Mostly Plants

August 6, 2008
Around 7 AM
Gros Ventre Camp

August 5: Morning at Brooks Lake is gorgeous!  We filled up our H20 at the lake, and I shot the panorama shown in the previous post.  After some trouble with the stove, we had Quinoa cereal that Adrienne made for breakfast.  The last time I had quinoa for breakfast was years earlier while hung over, and although I had loved it before, it was so vile that day that I had not easten it since.  Today, quinoa and I are friends again.  Rowan is not impressed.

US 26 is under construction through Togwotee Pass (Elevation 9 653 feet above mean sea level).  Only one lane is open and traffic must stop and wait for an escort vehicle.  Travel is very slow, and very dusty.  Thank the gods we didn’t try to do this last night!

We finally arrived at Grand Teton around noon.  We went straight to the Jenny Lake, which is the access point to the Teton Range and the center of hiking and mountaineering activity in the park.  We went to the information desk at the Jenny Lake visitors’ center, and discovered that the info ranger was a self-righteous twit who didn’t listen to questions before answering them.  I asked him about an easy one night backcountry trip, suitable for a party including a child and an elder.  He recommended Cascade Canyon to Hurricane Pass!  For those who don’t know the area, that’s a 3,300 foot climb that’s only an “easy” trip if you are a mountaineer!  We also asked about top roping and he told us “we don’t really use that practice here in the park, because we believe in loving our mountains, but not loving them to death!”  Less sloganeering and more facts please.  Top-roping is entirely consistent with clean climbing practices, and what he should have told us–the correct answer–was that there are few sites in the park with walk-up top access, and most of the top-rope sites in the area require one person in the party to lead the route (some sport, some trad) in order to set the top-rope anchor.  He did mention Bouldertown, which is one decent top rope site in the area.  More on Bouldertown later.

The ranger at the ranger station was more helpful.  He told us that non-strenuous hiking is limited to lakeshores, and got us a last-minute campsite at Leigh Lake.  Lunch was Indian pouch food at the String Lake day use area, which we should have had for the previous night’s dinner–had we eaten.  Rowan took YEARS to eat it.  We got started down the 2.4 mile trail around midafternoon.  The hike was uneventful, pretty, and short.

We arrive and pitch camp in the late afternoon.  Rowan helps us by taking photos, then putting in tent stakes.  After pitching  camp, we play in the water for a bit.

Pitching Camp

Photo by Rowan

Ranger told us that we were allowed to burn dead and downed wood, but we don’t need much, because the Venture Crew before us left a great heap of seasoned, split wood.   Lucky thing, because we forgot to refuel the stove before leaving on this hike.  Dinner is Capellini with Pesto.  We forgot to bring oil, so the Pesto was a little dry, but scrumptious nonetheless.  Rowan hated it, the rest of us loved it.

Bear protection in the Tetons consists of large steel boxes cemented into the ground.  Forget your ammo crates and BearVault Brand portable canisters, this thing is the real deal!  When you close the lid, steel tabs with holes in pass through slots in the door, and a pair of carabiners through the holes makes the thing totally bear-proof.  No way to open one of those without opposable thumbs.  Take that, Yogi!

Adrienne and I stayed up late, but too much talk of bears as the fire was dwindling scared us off to bed.