Climbing Sleeping Indian !

My friends Craig and Carol (full time Jackson Hole residents) organized a hiking group for today.  Our mission was to hike to the summit of "Sleeping Indian".  The summit stands at an elevation of 11,239 feet and the town of Jackson is located at an elevation of 6200 feet.  Craig is a very good hiking guide who checks all the conditions before a hike begins.  Today the weather forecast called for possible thunder storms in the afternoon.  With this information in mind, Craig thought it was best that we start our hike early.  He predicted that our total time would be around 6 hours.  I had to wake up at 5:15am (all of you who know me well, please stop laughing) in order to meet the group at 6:30am.  The groups that Craig puts together are always interesting.  In today's group, one of the men noticed my Pingry
t-shirt and told me his dad graduated from Pingry in 1948.  Small world even on "Sleeping Indian."

The sunrise as I drove to our meeting location

At first, the early start time made me consider passing on this hike.  I decided to wake up super early to go on this hike because I can not imagine missing out on the unique experiences that the locals can show me.  I would never be able to climb "Sleeping Indian" on my own.  In fact, the first time that the Butcher family pointed "Sleeping Indian" out to me, I never in a million years would have imagined that I would some day hike to the top.  Now that I am home, freshly showered and relaxing, I am SO glad that I made the decision to hike to the summit.

The hike up to the summit was tough and took 3 hours and 10 minutes.  It was physically challenging and the flower fields and views were beautiful.

Hiking through the flower fields

Grand Teton views like this make waking up early very worth it !

The group making the climb

In order to reach the summit, we had to hike an elevation change of over 4000 feet.  After climbing about 2000 feet, we stopped for a 20 minute water and snack break.

View from break spot.  Elevation about 9000 feet

After our break, we continued to climb and heart rates were increasing fast as the air continued to get thinner.  At one point we reached a large open field that started to flatten out and I was thinking that we had made it to the top.  I was dead wrong!  I was in the middle of the hiking group and could see that those ahead of me were not stopping.  What was ahead of us looked to be a giant boulder that looked as if it was about to kick my ass in my effort to get to the top.

The top of "Sleeping Indian" that still had to be conquered.  Yes, I was going to keep climbing!

                              

The last part of the climb to the summit was crazy and straight up.  I gotta say that the oxygen up there was pretty damn thin!  Once on the summit, we took a break and ate some lunch as we enjoyed the view.

Lunch at the summit with the group

View from the summit at 11,239 feet

The dogs love the hiking

Gaucho at the summit

Resting at the summit with the group

The hike back down is always easier, but tough on the knees.  While hiking down, we did get caught in a bit of rain and this slowed us down just a tad.  It took us 2 hours and 45 minutes to get back down to the start of the hike.  The good news is that the total hike burned 2773 calories!

Heading back down

Craig's crazy hiking group

Teton County Fair

 Today was a perfect day to spend the morning at the Teton County Fair.  I can not even remember the last time I attended a county fair.  It was probably back in my San Diego days when I attended the Del Mar Fair.  Nancy, Daniel and I woke up early to drive to downtown Jackson to attend the Teton County Fair.  I just love living (even if it is for the summer) in a small town.  We were able to drive within two blocks of the fair and easily park on the street.  A quick stroll placed us right in the middle of the fair.

Our first stop at the fair was to watch the agility dog competition.  I was impressed with the dogs and the handlers we watched , but I couldn't help to know that deep down in my heart that Jed would have rocked the competition if his private plane from Pingry had arrived on time!

The people folks in the agility dog competition took their roles seriously.  It was fun to watch all of the dogs and to watch the other people watching the dogs.  There was even a clown!

The dog folks take this stuff seriously!

They even have "dog" license plates

The agility course t the Teton Fair

Now that I know how to use the video part of my camera, I took a few fun videos of the dogs running the course.  Again, I know that Jed would have kicked the other dogs butts on this course!

Little Dog video 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OX0JX2sgbag

Border Collie video 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbWp2W3G45U


There was a nice size crowd watching the agility competition.  The dogs also invited their dog friends to watch the competition.

Sad face because his dog friend did not do so well.

A future participant

After watching the agility dog competition, we wandered over to the corral to watch a few of the horse competitions.  We watched the "cutting" competition which consisted of cowboys and cowgirls on horses moving cows around the corral.  The excitement was insane.  LOL  Check out the video below of the run away cow!

Check out this video of the run away cow!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQoO_QRv7jE



















From cows and horses we walked by the "reptile man."  Even though I am many miles away from Florida, the alligators followed me to Wyoming.

With only a small amount of time left to enjoy the fair before Nancy and Daniel had to leave for the airport, we stumbled across the food court which made Daniel extremely happy!  The boy can eat.  He is a bottomless pit.

Daniel ordering two corn dogs!

Did I mention that there was a clown !

Scenic Dinner Float Trip with Vicky, Kevin, Nancy and Daniel

On Thursday night the adventure continued!  Nancy, Daniel, Vicky, Kevin and I enjoyed a scenic dinner float trip down the Snake river.  The trip was hosted by the Triangle X Ranch (where I work).  A scenic float has no whitewater and is a smooth 12 mile ride down the Snake river right through the Grand Teton National Park.  I took a couple of videos and hope you enjoy them.  The videos do not do the natural beauty of the area justice.

