Journeys: Grand Teton National Park - Day 3

We had joked about the steep and lengthy approach to the Lower Saddle all of Thursday. We had charaded throwing up and passing out. Nico and Anna said they wanted to take it easy on the way up. Now we were on the trail with our packs and gear. It took us 33 minutes to cover the first 1.7 miles. So much for taking it easy! When we came to the boulder field at the end of the established trail we got our first good views up and down Garnet Canyon. It was a gorgeous alpine environment and it was easy to see why anyone would want to come here whether they were climbing, hiking, or camping.

Anna and Nico nearing the first boulder field.

Anna and Nico in the boulder field.

Anna and Nico stopped for water at the boulder field. I set up to take some photos. We continued "taking it easy" by passing everyone we could between the boulder field and the Petzoldt Caves.

Above the caves the crowd thinned. We entered the morainal camping zone. Anna posed for a great photo. We knew a thunderstorm was forecasted to blow in during the afternoon. It caught us just as we topped out on the fixed rope head wall at the moraine. Lightning cracked, thunder boomed, hail pelted. I asked a guide if there was much shelter in the Lower Saddle for thunderstorms and lightning.

"Well, we have huts…"

The huts were for paying customers. We found a magical rock cave just below the saddle that all three of us could squeeze into. In a break between the hail and the next heavy rain cloud we arranged our bivouac and ate some food. We cozied up under the rock laying side by side. Rain hammered down. We arranged Anna's Sponge Bob Square Pants shower curtain to keep Nico mostly dry. Yes, really, a Sponge Bob Square Pants shower curtain. To the left water roared off the Grand Teton in a muddy waterfall. Rock could be heard trundling down the faces of the great mountain. The roof of the cave was four inches from my face. I did not feel claustrophobic until I jerked awake in the middle of the pitch black and storm less night. It was difficult to move with rock on my left and Nico on my right. And rock four inches above my face. I scooted down a foot or so where the rock was not smothering me and went back to sleep.

Anna and Nico in the cave.

Ah, Garnet Canyon.

Journeys: Grand Teton National Park - Day 2

Thursday. We needed a permit for backcountry camping. We decided we would camp in the Lower Saddle on Friday night and make our summit bid on Saturday. We were in line at 7:50 a.m. at the Jenny Lake Ranger Station. There might have been 10 or 12 other people in line. We slowly filed in and picked up our permits when the doors opened at 8:00 a.m. We got a sheet of paper to hang at our campsite when we got to the Lower Saddle and a wag bag each for our solid waste. Which really means fecal matter (poop).

It was just warming up and we made our way over to Blacktail Butte near Moose Junction. The mile jaunt to the Crackin' The Cherry Wall brought us to some stiff and extremely polished 5.10s. Anna was smooth leading up the routes. Nico and I struggled slipping, falling, struggling. We left as the sun started to get really hot. Nico and I were feeling completely worked over. Anna made a charcoal drawing of the Grand Teton.

That night Nico prepared a pasta carbonara feast. With a sprinkle of grated parmesan cheese it was the best thing I had eaten in weeks.

Grand Teton sunset.

Journeys: Grand Teton National Park - Day 1

The sun had just come up. As usual my eyes flickered open the moments a golden sun ray graced my face. I was asleep on the ground in the Bridger Teton National Forest. Nico was asleep beside me and Anna in Rocinante. The can of bear spray lay between Nico and me. It had not been needed that night under starry skies occasionally streaked with a shooting star.

It was a day off. Anna needed to extend her visa and Nico needed a puffy down layer to survive cool weather in the Lower Saddle and on the Grand. We went to Jackson.

Sitting in a cafe, Anna pored over her visa extension application on my laptop. The mood was tense. To lighten it I asked which was more nerve wracking; trad leading or visa extending. Definitely the latter she responded amidst laughter.

Nico bought a Patagonia Nano pullover. I picked up a local cragging guidebook with hopes that we would do some sport climbing at Black Tail Butte.

The rest of the day was uneventful. We returned to camp and slept.

Jackon Lake and Mount Moran sunset.

Journeys: City of Rocks, ID - Day 5

I was able to hammer out a deal with the Italians that we would meet up for more climbing in the Tetons. I would first have to drive Ryan home to Big Sky, he had lots of editing to do on multiple projects and was no longer as stoked on the Tetons after his original plans fell through.

We reorganized the truck and Ryan drank coffee in the shade with Nico and Anna. The Italians set off for a morning climb before driving to GTNP. Ryan and I made for Big Sky.

