Tennessee Teton

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Thursday, August 21, 2008

In the last few posts, the picture of the people at night is me and some of the Forest Service Trail Crew. We did a moonlight hike up to Hurricane Pass. It was AMAZING, beautiful, windy and cold! We were so close to the Grand Teton, that we could see headlamps from climbers descending in the dark. Those guys are nuts. However, the full moon was so bright I guess that would be the thrill of climbing at night. The other group picture of folks around a fire is of the same trail crew and some folks from a volunteer trail crew called Wilderness Volunteers. They were so great and hard working! I'm usually by myself everyday and I camp by myself every night in the woods, except for last week having the Forest Service Trail Crew out and the Volunteer Crew near by, was an absolute treat!

More misc work and play

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Misc Work and Play

Thursday, July 31, 2008

Julie vs. Moose

I day hiked Moose Creek Trail on Tuesday. I think it was about 16 miles total. I was flyin'. I only saw 3 people within the first hour and no one else the rest of the day! It was great! I was trail running the last few miles out when I came around a bend in the trail only to discover a young female Moose on the trail. We had a moment together. I watched her watch me. It seemed as if we were both waiting to see who would step off the trail first. She slowly walked toward me and stopped. I stood my ground and slowly took a few steps toward her and stopped. Eventually, she was the first one to leave the trail. It was a great, interactive, non threatening moose experience! I hope all of my future moose encounters will be this pleasant and uneventful.

Sunday, July 27, 2008

Basin part duo

The Alaska Basin is where I will be spending the most of my time with work. It's just below 10,000 ft surrounded by mountains rising above 13,000 ft--with the Grand Teton out of view from the basin. I wore my Chaco sandals to cross a snowy river to keep my boots dry. Especially with having 4 days left of being in the woods. It takes so long for rigid leather boots to dry... By the end of my week out, I didn't care about dry boots. I just took off right through the water and dealt with my soggy cold feet all day. As long as I had dry socks to put on my feet in the evenings, there was never a problem.

Destination Alaska Basin

Saturday, July 19, 2008

More from Friday

Friday

I woke Friday morning with this handsome moose SLEEPING 50 feet from my tent! I crawled out and there he was! I couldn't believe it! When I was making breakfast, this marmot was going crazy over my oatmeal. Any time I turned my back he was right at my stove peering into it contents. Sneaky little devil... The rest of the pics are looking down on the still frozen South Leigh Lakes. Amazing. I ran into NO PEOPLE on this day. It was great!

Three Days Out

I went in to the back country on Wednesday, established a sort of, "base camp," and hiked a different trail every day and came out today (Saturday). This is the North Teton Trail which goes to Table Mountain--which is as popular as Mount Laconte in The Smoky Mountains. This was on Thursday.