In the foothills of the Grand Tetons
I was ready to get to the mountains. Coming to Yellowstone had reignited my passion for the high mountains, and I was eager to get out and explore them. When Josh offered for me to tag along on their trip to the Grand Tetons, of course I jumped at the offer. I’ve decided that as a rule, while I am here, and while I am traveling for that matter, I will not say “No” to any opportunity unless I think it may be unsafe. But no excuse like fatigue, rain, or other, will be accepted. I will never decline a chance to get out and do something new. There are so many things to do here, and I want to take every chance I get.
Josh thru-hiked the AT in 2006, and met Meaghan in Rangley, Maine. They’ve been together ever since. They are a very cool couple, and they had many stories to share about their adventures: living in Australia, working on a cruise ship in Hawaii, running a Hiker Hostel in Maine, and banana-stealing monkeys in Bali. So our camping crew this weekend was Josh, Meaghan, and Texas Jim. Jim is a very nice guy, who I can’t wait to get to know more. I asked, “So what’s your story?”, to which he replied, “Well, I was wasn’t really living until just recently. Then I woke up from a dream and realized what it means to live.” He’s great.
The four of us loaded up the car and headed South towards Grand Teton National Park on Monday around 4. We drove about an hour, and then this was what we saw:
“I’m in heaven.” I kept saying. I couldn’t keep the smile off my face. It was just so astonishingly beautiful, looking up at the Grand Tetons in all their glory. They reminded me a lot of the rockies in terms of the mix between rocks and trees, but the jaggedness of the summits reminded me of the high Sierras. My eyes were glued out the window. When we entered the park, we drove some more, past Jenny lake, and towards Jackson. As 6 pm rolled around, we turned off the main road and drove up a large hill to the top, where there was a campsite. We had arrived at Shadow Mountain, and this was where we would camp that night so that we could pop into town the next day before heading out backpacking.
As soon as we parked and unloaded our packs, I ran over to a tree that had a platform about 50 feet up. I began climbing, with Josh above me. He stopped and let me go around, while fear began to get the best of me.
“Josh, don’t get out of this tree, ok?? I need you to help me get down.” He coached me up to the top, and persuaded me to get on to the platform. My risk-management instincts were in full effect, and I was not too keen on sitting on a platform that was hardly constructed with any sort of purpose. But I went up anyways, figuring that if I was to fall, there would be a ton of branches on the way down to break my fall somewhat.
The view from up there was amazing. I was staring right at the Grand Tetons in all their glory. They looked something like this:
I climbed down, with help from Josh, literally placing my feet where they belonged on branches deemed sturdy. I got down covered in sap and scratches from the rough bark. Worth it.
Jim had set up his Coleman instant tent, which sleeps eight. A 20lb house, this thing was amazing. We could stand up in it! I have never really car camped before, except for in Arizona, but even then, we had our little backpacking tent. This was a house, and I couldn’t believe how spacious it was.
We sat on the hill while the sun went down, sharing stories, drinking beer, and cooking dinner. The sun set right over the mountains before us, and it was thrilling to watch. I wanted so badly to be out there on the rocky slopes of the Tetons, but I was hopeful that the next day I would have my chance. I grabbed my kindle and Josh and Meaghan’s hammock, and set it up between two pines. I laid in it for a while, peacefully daydreaming. The mountains are home to me, and laying in the hammock listening to bird songs I’ve never heard and breathing the fresh piney air was sublime. I couldn’t help but miss Meren more than ever. He would love to be here, I kept thinking. A single tear crept out of my eye.
“Miss Step! How’s the hammock!” Josh came over and pushed me back and forth. Woah. The swinging roused me from my daydream. It was dark now. Would bears be visiting us tonight? I had heard horror stories about people being ripped from their tents by bears, and I started to worry about how close our tent was to our dinner site. Nothing we could do about it now. We went to bed under a starry sky.
The next morning, I was bright eyed and bushy tailed.
