Yellowstone was magnificent, but on to the Grand Tetons!
This is the hike we've been training for all year. No really....all year. Weight lifting, cycling, cross-fit, running, you name it we've done it to be physically prepared for this trip. We enter into it with a good bit of apprehension because it includes some firsts:
- first two night stay in the back-country
-first backpacking experience in grizzly bear country
-first time hiking above the treeline
-first time doing over 4k feet of elevation gain and descent
The plan is to enter the mountains via the Death Canyon trail-head and spend our first night in Death Canyon(sounds like a swell place ehh?), then hike across the Death Canyon Shelf and spend night two in Alaska Basin. We finish the trip by crossing the Static Peak Divide and descending the entire four THOUSAND feet on the last day. For reference, the empire state building is 1224 ft tall. Since we'll be doing this with 30-40 lbs on our backs, our knees are pleading with us not to go. Stephanie in particular is not at all comfortable with the prospect of seeing a bear out on the trail (or outside our tent).
For anyone who hasn't experienced backcounty camping and backpacking....it can be pretty rough. Actually it can be absolutely brutal, scary and painful. You have to carry everything you'll need in with you. There is no water, no electricity, no cell service, no hard walls to protect you, and no help is on the way when you need it. You walk miles and miles, climb bigger hills than you ever seen, crap in a hole you dug in the ground, and then to add insult to injury, you have to carry out your doo-doo paper(EEEEWWWWW).
As we always tell people when talking about our first backpacking experience, when you've just hiked 10 miles into the middle of nowhere and you know you're out there for the night and no one is going to come to your rescue....and that sun starts to go down......its a very, very interesting feeling. This is made much more interesting on this trip knowing that we're out there with black bear and grizzlies. We will be bringing a flask of whiskey.
Anyway, as we were leaving Yellowstone this morning we crested a ridge, came down, and this was what we saw the first time we laid eyes on these enormous mountains. What a first impression!
We finished the day by checking into our hotel room at Signal Mountain Lodge and trying to eat as many carbs as possible. Unfortunately we screwed up and didnt allot NEARLY enough time to prepare food for the backpacking trip. We need 3500(Steph) and 5500(Brett) calories a DAY for backpacking. It took like two hours to pack gear and stuff all the food into that tiny bear canister. There was a lot of swearing and it put us getting in bed at around 11:30 when we had to wake at 5:30 the next day. NOT a good start.
Nervous and tired we hit the sack.