Teton Crest Trail - Day 1

When we hiked the Teton Crest Trail a few years ago we had a hard time with our heavy packs. Mine weighed 35 pounds, and Bob's weighed 47 pounds. When we decided to try it again we knew we had to lighten our loads, which we did. This time mine weighed 27 pounds, and Bob's weighed 35 pounds. We also had new, lighter packs, and we thought this would do the trick.

We started the hike at Teton Village, and took the tram to the top of the mountain. It saves a lot of hard, uphill hiking, and it's the recommended route. The RV campground host shuttled us to the tram, and he thought we were crazy to attempt this hike.

Our packs look huge, but they're so much lighter than the last time we hiked the trail. We were ready!

Bob really enjoys the ride up the tram, but I'm afraid of heights and it's not a fun ride for me.

Jackson Hole does look beautiful from up here near the top of the mountain.

This is the start of the trail, and it looks pretty easy. It's actually a road for maintaining the ski trails at Teton Village, and just happens to lead to the trail.

Here we go, our first sign that we're on the trail, and it's only 6.2 miles to Marion Lake, our first night's camp site. Unfortunately, it's not flat hiking, so we know there are a lot of hills between us and Marion Lake, and our packs are feeling much heavier than the scale says they weigh.

It's a nice trail, easy to follow, and the scenery is beautiful, so we just kept at it and hoped we'd see Marion Lake soon and get first pick of the three camp sites there.  See those people in the picture?   They were a young couple that just skipped on past us. Bob asked how far they're going and they happily told us they were going to Marion Lake.  There goes our plan to get first pick!

It's day one and Bob has already decided that this is not the pack for him. Too bad Bob, you have to carry it for three more days. I can't leave him behind because he has all the food in his pack, plus the BEAR SPRAY!

This is a good sign: Marion Lake is only 2.1 miles ahead, and Hurricane Pass, my favorite part of the trail, is 12.9 miles away. Keep on hiking.

Can it be? Is that actually Marion Lake just ahead?

It sure is, but the trail keeps going.

We made it to the lake, and we had our choice of two camp sites. It was very cold, and very windy, so we actually chose the same site we had a few years ago.  It wasn't too bad in our tent wearing three shirts and my trusty down jacket. I was determined to knit a hat for Quinn while I hiked the Teton Crest Trail, so I got started right away.

No bears spotted today, so I was happy. If I keep making enough noise we just might make it without seeing any!  We have three days and 2 more nights to go.

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The Grand Tetons!

We drove, and drove, and drove, and finally reached our destination: The Grand Tetons. We hiked The Teton Crest Trail a few years ago, and we decided to hike it again, with less aches, pains, etc.

Bob and I have never, ever seen a live, in the flesh bighorn sheep. Ever. We were beginning to think that bighorn sheep are in the unicorn family, but on our way to the Tetons we were told that we would certainly see bighorn sheep here, at their winter range. Naturally we drove down the long, bumpy dirt road to see these sheep. We waited an hour or so for the sheep to come to graze, and then we gave up and decided to drive back to our camper.

We drove around a bend and this is what we saw. Beef! We can see these at home any time we look out the window! Who's hiding those big horn sheep? Are they real?

We decided that big horn sheep are fiction, and pushed on to Grand Teton National Park. It's beautiful, and we love it here.

There's a road near the national park that's well known as a good place to see bears, so we drove the Moose Wilson Road, and look what we saw! A bear in a tree, eating berries, and watching humans driving past.

We saw three or four bears on that one trip down the road. I don't know what kind of berries they were eating, but the bears were either in the trees or on the ground under them. What fun!

When there's a bear spotting the news travels fast, and the traffic gets heavy.

Mr. Ranger wasn't happy, because too many people get out of their cars for a chance to get a great picture of a hungry black bear. The next day the road was closed to all humans.

We could see the top of the Tetons from our camp site, and moose came every evening to graze around the campground.

We stayed here for a few days to adjust to the higher altitude before we started our hike. The next post will be our four day, three night hike in The Grand Tetons. I always hope the bears stay away when we hike. We shall see.

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Our next stops: Mount Rushmore, Custer State Park, and Chief Crazy Horse Memorial

After we said good bye to our friends in Illinois we headed west. I've always wanted to see Mount Rushmore, and Bob had never been there either, so we decided to check it out. It was definitely worth the visit. It's amazing!