Onto the next adventure!

Journeys: City of Rocks, ID - Day 4

The sun rose early and it was soon too hot to sleep. We sauntered over to the Italian camp and found Anna working to change a flat tire. We jumped into help, but only minimally. Anna told tale that this was the fifth flat tire of her lengthy climbing trip. She added that she was no helpless girl, changing the previous four without help. Ryan got an early morning photo fix by snapping lifestyle shots of the tire changing. This was shortly followed by a caffeine fix courteous of Anna. We chatted around the picnic table nursing coffee.

RYANDAYTHOMPSON.COM

Anna sending on Elephant Rock.

The 'stache on Elephant Rock.

RYANDAYTHOMPSON.COM

Stemming and brushing.

The sunset salon.

We spent too much time working the coffee and arrived at Elephant Rock with only an hour and a half of shade left. I fixed Ryan's static line on a route so he could jug and take photos. While Ryan was shooting and the Italians were climbing I wandered back to my truck looking for a jug of water. I found a flat tire. This time on my truck. I could only chuckle at the luck. I grabbed my water and walked back to the wall to break the news.

Everyone else had the same chuckle I did. We were soon joined at the crag by an SLC group. One burly fellow in particular had quite the mustache and Ryan and I set around snapping portraits. I was able to get a few shots of his climb.

The shade had been chased away and we were baking in the sun. We walked back to the parking lot and as we approached the cars Nico reminded me that I had a flat tire.

“Time me.” I called to Ryan.

“Hang on.” Ryan pulled out his phone looking for a digital timer. “Ok, go.”

“Wait…I'm not ready!” I was looking for one last tool I would need. “Ok I'm ready!”


22 minutes later I was much filthier and my spare tire was mounted. Ryan and I led the way to the Steinfell's Dome trailhead. Nico, Anna, and I racked up for the multi pitch sport adventure and Ryan hiked off in search of good angles for the camera.

Nico, Anna, and I sat down at the base of the climb breathing hard and sweating. The five o'clock sun was scorching. A party of two was just leaving the anchors at the top of the first pitch. We wanted more space and relaxed in minimal shade while they climbed through the second and third pitches. Ryan was perched on a rocky ridge shooting photos. At least if we got on route in the shade Ryan would have some sunny shots of the unknown two.

Climbing as three went rather quickly. Anna led all four pitches of the climb in her approach shoes. Nico and I followed each tied into one of the half ropes.

On the second or third pitch Ryan hollered up that he was going down to town to order pizza before it closed.

While following the crux pitch Nico and Anna insisted my hairbrush should make an appearance. It did. Then it came out again later for a summit salon shot with Nico working the brush and pretend hair (bear) spray while I sat on a rock. Anna showed off with some silhouetted yoga poses. The golden hour of late evening sun had just started as we rappelled the east face. I wondered how the sunset would look through the plumes of smoke from the fires near Albion.


Hiking out from the climb we turned to the west and saw that we had just missed the sun dipping below the horizon. The smoky haze was glowing pink. It looked nice enough, but I figured we had missed the best of the sunset. Hopefully Ryan got some good shots. We reached the parking lot and Ryan.

“They were out of dough!” Ryan announced.

“What, no way?!”

We were pizza-less.

“How was the sunset?” I asked.

“Dude, check this out.”

Ryan grabbed his camera out of the back seat and presented me with a beautiful shot. The landscape was silhouetted, the sun was a vibrant orange disc halved by a mountainous horizon.

“Wow.”

“Yeah.”

“Well, check out this shot from the summit.” I showed Ryan the shot of Nico brushing my hair on the summit. Wild laughter.

Journeys: City of Rocks, ID - Day 3

I joked about brushing my hair before being able to do anything in the morning. 10 minutes later I was standing on top of a boulder in my underwear brushing my hair while Ryan snapped photos roaring with laughter. After I put my clothes back on Ryan and I realized that we had a similar penchant for quoting Will Ferrell movies.

We shouted Will Ferrell quotes as we drove through the City eyes peeled for the green Mazda. Nothing.

We found the non mom-daughter duo at Breadloaves and got some shots. For some strange reason I called the younger gal homeslice. "Does she look like a homeslice?" Ryan screeched. Then Alpine Butterfly because of the browbeating I got from everyone for calling her homeslice.

Alpine Butterfly and her mentor departed after trading emails with Ryan and we soon took off. Where was that green Mazda pick up truck?

