will be amazed how many stars in the world. They are just hidden in the cities. These things keep me go back to stay overnight in the wilderness. 

After fully enjoyed the beautiful night with pasta, tea, chocolate, fire, alpenglow, stars, and moon, we went to bed.

To be continued...

Wind River Range Day3 no.2

Wild flowers

Going through the meadow was nice. There were so many, SO MANY wildflowers, and so many kinds of them. Since the meadow was wet and sunny, it must be a perfect place for flowers. 

In the vast meadow, no other hikers, only two of us. There is a true peace in deep wilderness.

Meadow

Looking back the way we came is in the right picture. It would be nice to spend a night here. It is very remote. I couldn't believe just off the trail 1 meter (3.2 feet: for those Americans) took us to the completely silent world. 

Wall Lake

Then we descended to the level of Wall Lake. Wall Lake is a very big lake. Now we hike along the lake, but need to hike up on the hill along the lake. Because it is difficult to walk on the level of lake geologically, and we eventually needed to go up to meet the actual trail later. 

Surprisingly we saw a tent on the hill near the Wall Lake. There was no person around. Probably really hardcore hiker is hiking in the area. Maybe s/he was climbing nearby mountains or scouting mountains for the future attempt. 

Wall Lake

 

Then we again climbed the hill and looked down Wall Lake. Wall lake is beautiful from any direction. Rocks, lakes, mountains, snow, green, blue sky, clouds were all at 360 view. What a gorgeous place!

Surprisingly, there were cairns occasionally. Those cairns are clearly on the path to our destination. Mr.N and I were talking this might be an abandoned trail. It used to be a trail a few decades ago, but it no longer is. Mr.N told me that Ms.L has 1930's Glacier National Park map, and there are many more trails written on the map. Actually people like those maps because they can no those hidden secret trails. I really like the old map stories and now I am very interested in old maps of every National parks and wilderness! Secret trails sound super exciting. 

Then we came back to a real trail! It felt good to find a trail after off-trail. I felt some achievement. Real trail appeared on the edge of Cook Lakes. We ate lunch at the lake shore. It was a nice view, but there were tremendous amount of mosquitoes. I immediately put DEET (100%) everywhere on my body. Mosquitoes are evil. I felt good when mosquitoes were blown away by breeze, even though I felt cold by the winds. Maybe I am evil, too. 

After we passed Cook Laks, it got cloudy and started drizzling and some raining. I put my rain gear on and carried on walking. It was cold.

Wyoming is cold at night even in summer (I knew that it is very cold in winter). Because Wyoming is very very dry, temperature drastically drops once sun sets. 

When I moved to California where it is much drier than Japan, I noticed how different the temperature is between daytime and night. After I moved to humid Boston, I forgot how quickly temperature goes down after sunset. 

Wyoming is extreme version of California. In the evening after sun hides behind the mountains, temperature drops really quickly. My experience of West mountains is more based on Sierra Nevada, so it was a little unexpected. Luckily it was cold, but not freezing cold. 

Morning in the Winds starts chilly and once sun shows up above mountains, temperature goes up sky rocket. I felt cold to super hot quickly. My comfortable zone is very narrow, so I was busy to put on/take off jackets during trip. In contrast to me, Mr.N's temperature zone is much wider, so he was less busy and curious why my optimal zone was so small. hahahaha.

To be continued...

Wind River Range Day3 no.1

In the morning I went to see Island Lake. It was pink by reflecting early morning sunlight. Most campers around the lake were still sleeping. It was very beautiful. Above pictures: left is the evening on day2, right picture is the morning on day3. 

One of the most amazing things to stay overnight in the wilderness is that one can see different kind of beauty of one place. This Island lake is a really good example. Pretty blue in the day time, beauty in the evening with orange sky, peaceful pink in the early morning. Not only the beauty by the sight but also you could enjoy the smell of evening and morning, sounds of birds in the morning. Also evening and morning are the most frequent time of the day you see wildlife. Many times I saw deer coming to the lake worldwide to drink water in the morning. At night bears could show up near the lake, too. This joy keeps me hiking everywhere, in fact, I am addicted to backpacking in the wilderness.

When campers were getting up, we started hiking. This day was off-trail. The plan was to go to Cook Lake from Island lake by off-trail, then get on trail from Cook Lake. This off-trail portion looked like it used to be a trail but abandoned. Or it might be very popular trail, because 1)The first half mile had a faint trail, and 2)even after leaving the faint trail, occasionally I saw human footprints here and there, 3) the last couples of miles before getting back trail, occasionally cairns are there. 