I almost forgot! We just can't head west without stopping to see The Corn Palace, in Mitchell, South Dakota. I think it's just fascinating. All the pictures and designs on The Corn Palace are made using different grains and corn. Andrew's Grandma Rosie lives in Mitchell!

Now, back to Mount Rushmore. You can see the Memorial from miles away, and it gets more and more beautiful the closer you get.

Don't you just think it's awesome? I can't imagine hanging down the side of the mountain using jack hammers to carve the rock.

I took many, many pictures, and I'm really glad I don't have to take my film to get it developed anymore. We'd be broke!

Our next stop was Custer State Park and I couldn't resist taking a picture of this beautiful curved, wooden bridge.

There are herds of buffalo at Custer State Park, and they just wander along grazing happily. They're huge, so everyone stops to let them pass. The people on the motorcycle in front of us looked rather concerned when these big guys walked past them!

Another interesting feature of Custer State Park is the tunnels carved through rock. The brochure they give you at the entrance station gives the width of each tunnel. Our truck is huge, and I was concerned, but Bob assured me that it would be ok, and we wouldn't get stuck.

This is the narrowest tunnel, The Needles Eye Tunnel and again Bob said it would be ok. I took a video while we were driving through, and my voice is rather shaky on that video. We agreed that we made it with an inch or two to spare. It was tight! I hated to think of getting stuck in a rock tunnel where I couldn't even open my door to get out!

After leaving Custer State Park we drove on to see The Crazy Horse Memorial, and it's HUGE!  the work on the Memorial was started in 1948, and it's a work in progress. When finished, the Memorial will be 641' wide by 563' high. Mount Rushmore is big, but each President's head is only 60' tall. The statue in the foreground is a model of how the Memorial will look when it's finished. You can see the face and arm carved into the rock in the background.

This is a close up of what the Crazy Horse Memorial looks like today, with the construction cranes, etc. on the arm.

This was another fun stop on our trip. We're heading to Jackson, Wyoming for our hike in the Tetons, so stayed tuned for more updates.

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Our Western Trip - 2015

Instead of going to Maine this year, we decided to drive across America and visit the people and places we've always wanted to see. Our first stop was in Dallas City, Illinois to visit our friends Jess and Doris, who live on a huge farm.

No, I didn't take a picture of the farm, but this is their pretty house on the farm.

They took us on a tour of Navoo, where the Mormon Church started. The Mormons restored Navoo, and offer a really nice, interesting tour of their town.

The Mormon Church visitor's center in Navoo.

Navoo is such a pretty little town. This was Bringham Young's home.

Our friends are bike riders, big time bike riders, and are involved in bike races, etc. in Illinois. They've told us about a hill that bikers ride during the bike races, and said it's a huge challenge. Illinois is a fairly flat state, but these hills are like Pennsylvania hills! They go UP! The picture above is in Burlington, Iowa, and it's called Cobblestone Alley. I can't imagine riding a bike up that!

This is a very poor picture of Snake Alley, which is also in Burlington. It's paved in brick, and it's a smaller version of Lombard Street. No, I won't ride my bike up Snake Alley either!

We went to Springfield, to see Harry and Dixie's farm. Dixie is an artist and she also has a green thumb. Just look at those beautiful zinnias!

Dixie painted the flag and Lincoln on their barn, and I really think we should invite Dixie to our farm and put a tall ladder against the barn so she can paint something on our barn too! Zoom in to see Lincoln, he's so cute! That's Bob, Jess, and Harry discussing the likelihood of that happening. Ha!

While we were in Springfield we ate this delicious dish. It's called a Pony Shoe, and it's the most delicious artery clogging food you'd ever want to eat. Imagine a slice of bread (or toast?) with your choice of meat on top (I chose gyro meat), covered with fries, and a delicious cheese sauce on top! Sooo good! If you're really hungry you can order a Horse Shoe, and I'd hate to see how big a Horse Shoe is!

Bob really like Jess's huge tractor and combine, and Jess left him sit in the driver's seat for a virtual drive through the fields. Bob's dream is to go back during harvest and ride in that monster with Jess.

Before we left Illinois Doris and Jess took us to their favorite pizza restaurant for a BLT pizza. It was outstanding, and I hope I can soon order one at Zeiderelli's at home!

Thanks for the tour of Illinois, Jess, Doris, Harry, and Dixie. We even got to see Jerry and Ann while we were there, and we had a grand time visiting with all of you!

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