The Alpine Butterfly floating up a route.

It was the middle of the day and the sun was brutal. We pulled into camp to relax in the shade. Ryan did not make it out of the truck. He dropped his seat back and was immediately asleep. I sat in a cave and worked on my journal.

An hour later Ryan walked into camp. "I forgot. We need coffee. I have a pulsating migraine."

We made our way back to Rock City. It was hot outside. Ryan drank coffee. We pored over old climbing magazines. We waited for the day to cool and hoped we would find the green Mazda on our way back through City of Rocks.

We were driving up the road to the City after coffee. Ryan suddenly turned to me from the passenger seat and said, "I am really relieved that there are no dinosaurs coming over that hill to eat us."

I laughed. Then replied, "Well, at least I brought my bear spray." I made custom modifications to my bear spray canister as soon as possible.

Back in City of Rocks there were no green Mazdas in sight. Ryan was desperate for a photo. I was not sure what was worse in Ryan's life…lack of photos or lack of coffee?

We stomped around Breadloaves and Anteater looking for climbers. Unfortunately it seemed everyone was clearing out for the weekend. We swung by Elephant Rock one final time. Ryan was expecting a dejected return to camp, but I tried the positive approach saying it would all work out and we were about to find someone to climb with.

We did. Their names were Nico and Anna, an Italian climbing partnership transplanted from Italy to San Francisco and St George respectively. Nico and Anna were finishing their day of climbing, but agreed to hang out with us at our campsite later that night.

Later that night…

It was dark. The wind was picking up and a huge storm was brewing to the south. Lightning crackled against the black clouds. Beneath the dark stormy clouds we hunkered against the wind with the Italians. They were eating a late dinner of salmon and we were trying to decide how the four of us could climb and shoot photos the next day.

The west side of Elephant Rock sounded good with some classic sport routes. A heavy dose of Steinfell's Dome would be a late afternoon adventure, hopefully fulfilling Ryan's needs of climbers in sunset light. Ryan called it a good night and hustled off to bed. I talked with our new friends late into the night.

I woke hours later because the wind was howling and more lightning was crackling. Maybe sleeping on top of a rock was a bad idea. I fell asleep. I woke again. It was still dark, but there were no clouds, no wind, only a canvas of stars and moon.

Journeys: City of Rocks, ID - Day 2

The moment the sun crested the horizon and cast rays on my face I felt too hot to sleep. I climbed out of the back of the truck tripping over gear strewn on the ground. Ryan did not move or make a sound. I hid in the shade behind my truck shaking off sleep. I grabbed a book and my camp chair and started to read. 30 minutes later Ryan was up. He climbed out of the back of the truck.

"Why are we in the middle of a desert?" He asked rubbing sleep from his eyes with the heels of his hands. I smirked. We had the same sense of humor. Random and obvious statements mixed with heavy doses of sarcasm.

Waking up in Idaho.

I was glad we had not driven into City of Rocks at night. I wanted Ryan to see the glory of the City in full daylight as we drove through the hills. We threw our gear into the bed of the truck haphazardly and drove off.

We were driving through the City passing large rock formations standing alone in the fields. Ryan was stunned. "It reminds me of Joshua Tree." He said. Then added, "This is my new favorite place!"

Distracted by the excitement of climbing, we went about reserving and occupying a campsite in the least efficient manner possible. As we were finally unloading our gear and ferrying it to our campsite a City employee pulled up in a Jeep. She was tan and looked to be a climber. Knowing Ryan was always looking for climbing models, I chatted her up. How was work? Where was she from? Did she climb? Was she climbing anytime this week? Do you mind having your photo taken?

The answer? Tomorrow with a group of friends.

Sounds great. She would leave a note on the message board telling us what routes she and her posse were going to climb. And, oh, she drives a green Mazda pick up truck.

"By the way" she added "there is wedding party going down at the group campsite later tonight. You guys should come."

Ah what luck. It seemed the chances of meeting new people, finding climbing models, and getting hero shots were going to be through the roof.

We established our camp then drove to the Breadloaves formation. There were a few trad moderates that I had climbed before and thought would be a good warmup for the trip. While climbing Adolescent Homosapien on the Decadent Wall we met a group of younger climbers who were planning to climb Steinfell's Dome later. Ryan inquired whether he could shoot photos of them because it would make for a great evening shot. The group said they were headed there later and it seemed like a good hook up for Ryan.