Due to those reasons, this off-trail was not as difficult as I had expected. Definitely it was not as hard as agassiz basin in Glacier National Park, although it was still tough. 

First we followed the faint trail. There were many paintbrushes. I was especially surprised unique colors of those at one particular point. The normal red color's ones are in the left picture below, and the right is the rare pink ones! I felt like I was so lucky there to see the pink.

Lake (no name on the map)

 After waking through meadows in the mountains, first saddle to pass was in the view. As you can see in the left picture, the saddle over the lake was not really bad. We were able to climb it easily. The first hill, checked!

On a sunny day in the wilderness, nobody was in this region. It was just spectacular.

Off trail

In the off-trail area, there was not a single person. Whoa. So quiet. Deep in the wilderness is great.

Looking back after first climb was beautiful (left picture).  Shadow from clouds can be seen on the meadow and mountains.

Wall Lake

 

Descending off-trail

  

After the climb was descend. The      direction is relatively easy, because we needed to go to a big lake which was visible from the place we climbed. The view from the place looking down Wall lake is in the left picture. It is not very clear from this photo, but descending to the meadow portion is relatively steep. When I half descended, I looked back and took a picture (the picture after Wall lake).

  Meadow portion is flat, which is good, but you need to be careful for the mud. In the picture with wall lake, you might be able to see numerous small streams in the meadow. That means the entire meadow is wet. Most portion is okay, but some are really wet. Because it is covered by grass and flowers, it is sometimes difficult to know if it is wet or not. 

In fact the previous day near the Island lake, I stepped on a mud hole. It just looked like normal muddy section and didn't look bad. However when I put on my foot on one muddy section, my foot sank into deep. My entire boot AND socks was in the mud. Awwww.  So this day I didn't make it happen again. 

Luckily I didn't have mud hole accidents, but I got blisters on my foot. I was wearing Keen Targhee model, which was bought this spring. I thought that they were new enough. They were not. I found the rear ankle region had already a hole. So I sat down on the shore of inlet to Wall lake and put blister band and tape on my ankle. Fortunately it was not serious, so I could continue without a problem with tape. 

To be continued...

Wind River Range Day2 no.3

We started hiking to Titcomb Basin. A lot of wild flowers were welcoming us on the way. They were so colorful, living, and lovely.

Somehow most hikers seemed to stop Island lake to camp for the day and not many people were hiking beyond Island Lake. 

While we were walking quietly on the peaceful trail, we saw horses and mules coming back from Titcomb Basin direction. We yielded the way for them (Horses/mules have the right of way). Horses and mules were very cute. Usually a one horse is at the head, then 4-5 mules follow, then one horse at the end. A horse carry a human, and mules carry stuff. Each mule is connected by rope. Clearly some mules don't want to walk, because some are dragged by rope.

After we let pass mules/horses and walked for 5 minutes, we saw a bunch of (really, A LOT!) backpacks/packages along the trail. Obviously those were carried by mules here. Then, we saw hikers along the stuff. Those old dayhikers (I mentioned on a previous entry). I thought that those old guys were so hardcore to hike a long way as a dayhike. After I saw those guy had mules carry the stuff, no. They were not hardcore hikers. Actually I thought that they were spoiled. Well I still admire them for getting out in the wilderness at 70s, but making mules carry not only their backpacks, but many packages which were probably beer, wine, fancy snacks...

When we passed those bunch of stuff and guys, the park ranger was with them and talking about 200 feet rule. Because stuff was dropped by mules just along the trail, they must have been unhappy to know they had to carry the stuff at least 200 feet. Indeed when I saw the guys, their facial expressions were like "sigh"

Getting closer to Titcomb lakes, the view got more and more stunning. When we came to the second (north) Titcomb lake, there was nobody anymore, all was ours. Over the basin, magnificent peaks were now big in my view. Glacier was getting sun very beautifully. 

I was very grateful that I could be in such a hidden, marvelous place. 

Titcomb Basin

I wanted to stare at the view forever. 

However, at the same time I was tired since I hiked 15+ miles. It was time to go back to our campsite. We started walking back to our site. On the way I looked back Titcomb basin and peaks a lot. It too beautiful and can't help looking back.

One point we took another break to sanitize water and contemplate Titcomb basin. 

