Extremely Grand Mountains

When you drive south through Yellowstone the road crosses the Continental Divide three different times, all at elevations close to 8000 feet. The funny thing is that it didn’t even feel like I was driving in the mountains! The Park sits on the high plateau of an extinct volcano and even when mountains jut above everything else, the base itself sits fairly high in altitude. However, crossing into Grand Teton National Park and spying the jagged skyline of the namesake summits is a totally different story.

I really lucked out and caught a weather-window because it sounds like the last week or so has been kind of nasty, with a storm dumping about a foot of snow. But today, although cold, there were strips of blue peaking out among the few clouds that floated across the sky, accentuating the grandeur of the Tetons. I drove down to Jenny Lake, after stopping at every available visitor center to pick up a map, all of which happened to be closed for the year. Not to be deterred, I found signs for a trailhead, geared up, and tromped off into the snow. It was incredible! The trail went around the Western shore of Jenny Lake and then up into Cascade Canyon. Once the trail started climbing and heading west, I had a view of the steep cliffs and jagged spires of the mountains themselves.

Head down and moving hard to make it to Hidden Falls and Inspiration Point, I almost ran over a cow and a calf moose who gave me the stare-down. Not wanting to get on the bad side of mama moose, I back-tracked and then broke trail in the snow up the horse path heading to the Falls. The features of the Falls were pretty cool: ice was forming on the rock and choking the water’s path causing it to move down the cliff in an interesting pattern. From Inspiration Point, the view of glass-like Jenny Lake and the low-lying mountains to the east was excellent.

I scampered back to the Champ, made a sandwich and took off down the road hoping to drive through the Jackson Hole area before it got dark. Thankfully the sun held out long enough for me to see the town of Jackson, some pretty gnarly ski terrain, and even 16 massive bull elk hanging out together in a field located in an elk reserve (needless to say I pulled over and looked at them longingly through my binoculars).

The beauty of peaks reaching for the sky, especially when they have snow on them, astounds me. Today I had such an incredible feeling of joy just by rounding the corner and seeing them. They seemed so pure, untouchable, otherworldly. I realized today that climbing, whether on rock, ice, or for skiing, is my attempt at being a part of that.