We finished our route then drove down to Elephant Rock to climb Columbian Crack. The off width section at the top was harder than I remembered. When Ryan followed he called out, "Is this the part where you started grunting a lot?"

"Yeah." I replied.

"Ok…I see why."

We moved over to the rappel station and Ryan went down first. At the base he bumped into the crew from Breadloaves. They were no longer going to Steinfell's Dome. Instead they were going to climb Rye Crisp. Ryan took off for the truck to get his rigging gear and camera. "Wait!" I hollered. The keys were in my pocket and the truck was locked. I lowered my keys down. A few minutes later I hauled Ryan's static line up and secured it to the anchors. I had decided I was going to watch the action from the top, but forgot to ask Ryan to clip my camera bag to the rope so I could haul it up. The breeze was nice and the air was cooling as the sun made its way closer to the horizon. I made sure I was clipped into the anchors then leaned back against two piles of rope. My breathing was heavy and slow. It was so nice on top of Elephant Rock.

I woke up to the sound of Ryan skipping around on the rock face just below me. I stood up and looked out over the edge. Ryan was snapping photos as a climber worked his way through the crux. Ryan looked up and saw me. "Oh, there you are. I wasn't sure if you had come down earlier."

"Nah." I replied. "I wanted to take photos up here, but forgot to ask for my camera. Besides it was nice just to sit up here and relax."

"I think I am done." Ryan said. He tucked his camera away and started lowering off. Soon I was dropping his static line down and untangling the two rope sleeping pad for my own rappel.

I was back on the ground and could not shake the drowsiness. "Want to split a pizza?" Ryan asked.

I agreed. We drove to Rock City and ordered a pizza with cheese and pepperoni…no sauce. Yes, really. No sauce.

We sat down and waited. A mother-daughterish duo sat down near us. Still no sauceless pizza. We struck up a conversation with the mom-daughter duo. They were not mother-daughter. The younger girl was graduating high school soon. The older woman was a globe trotting adventure guide taking her pupil on her first climbing trip.

Ryan pitched his standard, "Hey if we see you around tomorrow can I take some photos of you?"

"Sure…why not." was the response.

Back at camp. It was late. The sky was clear. Where was that party at the group campsite? Just three cars. No lights. No people. Ryan spread out his pad and sleeping bag and crawled in. I set up a long exposure star trails shot and laid down.

"This party sucks." I stated.

Ryan snickered.

I woke up about an hour later and clicked my camera off not even bothering to look at the result.

The result.

Journeys: City of Rocks, ID - Day 1

"She's not coming. Boyfriend drama." Ryan uttered the words without looking up from his phone. He sat across from me at a small table in the Chinatown Restaurant of West Yellowstone. Smoke from the kitchen hazed the air between us making the dining room seem hotter than it was.

"Really?" I responded with a neutral tone. My gut told me Ryan was about to pull the plug on the whole trip. We were only 45 minutes from home. It would be so easy to turn back.

"Want to go to the Winds?" Ryan asked. Disaster averted. Climbing trip was still a go.

"Sure. Have you ever been there?" I replied.

"No, but I hear it's great."

We had no guide book or internet connection. Researching routes for a place neither of us had ever been would be problematic.

"What about City of Rocks?" I asked. I had climbed there before.

Ryan's face lit up and excitement spread across his face. "Yeah I've never been there before. Let's go!"

And just like that everything had changed. A weeklong climbing photo shoot in the Tetons rearranged to four days at City of Rocks.

It was near midnight. The moon was out and nearly full almost overpowering my headlights against the desert landscape of southern Idaho. We were not lost, but we were not sure if we were on BLM land or private land. I was tired, Ryan was asleep in the passenger seat. I wanted to be asleep. I found a side road and pulled off. In the moonlight I could see an abandoned looking camper trailer. Ryan and I hauled all of our gear out of the bed of my truck and unrolled our sleeping bags and pads. The warm night got cool. The moon cast erie shadows in the sage brush. Coyotes howled in the distance.

Journeys: Fan Mountain

I spent most of the morning trying to talk myself out of hiking Fan Mountain. I was feeling tired and lazy, but in the end those weak thoughts motivated me to shake away complacency and go for it. Right off the bat I got stuck in chip seal traffic in the canyon on Highway 191. I sat in traffic and did not hit the trail until 1 p.m. Late? Yes, but the weather was forecasted to be clear all day and I was not worried about afternoon thunderstorms. I hiked a couple of miles in on easy trail until I reached the base of the east ridge of Fan Mountain. Then the real adventure began. Off the trail I bushwhacked up steep meadows and basins choked with dense knee and waist high vegetation. The going was slow and I took time to yell at bears I never saw.

