From Aug. 1st through the 5th I recently spent five fabulous days hiking about 37 miles along the Teton Crest trail in Grand Teton National Park, WY. I originally secured a permit for two, with the hope that I would be able to find a second hiking partner. I had resigned myself to hike the trail alone, but during our recent trip to California I met up with an old friend, Michael Johnson, who jumped at this amazing opportunity and made plans to hike the trail with me. Once again, thank you Mike for being so spontaneous. I had a great time.
Susanna and Lisa dropped Mike and I off at the Granite Canyon trailhead located inside the park along Moose Wilson Road at about 7:30 AM. The wildflowers were in full bloom and I immediately knew that I chose a good time to visit. Mike expressed some apprehension about being able to handle the elevation and physical endurance that this trip requires; nevertheless he handled it like a pro. During day 1 we hiked about 8.5 miles to Marion Lake. The lake was beautiful, and we were lucky enough to see some wildlife as well. We spotted plenty of marmots and about six deer romped through a nearby meadow as the evening wore on. I was also rudely awoken during the night by an odd scraping sound just outside my tent. I quickly decided to investigate and discovered a porcupine scraping its teeth along the side of my pack. As I had no food items in my pack, my guess is that it was attempting to lick off the sweat and salt that had accumulated along the side of my pack. I quickly shooed him away, and after being woken up two more times during the night, (once to find the animal sniffing around my boots, and another time fiddling with Mike's pack) I finally decided to hang both packs and shoes from a tree. After that, I slept soundly for the remainder of the night. In the morning I checked the packs to find some minor scratch marks on both our packs but no severe damage.
During day two of our trip we hiked about 8.8 miles from Marion Lake, along the Death Canyon Shelf, and down into the Alaska Basin. We camped at a small lake not very far from the trail, and spent the evening watching Blue Herons gather around the lake in an attempt to capture a few of the plethora of small trout that were rising across the lake. We also experienced our first summer shower of the trip that evening which was preceded by a gorgeous sunset.
On day three we hiked out of the Alaska Basin and up and over Hurricane Pass. From there we were treated with an amazing view of the Grand, Middle, and South Teton. After a quick break at the top of Hurricane Pass, we hiked down into the South Fork of the Cascade Canyon and up the North Fork of the Cascade Canyon. We totaled about 8.1 miles that day. The canyon was full of dazzling cascading falls along the Cascade Creek. We camped that night in the North Fork of the Cascade Canyon in the shadow of the Grand Teton.
On day four we hiked up to Lake Solitude, and then over the Paintbrush Divide. The Paintbrush divide marked the highest point of our trip at about 10,700 feet. Once again the view was quite breathtaking, and pictures simply do not do justice to the experience of being about the mountains. We hiked about 5.5 miles that day and camped in the Upper paintbrush canyon not too far from Holly Lake, and spent the evening staring out into the distance at the few flickering lights along the shore of Jackson Lake.
On day five we completed our trip by hiking 6.1 miles out the Paintbrush Canyon to the String Lake Trailhead. There we waited patiently in the shade for Susanna and Lisa to pick us up. Overall the trip was amazing, Mike was an excellent hiking partner, and I would definitely do it again in a heartbeat.
Shown above is a simple map of the trail. The trail is marked in pink. The entire trip totaled about 37 miles. (click on the image to enlarge)
Mike Johnson in Granite Canyon
Beautiful Wildflowers
Marion Lake
Death Canyon Shelf
One of the lakes in the Alaska Basin.
You can also see Battleship Mountain on the Horizon.
Mike and I at the top of Hurricane Pass
Schoolroom Glacier
South Fork of the Cascade Canyon
Mike relaxing after dinner near camp in the North Fork of the Cascade Canyon
One of the views from the Paintbrush Divide
Paintbrush Divide 10,700 feet
Camp in the Upper Paintbrush Canyon
Holly Lake
View of Jackson Lake from the Upper Paintbrush Canyon
