Sarasota Friends Doug and Dick visit Jackson Hole

Dick Mace and Doug Finkle arrived in Jackson Hole on July 19th and enjoyed the area for four days.  The three of us laughed a lot and filled every minute with fun in the valley and the mountains.  There was also a lot of food!  The same evening that Doug and Dick landed, we headed off to dinner at the Snake River Grill.  Dick visited last year and fell in love with Snake River as much as I did.

Dick and Doug ordering picnic lunch

On July 20th, Doug and Dick woke up and were eager to head into the Grand Teton National Park for some hiking.  Our first stop of the day was at the Dornan's deli to pick up sandwiches that we could enjoy on our hike.

Our next stop was the Death Canyon trailhead. Our plan was to hike as far as the Floridians could handle and enjoy our picnic at the Phelps Lake Overlook.

At the trailhead

At Phelps Lake Overlook - our picnic location

On July 21st, Doug and Dick were ready for more hiking, so we headed out to Jenny Lake to hike to Inspiration Point and Hidden Falls.  After our hiking, we stopped at the Grand Teton National Park's Visitor Center to see the wonderful 30 minute movie they have on the history of the park.  At the visitor center, Dick and Doug came face to face with their first moose!

At Hidden Falls with Dick and Doug

Doug and Dick at Inspiration Point at Jenny Lake

After hiking in the Jenny Lake area and climbing to Inspiration Point, we spent some time at the Grand Teton National Park's Visitor Center.

Dick and Doug meet their first moose at the visitor center

During Dick and Doug's stay in Jackson Hole we also ventured over the Teton Pass into Idaho.  If you ever find yourself in the Jackson Hole area, you really need to take the time to drive over the pass and spend some time in Victor, Idaho.  It is a quaint small town with the nicest people you will ever meet.  When in Rome you do as the Romans do and when in Victor Idaho, you must enjoy a huckleberry shake!

Huckleberry shakes in Victor Idaho

After the day in Victor, we headed back to Jackson and enjoyed a scenic float trip down the Snake River with the Triangle X Ranch.

Good friends, wine and the beautiful Snake River ..... Summer is good.

The Neiswender's Visit Jackson Hole

Barbara and John in Jackson Hole

John and Barbara Neiswender were out in Jackson Hole from July 11th - July 14th.  It is always good to see them and catch up on things.  I started working for John in 1992 and continued that professional relationship until 2005.  During those years, the Neiswender's and I (together with Elaine) have traveled the world.  I am glad that I could get them out to Jackson Hole for a few days to share this special place in the world.

John and Barbara arrived in mid afternoon after driving to Jackson from Salt Lake City.  After a few hours of rest and just hanging in the house, we headed out to take the gondola up to "The Deck" restaurant for happy hour and snacks.  We enjoyed the view for a few hours and then drove to Jackson Town Square for a bit of a walk around.

Flowers on the trail while searching for Coyote Rock

John and Barbara wanted to take a bit of a hike, so I took them out to the Coyote Rock hike.  I knew they would enjoy the view and it is a pretty easy hike in terms of distance and elevation.  It will forever be one of those experiences that I shake my head at when I remember that day.  I put forth my best effort to follow the trail and get the Neiswender's to "the rock."  I keep thinking that someone must have moved the rock because I walked and walked and walked the Neiswender's around and we never found that damn rock.  It was crazy embarrassing!  John will never let me forget that I lost the rock.

Scenic Float on the Snake River

After the "rock" disaster, I had to make it up to John and Barbara, so I took them on a scenic float down the Snake River.  It was a beautiful night and many animals were out and about on the river.  John and Barbara enjoyed the float and I saved a bit of face.  John will still never let me forget that he never saw the "rock."

The beavers had done a good job on this tree

Bald Eagle on the scenic float

John and Barbara enjoying the scenic float

Death Canyon Hike to Phelps Lake

Hiking Death Canyon

I headed out with the hiking group to play in the Grand Teton National Park.  The hike on the agenda this day was the Death Canyon hike which includes the Phelps Lake Overlook.  When the group first decided that we would venture out on this hike, I silently thought "Death Canyon", not sure I need to do a hike that begins with "Death".  I kept my thoughts to myself and headed for the trail head with the group.

I am taking words to describe this hike directly from my Jackson Hole hiking book.  Since my blog is not a graded piece of work, I have no fear of the fact that I am plagiarizing.  I am simply trying to provide you with interesting information to go along with the pictures.  Don't be mislead, the funny commentary about myself (the city kid in the wild west) comes straight from my twisted brain.

At Phelps Lake Overlook

"With its broad upper expanse and nine mile length from valley floor to the crest of the Teton Range, Death Canyon is second in size only to Webb Canyon at the northern end of the range.  Hikers are drawn by lush wildflowers, the possibility of spying wildlife, superb and varied alpine scenery, and a notable display of the geological forces that mold our planet."

The hike from the trail head to the Phelps Lake Overlook is just about a mile long and has an elevation gain of 420 feet.  As you can tell from the picture, the water is very beautiful.  To cold for this southern girl to skinny dip in, but beautiful none the less.  The elevation at the overlook is 7200 feet.  Phelps Lake was formed by the retreating Death Canyon Glacier 9000 years ago.  The lake is a mile and a half long and 525 acres in size.  The lake is the 4th largest lake in Grand Teton National Park.  The deepest park of the lake measures 161 feet.  The lake is named after a trapper who reported the lakes existence to members of the 1872 Hayden Expedition.

