Teton 50 Miler: Day 4: The Long Day

On the morning of Day 4, we wanted to get an earlier start because this would be our longest hiking day. We got up early and set down the tents.  While the tents were drying out, we made breakfast and packed our bags.  Luckily the tents seemed to dry quicker than the first day so we were able to get packed and ready sooner. Thankfully I woke up and my eye was much better.  It was no longer blurry and I could see just fine.  I did wear my sunglasses the whole day though just for protection.  

The sunrise over our campsite was so pretty.  Out in the meadow, we watched a deer walk along and graze in the grass.  We took that as a good sign for the day.

The first few miles of our hike this morning was back tracking through the area we had hiked on the second day.  We passed the frog pond and a portion of the burn area.  We saw more bear tracks but saw no bears.  Around the area the pack horses caught up to us on the second day is where the trail took a turn off to the south.  This is where we turned today.  This trail took us to the south so instead of taking just an out and back course, we would be making a circle course around the mountain.  This trail was just as rugged if not more.  None the less though, it was still beautiful country.

Having our heavy packs on again was not as fun as hiking without them like the day before.  The packs were getting a little lighter though because we had been eating the food weight along the way.  We still stopped every so often to take breaks.  Especially on areas of steep incline or at stream crossings.  Emily thought she could just sit anywhere like in a tree!  Just kidding there was a log back there it just looked funny from this angle. When there was place to sit, we sat!

We crossed a lot of rivers this day.  The first big one was a little sketchy.  We really had to have good balance.

Throughout the day, we hiked through some big meadows full of pretty wildflowers.  

At one point we hiked passed an old cabin.  This was really strange to see because we had not seen any type of civilization all week.  I think this cabin was an old ranger station or outpost.  It was very rustic.  Once again the scenery around us was amazing.  From one point we could look up and see the Crater Lake Overlook mountain we were on the day before. It was hard to believe we were just on top of that distant mountain.

As we continued on, the pack team caught up with us as we ascended one of the mountains in a burned out area.  As we crested the hill, the team came up after us.  Watching the horse train come along was like watching a parade.  We all waved and cheered.  I stuck out my thumb hoping to hitch a ride but no such luck.

As they passed though, Dawna handed us some snacks and lemon drop candy so it really was like a parade!  After making sure we were all okay, they continued on to our new campsite to have it ready for us when we arrived.

While walking up the mountain through the burned out area, we heard a loud thrashing through the trees and crashing of tree branches.  We had know idea what it was so we just stopped and looked around.  Then through the trees to the mountain side, we saw a whole herd of elk stampeding away from us into the forest.  They were far enough away that we were not nervous or anything but we were amazed at the speed and size of the herd.  This was the only wildlife we saw the whole week!  Well besides squirrels, birds, and deer.

When it came time to eat lunch, we found this shady area on the trail and just laid out on either side of the trail.  It was nice to sit and relax for a while.  But then it started to rain...  We had been watching the clouds roll in all day but were hoping we would be fine.  

We all grabbed our rain gear and wrapped our packs to protect them from getting wet and hiked on.  Thankfully it was just a sprinkle and not a downpour.  We stayed relatively dry especially walking though the trees.

While hiking this week we crossed paths with a few other hikers and chatted with them for a few minutes.  This part of the trail is part of the Continental Divide Trail that runs from Mexico to Canada.  Today we met up with a lady that was hiking the whole trail alone!  She started near the Mexico border and had been hiking for 99 days when we met her.  She said she had about 1,000 more miles to go and about a month or so to finish.  We were all amazed at her determination.  We were also shocked at how much lighter she was packed than we were!  She was very friendly too.  We wished her luck as she headed one way and we headed the other. Once out of her earshot, we told all of the girls to never hike alone!

A few more miles down the road, we made it to the summit of our hike for the day.  The rest of the trail would be downhill to the camp.  We had to take a few pictures at the top.

We were still decked out in our rain gear because it had not quite stopped raining yet.  In the picture of the group, you can see our next campsite way in the back at the bottom of the meadow behind us.  We still had some miles to go and we were getting tired.  Instead of hiking straight to camp through, we decided to take a little side jaunt to a really incredible waterfall.  The waterfall was about a half a mile off the trail so we just dropped our packs and walked freely to it.  This place was definitely worth the extra miles.

