Surviving Death Canyon: Grand Teton National Park, Yellowstone’s Little Brother.
Written: Sep 11 '04
|
Product Rating:
|
|
| Scenery: |
 |
|
| Crowds: |
 |
|
| Time needed for visit: |
|
|
|
Pros: Incredible scenery, the Teton mountains, hiking, wildlife.
Cons: None.
The Bottom Line: If you want to see some of the most spectacular mountains and wilderness in the USA, check out Grand Teton.
|
|
|
| Ironcladd's Full Review: Grand Teton National Park |
Surviving Death Canyon: Grand Teton National Park, Yellowstone’s Little Brother.
I have visited northwestern Wyoming about 8 times in my life, and every time I am in the area, I tend to gravitate towards Yellowstone National Park with its many geologic wonders, geysers, grand waterfalls, wildlife, and mountains and natural scenery and beauty. Only once before have I visited the Grand Teton National Park, just to the south of Yellowstone, and then only briefly to gaze upon the majestic Grand Teton Mountains, named by some really, really lonesome French trapper who thought they looked like a woman’s mammary glands. But in July of 2004, I got to take a closer and more intimate look at these ladies breasts, ahem, I mean grand mountains (pun intended!). I had the opportunity to hike several magnificent trails in some of the valleys in between these magnificent mountains, as well as some of the side trails leading to remote lakes just east of the Tetons, offering some really spectacular views and vistas.
What follows is a general overview of the Grand Teton National Park in table form, and then I will relate my experiences from my latest journey there as well.
Information on Grand Teton National Park.
Activities Hiking, fishing, wildlife viewing, water sports
Facilities Camping, lodging, RV hookups
Nearest City Moose, WY
Phone 307-739-3300
Overview of the park./My recent visit.
I visited Grand Teton National Park with my sister and her daughter, and the park was our ‘surprise rendezvous’ objective to meet with her son, my nephew, who was on a hiking and backpacking/camping trip with the boy scouts. We went to the park office to inquire as to where troop 44 was registered, in terms of camping or back country permits. We found that they were registered at a campsite near the visitors center, but when we found the site, the boys had struck camp and were gone. So, we returned to find that they had just applied for a back country camping permit, and the troop split up into two groups to camp in Grand Teton’s back country wilderness. So, my sister figured that the shorter of the two trails would be the more likely that her son (who’s a little lazy and a bit chubby), would have chosen because it was presumably the easier trail. So, off we went to the trail head, with the objective of hiking the 4 miles to the campsite, and surprising the heck out of her son. We arrived at the trail head, and she recognized the white Yukon SUV that he had been in when they departed from northern Illinois, 2 weeks previously. So, all of the favorable signs were there that my 12 year old nephew would be in for a big surprise from his mother, sister and uncle Jim.
The trailhead was called “Death Canyon Trailhead”. An ominous name, and the promise of actually a shorter hike than we had been led to believe, at 2.5 miles. So, an easy 5 mile roundtrip hike and we’d be back with the lad, and off to our motel. Well, things sometimes don’t go as planned! We embarked, me with a bad back at the time, a walking stick and a backpack full of bottled water, camera, some granola bars and film. My sister and 8-year old niece lagged behind the slightly overweight hiker with a bad back.
The trail was initially very nice and paved, and began to rise slightly. I was enjoying myself immensely, observing wildlife, and the different lush microhabitats that we passed through. There we were in mid to late July, going through verdant prairie type pastures with all kinds of beautiful flowers that were blooming. The interesting thing is that at this elevation, 7500 feet, these flowers were just now blossoming, when the same species, or related species, such as cone flower, black eyed susans, and blue bells had already bloomed in my southern Illinois yard in April and May!.