Peaks over the Titcomb basin (The Buttress, Buchtel Peak, Mount Arrowhead??? form my map, but not sure which is which peak), Fremont Peak with many needles, blue sky and big clouds which seems specific for this area, winds, sounds of stream. All come into my body and it was really nice time. 

Looking at the view in the wilderness, which is shown in the picture above, I was thinking, "sugoi place". 

Sugoi is a Japanese word that doesn't have a good translation. Sugoi can have all the meaning of wonderful, amazing, stunning, magnificent, great, breathtaking, etc. It contains many meaning, but one thing in common in the definition is feeling extremely moved. Sugoi was the just right word at that particular place when I was sitting there. 

After 18 miles of hike this day, we had a great dinner, cup ramen, with pretty Island Lake. I don't eat cup ramen at home, only real ramen (if you don't know this is a real meal!), because cup ramen is kind of junk food and not very good at home. However, it is so tasty in the wilderness. 

While we were eating dinner, we noticed that there was a fire on the other side of Island lake. From the picture, the other side of lake is pretty far. I was surprised how far the fire can be seen. Well, as I wrote on a previous entry, campfires are prohibited in this area. In this region, fires are allowed below treeline but not above timberline. Island lake is above treeline. In fact the rangers were on the trail along the lake and told hikers not to have fire. However, hikers till had it. Because rangers didn't talk to all the hikers (the ranger was walking around here and there and talked to hikers), the specific hikers who had fire might not see the ranger. Oh well.

To be continued...

Wind River Range Day2 no.2

4.5 mile of walk with 1000 feet climb, we were at the first viewpoint, Photographer's point. On a sunny day, waves of granite rock mountains were ahead of me. What a pretty view!

At Photographer's Point

This reminded me of Yosemite. Somewhat the undulating gray mountains looked like the hills in California. Then I heard a random hiker said, "It looks like Yosemite." 

OK. I am not the only one and it made me smile by sharing such feelings with a random fellow hiker.

Seneca Lake

Along the way there are numerous beautiful lakes. One of them was Seneca lake. We stopped on the hill of the lake and ate bread and crackers.

Here we saw old guys' day hikers group here. I was surprised those guys came here as a day hike. 8.5 mile to the Seneca lake from the trailhead, so their dayhike will be 17 miles. I saw many old backpackers (70+) on this trail. It looks like hardcore hikers from all over the world come here. Indeed in the parking lot we saw cars with many states plates from California to Washington, Arizona, New York and Canada. 

This day's campsite is near the Island Lake. On the way to Island Lake, we were on the downhill. One group was coming toward us from Island Lake. A group of three, two women and an old guy. The ladies were ahead of the guy, and the two women stopped along the trail and let us pass. Then the guy who was a little behind of ladies talked to them, "Uphill hikers have the right of way!" At first he told me, but he actually said to the ladies. One of the women replied to him, "We are waiting fore you!!!" She might be a little annoyed by the guy. Then the guy replied to the lady, "Uphill hikers have the right of way!" He said the exact same thing again. 

I know the hiking etiquette: hikers on uphill have the right of way. 

In this case, I saw already the two ladies were off the trail and standing, I passed them. It seemed like the guy was in a bad mood. 

In many occasions, including me, hikers going uphill let pass hikers going downhill. This happens because hikers going up want to stop for a little and catch breath, just simply tougher on uphill. 

I think that it is case by case. I think that this should be flexible. Sometimes a hiker on uphill has a good spot to stand safely to let downhill hiker pass. This situation can happen on a very narrow and steep trail. In my opinion, safety is the most important factor, rather than "uphill right of way rule" 

Honestly, I don't really care. Just one of them need to let pass others. Being kind is great thing. 

A little after we passed the grumpy guy, we saw two rangers. One serious ranger explained to hikers about food storage, campsite selection, fire restriction etc. Basically use bear proof storage/hanging food on tree, 200 feet campsite rule, and no fire. I had never expected to see rangers in National Forest. 

We searched a campsite to meet all the criteria the ranger told us, but it was difficult. I proposed to go look for a site for the next day's direction: in that way we can a little reduce the next day's hike distance. Also our plan was to go to off-trail, so nobody goes that direction. Also that way our campsite will be way further than 200 feet from any trails, which is one of the criteria.

We set up a campsite for the night and started hiking to Titcomb Basin with a small pack. The picture below is Island Lake and Titcomb Basin behind. 