The route.

I was tired and I had not even reached the tree line. I walked up an old and loose mudslide. I slipped and fell. I cursed. I pushed on through a thick stand of young trees. I reached the tree line and looked for a place to stop for lunch. Beyond a knobbish rock out cropping I saw a good spot with a small shade tree and pressed on along the edge of the ridge. The knobbish rock out cropping was loose and I fell a few times cutting my hands and cursing. Near the end of the rock out cropping I came to a notch and had to down climb a gully to escape the notch. The ridge was turning to pure talus. I scrambled to the final shade tree, but ended up eating on a rock in the open sun.

The summit still seemed so far away and there was nothing, but open talus to the top. I was worried that I would run into a  technical section and have to make some funky sidehill traverse on the steep and loose southeast face to get to the top. The sun was glaring down and I trudged up the slope with my eyes glued one step ahead. I kind of spaced out and when I snapped back to reality I realized the slope was relenting and I looked up. The summit was just an easy 50 yards ahead.

I was there and it felt good. I immediately plopped down on my butt and drank gulps of water. It was calm and beautiful. Then suddenly an unrelenting swarm of flies appeared out of nowhere. I did not care much and continued to rest. I started taking photos. It was a great afternoon and part of me wanted to take sunset photos from the summit. But I knew a night time descent would be foolish. I was probably six miles or four hours from my truck.

Summit self portrait.

Looking down the west ridge to Ennis Lake.

Cedar Mountain.

It was 6:15 p.m. when I did start down. I only stayed on top for 15 minutes. I retraced my steps down the east ridge. When I could I ran through the meadows and basins back to the trail. It was nearly 8 p.m. Would I need my headlamp to finish the hike?

I was standing at the intersection of two dirt roads contemplating which way to go. I chose the dirt road less traveled and immediately came upon a large black bear walking away from me 75 yards out. The bear grazed along and I silently pulled out my camera to snap a few terrible photos. I did not have my big lens. I suppose I could have asked the bear to pose better, but thought I should not intrude on his evening.

Big Black Bear Butt.

A gorgeous sunset over the Madison River valley lit the path back to my truck. I had run out of water two miles ago and when I reached my truck I chugged water out of a gallon jug. How do mountaineers survive two or three days without water in the Himalayas when things go wrong?

Journeys: Lone Peak

The day started with a plan to climb Fan Mountain, but that plan quickly disintegrated. I only had five hours for hiking before I had to be in Bozeman and as I drove to the trailhead I knew there was no way I could summit Fan Mountain and make it back to my truck in five hours. Instead I parked at Moonlight Basin's Madison Lodge and hiked out Madison Loop Trail to Southside Road. At Southside Road I continued uphill to the ski run, Horseshoe Cutoff. It was a little strange to be hiking up ski runs in the summer void of snow. I jumped the same deer with a patchy coat twice on my hike up to the backcountry access gate on Horseshoe Cutoff. At the backcountry gate I left Horseshoe Cutoff and continued up towards Deepwater Bowl and the Forest Service wall. The Deepwater Bowl had a few patches of dirty snow, but was mostly green with blankets of wildflowers. I scaled the gently sloping west side of the Forest Service Wall (the east side is a sheer and crumbly cliff) through a soft grass meadow and wildflowers. At the top of the meadow and the top of the Forest Service Wall I came to a weather station and endless dinner plate sized talus to the summit still a few hundred yards up.  I spotted one mountain goat. I scrambled upward and the mountain goat slowly cleared off as if I were annoying him. I climbed up the skier's entrance to the north summit snowfield, which was still covered with snow, and passed the Moonlight Basin ski patrol shack at the top of the mountain.

Ah, the summit. It had a new meaning having walked to the top. I watched as a tram car docked at the mountaintop station. I watched expecting to see a throng of tourists spill out towards the tram attendant. Instead the attendant reached into the car and pulled out what looked to be a sub sandwich...or maybe a burrito? The tram door closed and the car started its descent. I sat down and ate lunch.

On the way down I stumbled across the entire mountain goat herd. There must have been three or four adults and three kids. The were laying on an old patch of snow and scampered off as I approached. I retraced my steps back to my truck and took off for Bozeman.

Fan Mountain next time?