Video of the start to our float trip
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CcIotVNzdlQ

Float Trip part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kAiHB-r-2A


The scenic dinner float begins at Moose Junction where the drivers from the Triangle X greet the guest and load them in the vans for the ride to the cookout site at the ranch.  Once at the cookout site, the guest enjoy a "hearty ranch meal" before boarding the rafts for the trip down the river.

Daniel, Nancy, Vicky and Kevin enjoying the "hearty ranch meal" of steak and twice baked potatoes

The guides do a great job of discussing the history of the area as well as pointing out wildlife when they see it.  On our trip, we saw a few bald eagles, two beavers, lots of geese, and a few deer.  We were all hoping to a moose or two, but we struck out on that one.

Getting ready to bored raft

Heading down the Snake

Vicky and Kevin floating the Snake

Floating down the Snake

Nancy and Daniel

Our guide Shawn getting us down the river

Hanging at Dornans after the float

Nancy and Daniel at Dornans

The float down the river takes about 1 hour and 45 minutes.  At the end of the float trip, it is always a good idea to drive over to Dornans and enjoy a beer on the roof top bar.  The early evening float trips end an hour before sunset and Dornans is a great place to watch the sunset behind the Tetons.  A beautiful way to end another great day.

Tuesday Night "Bison Hunt" = SUCCESS

Nancy and Daniel spent most of Tuesday exploring the Jenny Lake area of Grand Teton National Park.  I worked the early shift, headed to town for a hair cut, worked out and then met Nancy and Daniel for dinner at the Blue Lion.  I enjoyed a wonderful dish of Buffalo Ravioli ...... yummy.

After dinner, Nancy and Daniel requested that we go out on a "Bison Hunt" in an effort to see a few bison up close and personal.  I guess it was our lucky day, because we ended up in the middle of a herd of bison. It was a very successful "Bison Hunt."  We even got lucky enough to see two different moose.  Enjoy the pictures and the video of us being pretty silly.  I have attempted to get two different videos of our "Bison Hunt" on this blog.  I have no idea if it worked, but I hope so.

http://youtu.be/0qu1e83bTUs

For some reason that I can not figure out, you will have to copy and paste the address below in order to see "Bison Hunt 2" video.  Go ahead and try it because "Bison Hunt #2" is pretty cool.  This video has a moose in it as well as tons of bison.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLt4nqZTHvI

    

Do you see the moose?

Monday Night Horseback Riding at Linn Canyon Ranch

Monday was a great day with Nancy and Daniel.  We began the day with a nice long workout at Jackson Hole Health and Fitness.  Daniel is an excellent high school golfer and plans to attend Methodist University (Fayetteville, NC) to play golf in the fall of 2012.  He is very interested in nutrition and fitness.  After our time in the gym, Daniel headed out to Jackson Hole Golf and Tennis and practiced at the driving range for a few hours.

Nancy and Daniel at the top of Teton Pass

With all of our fitness and golf practice behind us, we headed to the "headline" activity of the day - horseback riding and dinner at Linn Canyon Ranch.  The Linn Ranch is located in Victor, Idaho which is on the other side of the Teton Pass from Jackson Hole.










Linn Canyon Ranch is a small but lovely ranch that has only been open to guest for the last five years.  They offer single day rides and have a lovely main house for meals.  They do not have guest cabins at this time.  Gene Linn lead our private trail ride and he told me that they currently have plans drawn up for guest cabins and hope to start building soon.  Most of their business comes from weddings and parties that they host in the main house and on the grounds.  The main house would be a great place for a party.

Main house of Linn Canyon Ranch

Porch of main house

Daniel, Nancy and I had reserved an hour long trail ride followed by dinner.  Gene Linn was our trail leader and it was very interesting hearing about his family's history in the area (his grandparents bought the ranch in the 1920's) and the plans that he and his brother have for the ranch.  The horseback riding was enjoyable, but I am spoiled with the riding at the Triangle X and as nice as Gene was, the trails can not compare to those at the Triangle X.  Only ranch guest and employees of the Triangle X can ride at the Triangle X, so I could not arrange riding for Nancy and Daniel at the Triangle X.

Nancy getting ready for the trail ride

Nancy, Daniel and me enjoying the horses

After our trail ride we enjoyed relaxing around the main house as we waited for dinner to be served.  Appetizers and drinks were served on the porch.  Linn Canyon Ranch allows for dinner only reservations, so at dinner there was a mix of trail riders and dinner only guest.  The dinning room of the main house was lovely and the meal was very yummy.  We had a choice of filet mignon, lamb or salmon. All of us enjoyed the entire meal.  The apple tart and ice cream they served for desert might have been the best I have ever tasted!

Hanging with Cedar while waiting for dinner

Gene Linn's dog Greta

Appetizers on the porch

Great filet and a beautiful table

A wonderful evening at Linn Canyon Ranch