Island Lake

Wind River Range Day1, Day2 no.1

2 hours of drive from Grand Teton National Park, we arrived at Trails End Campground. The name of the campground is Trails End, which is located at the trail's end. We stayed overnight here so that we could start backpacking early in the morning next day.

On the way from Teton, the weather was not very good, actually there was a sign of big storm. Luckily we were in the car. The rain again came when we arrived at the campground, so we stayed in the car for a while, then blue sky came. So we went outside and ate dinner. Dinner was sushi pack from Smith's (this is similar to Safeway in the Bay Area, Star Market in Boston). Sushi from American grocery store in Wyoming was mediocre, but better than nothing. 

Campsite

Another fun with this campsite was campfire! I LOVE campfire by foraging, but not by purchasing woods at store. During backpacking in Teton, campfires are strictly prohibited, so it was so much fun!

This campsite has a parking lot for horse trailers. Multiple horse trailers were there and more than 10 horses were resting. They are very cute! 

After dinner while we were enjoying fire, we saw two backpackers going up the hill on the trail with headlamps. Mr.N said that they were probably CDT hikers. They probably resupplied food in nearby town Pinedale, did a hitch hike to the trailhead from likely a camper at the campground, then started hiking at 9 p.m. How hardcore the CDT hikers are. 

For those of you who have never heard of: CDT stands for Continental Divide Trail. 3100 miles total, meaning 4989 km. It connects Mexico-US border and Canada-US border through New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho, and Montana. One of the long distance trails in the United States in addition to Pacific Crest Trail and Appalachian Trail.

Next morning we drove 1 minute to the trailhead. I was surprised by seeing so.many.cars in the parking lot. That was as popular as...or maybe more popular than Grand Teton National Park. 

At the trailhead there was a guy also starting. He asked us where we were heading, we said Titcomb basin. He also, but because he had an ice axe, Mr.N asked if the guy was attempt to climb a peak. He said this time was just scouting. Then he started hiking and we did too. However, literally 3 second later, he disappeared and we never saw him. He was super duper fast. 

Within 1 hour we met a couple of backpackers group heading out. They told us we missed a storm a day before. The trail was really muddy and it seemed that the storm was big. 

Then we saw a couple who were walking with llamas. Each person had a l;ama. In the middle of the trail one llama sat down. She was protesting. She was like, "I am tired! I don't wanna walk. I WILL rest!" The lady's llama was protesting.

So the guy gave his llama water and took out food for his llama. The lady said her llama usually got excited if the llama saw food. However this time, her llama put even her neck on the ground! (the lama was sitting but the neck was still standing). Now body and neck were both on the ground. It was sooooo cute and soooo funny. Because we had our long distance to go that day, we left there. Hope they found a way to encourage the lama to walk again. 

All people on the trail were backpackers, but one group was hiking towards Titcomb basin. They were old guys (70's I guess). I was impressed how hardcore they were. 

To be continued...

Grand Teton Day7

This day was only 6 miles to back to the trailhead. All downhill. Easy!

pika

In the morning I saw a super cute pika. He was eating leaves.

As a Japanese, I got know pikachu before I learned about pika. 

For those who don't know picachu is a main character of poke-mon. Poke-mon is a shorten term of pocket-monsters. Pikachu is one of small monsters. "Chu" is crying sound in Japanese. So I assume pikachu is named after pika and mice. Actually pika is not a rodent, but close to rabbits. Anyway, the fact pika is cute is solid.

On the way we saw many many wild huckleberries and ate a lot. Mr.N who grew up in Montana especially love huckleberries and he kept eating more than me. We saw a group of three women who each carried a big basket to collect huckleberries. Wow. That size per person? Ambitious!

Then Mr.N shared memories to get bored when he and Ms.L went huckleberry picking. Mr.N would say, "I am bored." Ms.L answered, "Too bad." hahahaha.

Indian Paintbrush

Then I realized that I had not taken a picture yet.

I guess the reason why the divide was named Paintbrush Divide was there are a lot of Indian Paintbrush in the area. They are pretty color. 

I strongly think that paintbrush fits in the scene of Paintbrush Divide. Somewhat isolated, harsh environment at the Paintbrush Divide this colorful beauty of Paitnbrush resides there. This contrast is not a mismatch, but it is a complete suit. I even think lonely mountains is getting enchanting power from these flowers. 

Then we came back to the trailhead and found our shiny blue car. 