I couldn’t wait to get out there. We packed up and headed into Jackson. Meaghan had to pick up a prescription, and we had to go to the grocery store to get food that wasn’t ridiculously priced like the general store. We headed into town and ran our errands. It was lunchtime.
As we were deciding where to eat, two guys joined our group. Meaghan had called her fried Chris, who had worked at Yellowstone for a couple of weeks in the beginning of the season. Chris and his roommate were the two newcomers, and they suggested we eat at D.O.G. So we went there, and Chris told us about his plans to go tubing.
Tubing sounded amazing. It was a hot day and I didn’t want to pass up an opportunity like this. And we didn’t. Tubing took place of our hiking plans, and we went to Rendezous to rent tubes for $6.00.
The water was so nice! And swift! We were moving quickly, and I learned fast that it was impossible to hold on to my Moose Drool in one hand and try to paddle/steer with the other. I wiped out on one of the rapids, filling my half full beer with river water. No good.
Around a bend, I spotted this mule deer. It was very trusting for a moment, watching us curiously float down the water in front of it. But after a couple of hoots and hollers from our group, it turned and ran up the bank.
As you can see in the photo above, some of us fared better than others
Josh was having a rough time in the tube, moving slowly, and getting stuck on rocks. You can see in the background him struggling to get his footing on the rocks. The water was faster than it looked!
We spent a couple of hours on the water, relaxing and sharing more stories. It was rough at some points, resulting in a number of scrapes and bruises. I was beaten and battered by the end of it.
As we reached the pull-out spot, we saw this home that a woman had made under the bridge. Chris commented that she was the only homeless person in Jackson. She had a pretty amazing set up. It was sort of unbelievable. I wonder what she does in the winters.
We got out and walked up to the road. Jim and I were barefoot, and so we were slower than the rest, walking on gravel and hot sidewalks. He kindly carried my tube for me, and I couldn’t have been more grateful. He is a very nice person. Chris thummbed a ride, and a black pickup pulled over into a parking lot and took Chris and Jim back to grab the cars. The rest of us waited in the parking lot. I was happy:
But very hungry. And tired! As soon as the boys pulled up with the cars, I got in and got comfortable. I didn’t care where we were going, I just wanted to nap. I curled up in the back seat, and drifted off to sleep.
When I woke up, we were at the foothills of the Tetons, looking for a campsite. Hiking was out of the question at this point, as it was already almost 7, and we were all tired and hungry.
We got to a spot with this as the view:
It wasn’t half bad. I was mildly disappointed that we hadn’t gotten into the backcountry, but at this point, I was too tired to imagine how we would’ve gone hiking anyways. Jim set up the tent, and Meaghan and I went in for a snooze.
I woke up around 9, to a blazing fire pit and beautiful sunset over the mountains.
It was another beautiful and relaxing night. I cooked up some dinner (premade Indian food), and Jim and Josh and I sat by the fire while Meaghan slept. It was a lovely night. I read by the fire, and went into daydreams again. I wanted so badly to be sharing these moments with my someone special. One day, one day.
I slept in the backseat of the car because Josh (sleeping next to me in the tent) was snoring like a wild beast. He woke me up with earplugs in! I moved to the car, and slept soundly in the quiet night.
We woke up early so that we could stop by Moose Falls on the way back before Meaghan and Josh had to work. We did get to stop there, but it was rainy and dull, so we didn’t go in. I stood at the top of the falls for a photo-op with the new jacket I got at a second-hand camping gear store we stopped at in Jackson.
Overall, it had been an awesome weekend. I was happy to have had the chance to see the Tetons, but now my desire to get into them and hike is even stronger. Maybe when Meren comes we can go there and hike…
*When I got back to Lake, I went to the restaurant to check my schedule, and it seems they changed my weekends to Friday-Saturday. So I will work Breakfast and Lunch tomorrow, and then I have 2 more days off! Amazing.
I’m sad I will not have weekends with the group I was with this weekend, but hopefully I will still get to go on adventures with them. I can’t wait to find something fun to do on Friday!