The falls were spectacular and the gorge below was breathtaking.  We all just laid down and looked over the edge to see the pretty, clear pools of water below us.  Some girls joked about cliff jumping into the pools but then we didn't know how they would ever get back up to us.  Instead we just admired the emerald canyon from above.  

Walking back to the trail, we picked up our packs and continued on.  Finally we arrived at camp which was another nice site near the river bank.  The views up and down the river were wonderful.

Once again, the water felt really great on our feet!  Some girls were really hurting after the hike today.  Some of their feet were badly blistered.  Throughout the week we used up a lot of bandages, moleskin, and duct tape on our feet!  While everyone was bandaging and resting, Emily, the Zooks, and I filled all of the water bottles and filters with water so they wouldn't have to hike down to the river.  

That night Dawna and the other pack horse crew treated us to a delicious steak dinner!! We had steak and dutch oven potatoes.  IT WAS SO GOOD! After hiking for four days and living off of freeze dried meals and trail mix, the steak tasted like manna from heaven.  We all ate seconds and some even thirds.  

After cleaning up dinner and getting ready for bed, we spent the final night around the campfire talking.

We talked about virtue and being virtuous.  We talked about setting goals and working hard to accomplish them.  We reminisced about the hike thus far and realized that we had been faced with trials and hard things and we had overcome them.  We had endured and the next day we would finish strong accomplishing something we had put our minds to several months ago.   

The discussion was so good and we were all enthralled when all of a sudden the horses started screaming.  Then we were all screaming!  Casey and Chet grabbed their guns and ran toward the horses hobbled not far away.  We were all scared to death!  It turned out to be nothing and the horses were just fighting but it sure ruined the mood...

We were all still kind of shaken up but Dawna had one more thing for us to do.  She wanted us to experience the universe.  She had a big tarp laid out and we all laid down on the tarp and huddled together for warmth.  Then we all looked up at the stars together.  The clouds had gone and all you could see forever were stars.  Looking at the giant sky made you feel so small but so happy to exist.  The stars were so bright and we were even able to see a few shooting stars.  Despite the cold, it was relaxing to just look up at the galaxies.

That night we went to bed with a mix of feelings.  We were excited and sad that this was our last night of the trip.  Tomorrow we would be home in our own beds.  We hiked 12 miles this day.

Teton 50 Miler: Day 3: Big Spring & Crater Lake Lookout

Day 3 of this backpacking adventure was really fun.  We got to see some amazing sites and views and we all seemed to have an energy boost today.  The best part was we did not have to carry our heavy packs today!  Since we were staying at the same camp area for another night, we just left all of our gear at the camp site and hiked with much lighter day packs.  This gave all of us a boost and we could hike much faster without all the extra weight.  Today we would be hiking to the Crater Late Overlook the pinnacle of our week.

But first, we enjoyed the hike to get there.  Our first stop was Big Spring. 

This place was literally unbelievable!  The water for this giant spring literally came out of the mountain.  There was no river or inlet, the water just flowed out of the rocks down into the river below.

To get around the spring we climbed up and around the top of the spring.  We could see the waterline where the water was coming out of the mountain and we walked above that on dry land to get to the other side.  We were witnessing a miracle of nature.  On the other side of the spring we had to do some canyoneering and ravine jumping to get over the river to the trail on the other side but it was definitely a remember-able experience.  When we got down to the rest of the group, Dawna told us there was an much easier way just down the trail a bit where all we would have had to do was cross a log.  We said, "Oh where's the fun in that!"  

Big Springs was such a beautiful area.  We could have stayed here and called it a day but we had to keep going to our goal of Crater Lake.

The next part of the trail was through another part of the burn area.

There were more black skeleton trees and more pretty fireweed.  The nice thing about it was we could see through the trees pretty clearly just in case of bears.

Next we came to a little peep hole in the rock.  I can't remember what it was really called.

Emily and the girls decided to become mountain climbers and climb through the hole.  The whole rock formation was made of conglomerate so there were many foot holds making the climbing up pretty easy.  Once on top they all posed for a picture.  Then it was time to climb down.  This was another story.  Emily had a hard time coming down because the foot holds were harder to see.  At one point she slipped and banged her knee.  After some coaching from Shawn and me, she was able to slide down to safety with no harm done.

As we passed the peep hole rock, we walked into this beautiful meadow full of wildflowers and there was Crater Lake!

