Best Backpacking Trips in Montana, Wyoming, and Colorado by Mike White & Douglas Lorain

Author:Mike White & Douglas Lorain [White, Mike & Lorain, Douglas]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: University Press of Colorado

Perseverance

Peering out our motel room window, we saw thick, gray clouds hanging low in the morning sky above Jackson, obscuring even the lowest of the surrounding hills. Moments later, our party of four stepped outside, feeling the cold chill in the air on our walk to a nearby café for breakfast—this certainly didn’t seem like mid-August (unless we had been magically transported to somewhere in the southern hemisphere). Today was supposed to be the start of our trip along the Teton Crest Trail. We had already delayed our start once because of the rainy weather, instead opting to do a six-day trip in the nearby Wind River range. After two nights in Jackson, the days were slipping away before we all had to return home and resume our normal lives—the clock was ticking.

We quietly lingered over breakfast, futilely hoping that the more time we spent in the café would somehow get the clouds to start lifting. Back at the motel, the pace of our packing was similarly lethargic, as we debated the wisdom of forging ahead versus waiting one more day for the weather to clear. Eventually, we threw caution to the wind, hopped into our two vehicles, and headed toward Teton Village, where we dropped off Tic, John, and our four packs. During the time it took for Andy and me to drive our two cars to Jenny Lake, drop off one of the vehicles, and then return to Teton Village, the clouds had at least lifted off the valley floor, though the Tetons above were still shrouded in a thick veil of gray and the temperature remained quite chilly.

The tram ride to the top of Rendezvous Mountain passed all too quickly, and, as we headed into the mountains on foot, we soon left the cozy security of any human-made shelter behind. Much of the initial route off Rendezvous Mountain was downhill, so we were all a bit chilled without the generation of body heat one usually gets from an uphill climb. A light dusting of snow had fallen the day before, some of which had melted during the day and then frozen overnight, creating slippery patches of ice on the trail, causing numerous near-slips and one bona fide fall. Soon light snow began to fall and we stopped to don our parkas, wondering silently amongst ourselves about the creature comforts we had left behind in Jackson.

Over the course of the next few miles, we would experience alternating periods of snow flurries, bone-chilling rain, and pelting hail, all accompanied by gusty winds and frigid temperatures. Longing for the much more dependable weather of my home range, the Sierra Nevada, I thought more than once about abandoning this venture, which I more than likely would have done had I not been with companions who had traveled long distances all this way at considerable expense. I broached the subject with my companions of turning back on a couple of occasions, but they encouraged me onward with an unwavering, almost Pollyanna-like optimism. We pressed on, hoping beyond hope that the weather would eventually cut us some slack.

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