Tina and I are back in Jackson and I have looked at many of the photos I’ve taken. Some I like, but mostly I’ll be happy to learn more in the upcoming 6 day Photography Workshop I’ll be taking this coming Saturday. I’ve quickly “Word” spell checked my phone nightly backpack journal entries which I am posting. Please forgive any typos, grammar no-no’s, etc. This takes so much of my time and I’m ready to go out and be a tourist some more.

Notes I wrote nightly while on our Teton Crest Backpack:

9.17.09 Pre hike – The morning preparation before our hike went better than we could have hoped. We are very grateful to David at the Cowboy Village who let us store our entire luggage for the 5 days we’ll be hiking.

I remembered to pay my speeding ticket.
We got a reasonable rate from a local taxi company to pick us up at the end of our hike at the trailhead where we parked our car this morning. David, the taxi driver was young, an extreme athlete and very interesting. I learned bison and moose will attack and are very dangerous. Boy did I feel like a jerk getting as close as I did to both of the animals to get a photo. I even have a video (another one, not the one I posted, where you hear me baby talking to the bison, telling him, “I’m friendly, really” as this bison is looking at me like he might easily jump the six feet in a second they are capable of doing and take me out.) The taxi driver also informed me just how fast they run as he was sharing a story about his friend whose car got rammed by a bison. The bison killed himself as he drove his head deep into the front of the guy’s SUV.

Now to the hiking day…..

Teton Crest Trail

Day 1
9.17.09
Start: 12 noon – top of tram from Teton Village
Camp: 4:15pm Marion Lake
Miles – 6.2
Pace – 40 min mile
Ascend: 1375
Descend: 2306

Just dropped off in Teton Village to take the Tram up and begin our Teton Crest Hike.

The tram took us up 2 miles and 4100 feet to 10,450 feet. Tina and I were worried we’d have trouble starting at such a high elevation not having acclimatized. But gladly we descended right away. After continuing to descend for a while, I started to notice the toll the 1600 foot descent was taking on my knees and hip flexors. I haven’t been training carrying weight and this old body was wondering why it had to carry the extra 40 pounds. Tina’s knee started screaming.

Just a hint of how beautiful the scenery is.

Thankfully (I never thought I’d be thankful for uphills), we began to climb. Climbing was a relief but we were moving slowly. At the end of the day I figured out we were averaging 40 minute miles including one break we took.

While getting our hiking permits and camp sites the other day, we were told our first choice camp site, Marion Lake, was full and we couldn’t camp there. Well, it turns out that we got a campsite afterall. Of the 3 camp sites here, only one was occupied. We were really tired and thrilled to not hike on to beyond the Park boundary, where you are free to camp anywhere.

Marion Lake

There is something moving outside my tent! Tina is asleep so I can’t discuss what animal it might be. I think it might be a deer. We are supposed to put all our food in either the heavy bear canister we have to carry or the bear box at this camp site. I put almost all my food in my canister, except for the Fritos I kept for a snack. I have the Fritos in a long plastic tube, inside one of my smelly socks.

Hmmm. Snack?

Goodnight.

I’ll be posting many photos and will let you know when they are ready.

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