We spent night 5 in Jackson and could not wait to get out of there. I was expecting an upscale yes but also quaint mountain town and instead , we arrived at Newport Beach in the Tetons. Overbuilt, overcrowded with people who looked so out of place in the mountains that we felt out of place in Jackson. We stayed at the
Teton Mountain Lodge on the mountain (with a great roof top jacuzzi) , took a short "recovery hike" in the morning into the
Teton National Park and bolted out of there.
We spent the next night (6) in
Pinedale. The
trailhead for the Elkhart trail in the Western Wind River is about 20 minutes out of
Pinedale.
Pinedale is a cool , authentic and sleepy community on highway 191 a little over one hour East of Jackson. To our relief, when we went down to breakfast the next morning, the pink and glittery T-shirts and white pants had been replaced by quick-dry shirts and hiking pants. There were backpacks on sofas and people with hiking boots having a hearty breakfast, just like us.
Pinedale is seemingly a hole in the wall and does not have a "Roots" store but has two fantastic outdoor outfitters and a
midwestern/hippies feel. People are knowledgeable about the area as they themselves hike , backpack and trail with llamas on weekends. There is a genuine sense that they would not want to live anywhere else. It also has a very good Italian restaurant on the main street, headed by a woman chef who went to culinary school in San Francisco and worked in Bangkok. You '
ve got to love that.
On Saturday night, we
carbo-loaded and fresh from our Colorado Rockies trial run, we repacked all our junk, eliminated the unnecessary items ... (1 small plastic bowl is lighter than 1 large plastic bowl and come to think of it, no plastic bowls is even better) but added a frying pan for you know what...
This moose just crept up on us .
We had one
bearproof canister but it could not hold enough food for 2 adults for 5 days so we had to pack extra food which we hung the best we could. We also carried bear
pepperspray just in case but did not see any bear or evidence of their presence.
Llamas and horses were common on the trails. Llamas can carry up to 70 pounds and apparently have a great demeanor, do not need to be fed and drink little.
Our camp site along Pole Creek Lake. Night 7, Sunday.
My new down sleeping bag was heavenly. All was good.
Monday, we slowly climbed up and over Lester pass. After a 7 hour hike and a killer grade, we finally got to our camp for the night (8) alongside a beautiful yet unnamed lake. We were both so exhausted that neither of us had the energy to make dinner and we both went to bed around 7 PM.
Tuesday called for an easier day . We hiked from there down to little Seneca lake and up Indian pass to Island Lake which was going to be our base for the next 2 nights.
Island lake is 13 miles in and at an altitude of 10,400 ft. A glorious setting. You can see our campsite at the upper right hand corner of the lake on the picture below.
Here is where the fun began: fishing, fishing and more fishing... (for me, reading , reading , reading)
A minor catastrophe was averted when we melted part of the protective plastic of the jet boil pan on the heating element of the stove. That would have been
baaaad.
We ate all 3 for dinner one night. They were so delicious. We had packed some olive oil and a small airline salt and pepper indeed ...
On Wednesday we took a day hike to
Titcomb Valley. A succession of 6 mountain lakes surrounded by peaks.
This was really odd, take a look
The winds were picking up, which is not all bad since it made the mosquitoes completely disappear. The mosquitoes were actually not bad at all. The
premetherin treated clothes and a minimum amount of
deet on hands , feet and ears worked very well and we did not get a single bite. Earlier in the summer, we were told that mosquitoes can be so bad you do need face nets.
Thursday morning, we felt strong and acclimated. We decided to go out in one day and set out early. After a hearty and rather delicious breakfast of freeze dried blueberries and granola, fresh from the bag (incidentally, don't ever get freeze dried scrambled eggs, even the bear did not want them...), we packed up and hiked back towards civilization.
We found a new type of
freezed dried food sold at
REI made by Mary
Janes Farm-Outpost . Organic, and delicious. We found all the
vegetarian freezed dried better overall. The no-bowl technique worked very well even though next time, we will take spoons with a longer stem...
Here again, our campsite on the other side of the lake.
Pumping water was a several times /day task but because of the abundance of lakes along the hike, one 1L
Nalgene bottle per person was perfect.
The hike out was easy but long...
The peaks soon faded away and gave way to a landscape that looked very much like the California Sierra Nevada, with wildflowers .
A big bag of lightly salted potato chips was waiting for us in the car and it tasted so good.
We drove straight to Park City , Utah and then on to Reno , NV where the clash between nature and nurture could not have been more obvious.
All and all: 1,750 miles of driving and 45 miles of hiking.
We spent the night at the Groveland hotel in Groveland, one hour from the entrance of the park. The hotel has been operating for over 100 years and it is very reminiscent of the Truckee Hotel (without the trains and with private bathrooms) . Needless to say, we loved it.
We had planned to hike out of Tuolumne Meadows but the weather was not on our side . We decided to wait till Tioga road reopened and took a short day hike to the giant redwoods
When it was clear that the road was not reopening any time soon, we decided to try an 18 mile hike out of Big Oak Flat road, the main road into the valley.
The trailhead is on the downhill leading to the valley, just short of the first tunnel. The small parking lot is on the valley side of the road.
The trail is a steady uphill for about 6 miles. At one point, we hiked amidst flurries. The weather was ominous still but having packed 7 layers of clothes , hand warmers and a 0 degree sleeping bag, I had no fear.
A medical treatment "on the go". Is there something duct tape cannot do?
We decided to camp about 6 miles in, as the trail flattens out of the forest.
Fires are allowed under 9,600 ft....
We were blessed with a great sunset and an almost full moon.
But no large furry animal came to play with our bear-proof cannister.... struck out once again!
In the morning, we hiked up the next 2 miles to reach the top of El Capitan. What a special place. That morning, there was a race up the nose El Capitan. The winner: 2 hours and 37 minutes. Not bad for a route that took 47 days in 1956!
11 AM and there is still ice in the water bottle
This is the only campsite on El Capitan but what a dreamy one...
This is Half Dome as seen from El Capitan
The stretch from El Capitan to the top of the Yosemite falls is beautiful , easy and fast.
Lunch at the top of the Yosemite Falls, before a grueling 3.2 mile downhill.
The path was steep, rocky, slippery at times. Needless to say, by the time we reached the valley, our quadricepts were mush... but our knees had held up! We hitched a ride 8 miles back to our car and headed home . (stopped in Manteca for the obligatory In-n-Out burger. Hahaha)