The Lake was not our final destination though.  The top of the mountain above the lake was where we were headed.  Emily is pointing to our finish line.  We all spent some rest time filling up our water before making the long stretch uphill to the summit.  From this point, the trail was straight uphill with lots of switchbacks for a good mile.  Before starting we just told everyone to go at their own pace, put our nose to the ground, and just make it up the mountain.  There was no group it was just go.  The view along the way was pretty awesome.  This first picture is from about half way up.

Finally we made it to the top!  Wow what a climb but what a view!

We were quite literally on top of the world!  We could see for miles around us.  To the west you could see the Grand Tetons and that amazing view.  To the east the mountains rolled on forever.  It was amazing to just look around and see the breathtaking views of this beautiful earth. Below us we could see all of Crater Lake as well as the Teton Wilderness we had just trekked through over the last few days.  We could even see our campsite through binoculars. It was astonishing to see how far we had come!  

At the top, we all gathered and had lunch together.  Dawna even brought us some cheese, crackers, and carrots to share.  It was nice to relax on the mountain and just chill.  While we were together, we talked about making a mark in our lives and having the integrity and virtue to make the right choices and a lasting mark on those around you.  We all signed a pledge and a flag stating that we would be virtuous, and we would stand strong.  We had worked hard to get to where we were and we would not let anyone take us down.  We posted the flag at the top of the mountain as a symbol of our pledge.

This flag was our banner to those who would come after us that we were strong virtuous women.  Posting it at the top was a way for us to look back and see how far we had come and also to look forward to see our potential and how far we can go.  It was pretty awesome!

The trek back down the mountain was not as hard as going up except for the first part.  During the initial few 100 yards down, there was no trail and we were literally sliding on our butts so that we didn't slide down the hill.

Now there was a better trail (the one we came up) but that would be backtracking.  This was the "shortcut" straight down.  Always an adventure!

When we made it back down to the lake, we all stopped and hung out on the shore for a while.  Nora and Chet made a homemade fishing pole out of a stick and a Mountain Dew bottle and Nora wanted to try it out.

Nora tried casting over and over again and was doing a great job of it considering the homemade pole but sadly she did not catch anything.  We all watched her for a while and then we walked around the lake for a minute.  Chet and Casey had packed their fishing poles and were excited to go fishing on the other side of the lake.  They told all of us they would bring home enough fish for us to have a fish fry tonight.  We were all excited about that!  Nora stayed behind to go fishing with them and her pole while the rest of us started hiking back to camp.  While fishing, Chet tried out the homemade pole and was able to get a fish to nibble but was unable to reel it in.  Luckily they had real poles and were able to bring home quite a few fish for us.

On the way back, it started raining on us. We pulled out our rain jackets and continued to trek on.  We hiked passed the peep hole rock, through the burned area, and back to Big Springs.  The girls I was with wanted to get back to camp as fast as possible for some reason so we ended up trail running most of the way.  Thankfully it was downhill so I could keep up.  

When we got to Big Springs, instead of climbing around the Spring, we found the easier path across a log.

We all made it across safely.  Then, when Lauren crossed, her water bottle slipped out and fell into the rushing river below!  We followed it down for a ways hoping it would snag on a bush or something but it was a goner. We felt so bad!  Luckily she did have an extra water container back at the camp so she would be okay for the rest of the week.

Back at camp, we all sat around the campfire getting warmed up from being in the rain hiking back.  A few of girls were muddy and needed their shoes dried out.  

While helping set up a rain cover over our cooking area, I got whacked in the eye with a willow branch. It hurt so bad and I could not see for a while.  My vision was blurred so bad that I had to put a ton of drops in it and go in the tent and close my eyes for about an hour before I could see enough to function.  I was so worried that I had messed up my Lasik surgery because it seemed like I had scratched the flap over my eye.  While sitting in the tent with my eye closed, I was praying so hard that my eye would be fine and that it would stop raining so we could finish our trip without any more problems.  After about an hour, I could see a little better so I knew my prayer had been answered.  By the next morning, my eye was much better and I could see again.  The predicted rain storm had also cleared in the night and our tents were not wet.  Another answered prayer!

Chet and Casey did make good on their promise and brought back fish for everyone.  Sadly neither Emily or I had any of the fish.  I didn't have any because I was blind and Emily didn't because she was too worried about me.  Everyone else said the fish were delicious.  We are sad we missed out.  

That night we tried to get as much sleep as possible because we would be packing up in the morning and taking on our longest hike yet.  Today we hiked 11 miles.