First reward of the tough backpacking was taking a shower! There is shower and laundry place inside the Grand Teton Park. Several times I had taken showers after multiple day backpacking, but this was one of the best shower I had ever had. Really good thing about this shower place is NO limit of the shower time. After 5 days of no showering, I wanted to wash my hair twice, then intensively wash body. It is nice to have unlimited shower! First person is $4.5 and after second person is $3 for shower. Not bad. 

As a second reward we went to a nearby town, Jackson, and ate a bison burger. It was good but not great. The restaurant didn't ask us how it should have been cooked. I realized after eating it was well done. Mr.N and I both wanted it to be rare. It was still good meal after days of camping food, though. Then we had cappuccino followed by grocery store for shopping food for the next backpacking trip. 

After filling tummy, we headed for a next destination, Wind River Range where we did the second backpacking.

Grand Teton Day6 no.3

Now time to descend from the top of Paintbrush Divide. 

At the visitor center before backpacking, park rangers wrote "ICE AXE Required!" on the dashboard for paintbrush divide. We asked rangers and they said it was needed. I didn't want to turn around due to snow patches and didn't want to be sorry. Always it is better safe than sorry. So I bought a nice ice axe and carried all the way.

Near Paintbrush Divide

What I saw was in the left picture. 

Are you KIDDING?

I carried an ice axe 4 days for this....?!, which easily can be even avoid by walking on dirt?

It is nothing! 

This time Mr.N was right. Park rangers always warn people it is dangerous and then actually it is not. 

Well. It was a nice opportunity to get an ice axe. I bought a really (yes REALLY) light ice axe, so actually it was not bad to carry it. It is an Italian brand. Italian outdoor brand are very good, especially for mountaineering-related stuff. There must be very good alpinists there. 

Since I carried my ice axe all the way, I did use it even though it was not necessary. I even thought about I slip intentionally and use an ice axe to stop slipping for practice, but I noticed there was not enough snow for such exercise. 

It was better than the opposite surprising....safely passed the Divide and now we headed for our campsite, Outlier. Yes, the campsite name is Outlier. I was thinking about the name is just for us. In fact Outlier campsite is only one site, and reservation only. 

Holly Lake

To go to Outlier campsite, there are two routes. We took a route to go through Holly Lake. I wanted to go to Holly lake, because Ms.L said it was gorgeous. Ms.L came to Grand Teton a day before we came and secured a campsite. It was very nice of her. Then she did a day hike to Holly Lake. Actually Holly is Ms.L's identical twin sister's name. I admire Holly as a talented artist. 

In the evening Holly Lake was sitting there very quietly and peacefully. The color is emerald green. It was transparent and shining at the same time. It was a round-shaped lake just like made by expanding the emerald green stone on the ring. 

This pretty lake fits with Ms.H's image. Artistic and pure. I was glad I took this route. 

According to National Geographic map, Outlier campsite is supposed to be 1.5 mile from Holly Lake. 

sign for Outlier campsite

Descended and descended a lot, but there was no hint for Outlier campsite. Finally 2.5 miles of walking from Holly lake we found the campsite. The last (mentally) additional 1 mile was really tough. It was like I was told to run 1 more mile after I finished the full marathon. If you are a runner, how hard it was, because already the last mile of marathon was tough. Not only this time but I had found many wrong things on National Geographic maps. I extremely wish there were Tom Harrison maps for everywhere as I wrote before here. 

deer

At the campsite, a cute visitor was there. She seem to live near the campsite. She licked my pee.....she must be craving for salt. Mr.N said that it is common for deer to lick human's urine in Glacier National Park in Montana. 

After dinner it started raining, I was very tired so went to tent and slept. 

Grand Teton Day6 no.2

As we climbed, the Lake solitude got smaller below. Lake solitude is both beautiful at the lake shore and in the distance. I couldn't help stopping and look back the lake time to time (and I can take a breath as well, hehe).

Lake Solitude

The majority of day hikers go to Lake Solitude and not further, so now it was very quiet and only a little backpackers were on the trail. Very quiet and nice. 

Pretty Valley

Looking back is a pretty Lake solitude(picture above). Looking ahead is an amazing U-shape valley (left picture). This portion is wonderful. On the trail a hiker was descending into the Lake solitude, probably he started hiking very early, and said hello to us. Then he said, "beautiful!" with his hands up. His posing is just right to describe this beauty. Absolutely no argument in front of this stunning scenery. 