View in Death Canyon

View in Death Canyon

One of the best parts of being out on the trail is seeing the wildlife that might come across our path.  Armed with bear spray, we are always ready for the different critters that we might encounter.

Craig, Carol and I had stopped on the trail to take a picture.  The rest of the hiking group had continued up the trail without us.  After taking a few pictures, Craig, Carol and I turned to continue up the trail and a marmot was just waiting there to say hello.  He got very close to us and allowed us to take a few photos.  I know nothing about marmots and had no idea if he would bite or not.  I was happy to allow Carol to be first to continue on the trail but she was happy for me to take the first steps towards the marmot.  Turns out that he wanted as little of us as we wanted of him.  As soon as we took steps up the trail, the marmot scurried into the vegetation next to the trail.

The marmot checking us out

Continuing up the trail to the Patrol Cabin

Our destination was the Patrol Cabin.  From the trail head, the Death Canyon Patrol Cabin is 3.7 miles away.  The cabin sits at an elevation of 7841 feet.  The hike to the Patrol Cabin has an elevation gain of 1061 feet.  The small log structure was built in the 1930's by the Civilian Conservation Corp to provide shelter for the young men constructing the park trails.  Today it is used by crews maintaining and patrolling the trails.  After reaching the Patrol Cabin, the hiking group took a break for lunch.

Lunch Break

Lunch View

Lunch View

After our lunch, we headed back down Death Canyon about 4 miles to the start of our hike.  As we hiked back down, we ran across a hiker who was heading up the trail to spend 3 or 4 days camping in the back country.  As we approached the hiker, he politely stepped off the trail to let us pass.  As I got closer to this hiker, I saw that he was wearing Pingry Lacrosse shorts!  When I was in front of him, I pointed at his shorts and said "I bet I ordered those."  He looked at me with a befuddled expression.  I said "you are either a recent Pingry grad or you are a teacher who started in 2006."  I really had him going with that statement.  He then asked me how I knew that and told me he was a teacher/coach at Pingry who did start in 2006.  I told him I was the previous Athletic Director and he said "oh my god, you are Jo Ann, Sara and Lil's friend."  I replied by saying "yes, I am Jo Ann" and he introduced himself as John Crowley Delman.  It really is a crazy small world!

Hike to Wind Cave in Darby Canyon

Gaucho patiently waiting to arrive at the trail head

Mondays hike was through Darby Canyon to the Wind Cave.  We met at our usual meeting location (The Stagecoach Bar) to get an early start to our drive over the Teton Pass to the trail head in Idaho.  It was a longer than usual drive which was fine for most of us.  Only Gaucho looked a bit sad to be cooped up in the back of the car for such a long ride!

Gearing up to start the hike

Heading up the trail

Our reward!

Our goal was to hike to the Wind Cave and back down.  Our reward was the delicious huckleberry shake!  A huckleberry shake is wonderful motivation.  When in Rome do as the Romans.  When hiking in Idaho, end the hike with a huckleberry shake!

The Darby Creek runs through Darby Canyon.  In order to reach the Wind Cave, we followed the trail along the ridge of the canyon and began a sustained, steep climb gaining 1160 feet in just over a mile.  After about 1.8 miles, the trail enters the upper basin of the canyon and forces you to cross the creek and enter the woods.

Views leading to the Wind Cave

Our first sighting of the Wind Cave

We took this hike early enough in the summer that the Wind Cave still had a waterfall pouring from the entrance of the cave.  The hike to the cave covers 2.7 miles and a total elevation gain of 1870 feet.  The last part of the trail that lead to the Wind Cave was the most steep hiking of the day.

The waterfall pouring out of the Wind Cave

A close up of the waterfall

View down the waterfall

Eric making it up the final steps to the top of the waterfall

Parry Primrose found at the waterfall

After the final push to reach the top of the waterfall and the Wind Cave, we took a break to enjoy the view.  The waterfall was in the shade, so it was a bit to cold for us to eat our snack/lunch but we did enjoy a few minutes of waterfall and Wind Cave exploration.  The exploration lead to Joyce finding some beautiful Parry Primroses growing near the waterfall.

Lunch Break in the sun but saving room for the huckleberry shakes!

Heading back down the trail

Continuing down the trail.  Thoughts of huckleberry shakes dancing in our heads.

Gaucho after the hike encouraging the rest of us to hurry up so we can get to shake time!

Happy hikers after 6 miles of up and down
Craig, Joyce, Cammie, Gaucho and Andy

More happy hikers with their huckleberry shakes
Robin, Carol and Judy

The whole group happily replenishing for the next big hike!

Hike to Coyote Rock

Enjoying the view from Coyote Rock

Saturday morning found me heading out on a hike to Coyote Rock.  It was an easy up and down and a perfect way to spend a Saturday morning.  The trail is part of the Gros Ventre mountain range.  When hiking in the Gros Ventre, you usually have a view back across to the Teton Range.  This view made for a nice and easy hike.  Due to the fact that the trail was easy to follow and did not gain huge amounts of elevation, my eyes could be looking up instead of down on the trail.  Some of the trails we take are so steep and rocky that your eyes have to be focused on the ground to make sure you don't trip.  The hike to Coyote Rock was more like a nice stroll in the mountains.

Starting up the trail

Getting close to the rock

View from our highest point on the hike

Southern view from Coyote Rock

A trail ride came walking by as we snacked on top of Coyote Rock

The nice thing about a stroll in the mountains is the time you have to notice things you might not see on a more intense hike.  Time to notice things that I would not see in Sarasota.  Time to notice the simple beauty of Jackson.