Teton 50 Miler: Day 2: Burn Area & Frog Pond

 Day 2 of the 50 miler was quite adventurous!  When we woke up in the morning, we had to set down camp and pack the horses again.  Our tents were quite wet from condensation from our breathing so it took a while for them to dry out.  We laid the tents out in the sun but the cool air made it so they did not dry very fast.  In the meantime we made breakfast, and repacked out backpacks. Finally the tents were dry enough to roll up and pack and we were off.  

About a half mile into the hike we came to a river we needed to cross.  A couple of the girls just walked across because they wanted to get their feet wet.  Most of the girls and adults however got to ride the horses across the river.

This was a fun experience.  I have only been on a horse a few times in my life and every time, I am amazed at how big these animals are.  Emily was led across on the horse by Dawna and I rode double on the back with Nora.  I was scared of falling off but we made it with no problems.  Some day I would love to learn how to ride a horse.  I think it would be fun.

So we made it across the river and then continued on our way up the trail.  After a while, the pack horses caught up with us.  Watching the pack team file passed us on the trail was quite remarkable.  The handlers, Dawna, and her son Chet and his wife, and Casey and even little Rosie, were so good with the horses and mules and really knew how to handle them and guide them through the wilderness.  

At one point though it was kind of scary.  Casey's big white mare is afraid of water.  As the pack team was passing us, there was a small stream of water surrounded by bushes.  In order to continue on the trail, we had to jump across the little stream.  Well the white mare was not going near the water no matter what.  Casey tried to pull her but she wouldn't go over the water.  Instead she jumped through the bushes which ended up being a crazy move because we had no idea what was under the bushes and neither did the horse.  There ended up being a steep drop off under the bushes the stream had carved out.  The horse went down almost pulling Casey and his mule with it and just about dumping everything in her pack.  Luckily the mare was able to right herself and jump over the bushes to the other side of the stream without too much more trouble.  It was pretty scary because we though we were losing a horse.  Thankfully no one was hurt and it was just the horse being stubborn about water.  

Once the pack horses had passed us, we continued on the trail through what was called the 'Burn Area.'  A few years ago, there was a forest fire through this area that burned all of the trees.

  

This whole area was full of burnt skeleton trees.  It looked like a tree graveyard.  In its own way though, it was quite beautiful.  There were a lot of wildflowers growing and in bloom.  The ground was covered in fireweed plants and flowers.  After a big fire like this one, the fireweed plants are the first to regrow.  Their purple flowers were so pretty.

Along the trail we found a fresh pile of bear scat...  We knew it was bear because the poop was full of berry seeds.  From them on, we were on alert for bears.  All along the trail, we saw many bear prints in the dirt.

We realized that we just seemed to follow the prints.  We didn't know how old the prints were, but we kept our eyes open for sightings.  Seeing a bear from a distance would have been kind of cool but we sure did not want to see one up close.  Luckily (or sadly however you want to look at it) we did not see a bear during the whole week.  We saw many signs but no actual bear.

Continuing on the trail, we reached the Frog Pond.  We knew we were getting close to the camp area once we reached this point.

At the Frog Pond, it started sprinkling on us a little bit.  This did not deter the girls from enjoying the pond.  The rain drops actually felt pretty good after the long hike.  While at the pond, Emily, Nora, Zoe and Ilse, walked around the pond looking for frogs to catch.  They found a few frogs but were unable to catch any.  Instead they just wandered around the pond while we waited for the rest of the group.  

Continuing on, we had to cross a few more rivers and streams before arriving at camp.

We all became pros at crossing logs by the time this week was over.

Finally we arrived at our camp area for the day.  The pack horse team had arrived a while before us so they already had everything unloaded and set up.  When we got there, we just had to select our spots and set up our tents.

This was a really nice camp right on the bank of another river.  The water was ice cold but felt good on our feet.  We planned to stay at this campsite for two nights.

Being at camp was probably the best part of the trip.  It was fun to just sit around and talk, listen to Dawna's stories, and just get to know each other.  

We would all gather around the fire area and just joke around.  While gathering sticks and wood for the fire, Rosie found a round stick and decided it would make a great jump rope.  We all laughed and laughed as she jump roped around the camp with her stick.  

After dinner, Dawna brought out some dough and we each carved a willow stick to use to cook the dough over the fire.  

Once the dough was cooked, we rolled them in butter and cinnamon sugar and ate them.  They were so good!

That night we all slept so well again just listening to the river as it lulled us to sleep.  We hiked 8 miles this day.