Paintbrush Divide

Then finally, finally......FINALLY we arrived at Paintbrush Divide!!! Wonderful feeling with awesome mountains. The other side of paintbrush is like a hole. Surrounded by mountain all the way 360. In the hole there is a blue lake coming from glacier. I would describe this rapturous blue. I know it is unusual usage of adjective, but one of my favorite songs is called rapturous blue. So every time I see amazing blue, I remembered the phrase rapturous blue.

At the divide we took a long break here and ate snack and enjoyed view. After 10-15 minutes I heard hikers coming to the divide from behind. The guy coming close said, "Wooohoooo!"

They turned left and came to the top......and they are the guys we were all close all the day! On the trail you see hikers and greet and often leave by saying "see you at the summit. Usually you never see them at the summit. However, this time we did! The guy said to me, "See you at Paintbrush Divide" at 7 in the morning. Then we saw each other at the summit at 4 p.m. indeed. They were two guys. One is from Washington D.C., the other is from Florida. 

The guy from DC, who seems leading a hike, said to his companion, "We are 2 hours ahead of schedule, so we can rest here about 15-20 minutes."

Wow. So precisely scheduled. I like to hike leisurely and spontaneously, but also I liked his style a lot as a scientist and a Japanese.

Usually hikers are nice. Also we had sense of camaraderie by sharing pain of the day (+/-4000 feet under the hot temperature). I felt good to have such fellow hikers on the way. 

After enjoyed being at the top, it was time to descending to a campsite. There was still 2.5 miles to go. 

Here, the most important point. Descending side of Paintbrush had snow patches. Rangers told us to bring ice axes. However, from the top we didn't see much snow. Well, we would see...

To be continued...

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...

Grand Teton Day5 no.2

Marion Lake

After finishing lunch at Marion Lake, we started climbing toward Fox Creek Pass. 

Actually less than a mile from Marion Lake, Teton Crest trail leaves Grand Teton National Park and goes into National Forest. 

This day going into National Forest, coming back to National Park, then again going into National Forest, then camp in the National Forest, more specifically, Jedediah Smith Wilderness. Technically, national forest doesn't require any permits to camp, so there is no restriction about "permit zones" enforced in the Teton National Park. 

I prefer more Sierra permit system: with permit you can camp anywhere within the vast area. You only state on a permit where to start and exit. For example, a permit for John Muir Trail allows you to camp anywhere between Yosemite Valley to Mount Whitney which is 200+ miles. In this way, if you have extra energy at 4 p.m., you can go a couple of miles more. If you are tired, you can stop at 3 p.m. anywhere. Oh well, there is a different system in each region.

Quite a view

After about a mile in the National Forest, again we came back to the Teton National Park. This region was quite memorable. Suddenly the vast open area view came into my eyes. Teton range in the distance ahead. Dry meadow and rocky mountains are at both sides. One straight trail going straight towards the Teton. Blue sky is above. What a......WHAT A VIEW. 

I was enjoying the view and feeling grateful. I was thinking, "Wow I am soooooo lucky to be here!"

To be honest, this variety of views were unexpected and really nice. Because most Teton brochure and ads are only focused on Teton mountains. I didn't know such interesting scenery every single aspect of Teton. I am so glad I did Teton Crest Trail by backpacking. 

This "zone" is Death Canyon Shelf zone for backpacking permits and this is super competitive to get it. I understand why. 

So colorful

Not only mountains, but also wildflowers were blooming. It was hard to capture in one picture due to various colors. Pretty. 

Then we again left National Park and entered National Forest. We headed for Sunset Lake for camping.

Sunset Lake

Since we arrived at Sunset Lake later than most people camping there, there was not much good spot. One spot we took first was good view, but immediately I notice that it was insane.  Why? I was surrounded by 100+ mosquitoes even with DEET. 

I suggested changing the spot. Then Mr.N got upset. I knew how different the mosquito situation. Even a slight breezy spot has no mosquitoes, which is next to 100+ mosquitoes site. 

Mr.N insisted everywhere is the same. I insisted how different each spot is. I am extremely prone to being bitten by mosquitoes, I have experience about mosuquito +/- campspots.

 Then, we found a breezy spot. There is a drastic difference between the previous spot. I knew why the first spot was empty. Mr.N was finally convinced....phew. 

The spot seemed to be a marmot's favorite spot and I saw marmot was looking at me from behind a rock, then he lay down. He was adorable!

Then we ate pasta with Japanese sauce (mentaiko, meaning cod roe), which was delicious, looked at sunset from the tent, then went to bed. 

The next day would be 16 miles +/-4000 feet.....

To be continued...