The trail became dirt and after passing over several refreshing cold and rapid streams, one could see the walls of the south part of Grand Teton itself. I pressed on up the trail, and soon the girls were not in sight behind me. I guess I was in better condition than I had thought. At the top of the rise, 1 mile into the trail, you get a beautiful view. There is a spectacular lake below you, crystalline, and simply beautiful! Most hikers go this far and then return back to the trail head. I waited for my sister and niece to catch up, and we then plunged into the canyon trail that goes to the lake side. When we got down, we were told by a couple that there were a few moose down browsing on aquatic vegetation in the lake shore, about ½ mile down a side trail. We went down this trail, but there was some question as to which side trail, which branched off one going northwest and one going northeast, that we should take. I suggested that the more likely one was the short one, going northeast, so we split up. My trail took me right to a big bull moose, right next to the lakeside camping areas ( a place I will want to camp next time I visit!). I took video of the moose and lots of pictures, and then returned to find the girls. This is where things began to go wrong. Our respective cell phones were back at the car, and wouldn’t have worked anyway in this remote area. I took the northwest trail for about 10 minutes and couldn’t find them. So, I backtracked to the original fork in the trail, and decided that it was about 2 PM, and that if our objective was to make it to this remote campsite, now supposedly only 1 mile up death canyon, that they must have taken the switchback trail up, up and up. So, I continued on to the death canyon area.
Cutting through death canyon is a very rapid whitewater creek, coming down from the very flanks of the mountain and fed by melting snows and glacier. The trail was arduous, and eventually torturous. I made it all the way up to the level area where there was a forest service cabin. On the way, I met a forest ranger who was bringing supplies to the trail maintenance workers. He was on horseback with three pack horses and mules behind him, having delivered his supplies. I asked about the boy scouts, and he said he had just passed one group of them. How promising was that??? So, I pushed on, across talus slides (areas of boulders that avalanche off the mountain), and finally up to a green and forested area situated in an idyllic level valley at the top of death canyon. The campsite where they boys were supposed to be was a further 3 miles now from where I was! The signs were wrong, or at least, as the crow flies, they were correct. But the trail doesn’t take the straight aerodynamic path of a crow, a raven, or even a hummingbird. I asked if he had seen my blond headed sister and her little girl, he said no. So, I began to worry. I decided to turn around and head back to the car, to find out what was going on, and to make sure the girls were safe. Sure enough, there they were, waiting for me for the past 2 hours. By now, it was too late to make it to the campsite, so we decided to make another attempt at “the surprise” early the next morning, since they were due to strike camp the next morning and return to their car.
So, 5 o’clock in the morning the next day, we got to the trail head. Since I was the more fit of the three hikers, we decided that I will push ahead, going all the way to the campsite, and that the boys would have to come down to their car and pass me as I hiked up. My sister agreed, and they would leisurely take part of the hike behind me. We would all meet up by or noon or early afternoon, depending on how things went. Again, granola bars and water and film with my camera equipment saw me, walking stick assisting me, making the now 5.5 mile hike up to their campsite. My legs were sore and stiff from the previous day’s hike, but my back was feeling better, especially as I moved up the switchback trail. I was determined to make it to the remote campsite! The day was beautiful, sunny with blue skies.
The wildlife I observed along the way was rich and varied. There were birds, hummingbirds and tanagers with brilliant colors. There were wonderful ravens and crows that danced and called raucously from the trees as I passed. There were some cool small mammals, such as Richardson’s Ground Squirrels, three species of chipmunk, chickaree squirrels, two different kinds of marmots, and my favorite, the pika. The pika is a small, rodent sized lagamorph. It has short ears and no tail, and is a member of the Lagamorphidae, or rabbit family. They live on the talus slides and gather green grass and herbaceous plants all summer long, to store in their burrows or dens for winter fodder, since they do not hibernate like rodents do. They are a charming and endearing creature. They have a voice, and call to each other, from a short kind of bark to warn of predators (eagles, foxes, or me), to a kind of territorial whistle. I spent about two hours stopping to rest and observe wildlife, take pictures, and commune with nature and the animals. I also saw some nice wandering gartersnakes, Thamnophis elegans vagrans, on the trail. The larger animals that I saw were some mule deer and more moose. I saw no sign of bears or any other predators. The creek that passes down death canyon is full of trout at the top, when it is relatively level.
I got up past the ranger station, and met up with some people from Nebraska. They hadn’t seen any boyscouts, but were just amazed at this place, coming from such a flat land. I met up with several couples, including a pair of pre-med students who had just graduated last December from my own university! I also met a newly wed couple who were on their honeymoon. I also met a lovely older couple from the Czech Republic.
Well, I got up to the campsite finally, very tired and fatigued. I had hiked 5.5 miles up this trail, and had risen in elevation from 7500’ to 9800’ in this time. The camp was empty! No sign of any boy scouts, but of course, they are supposed to not leave any sign.
I did find that there were other networks of trails at the top of this canyon, that went east and west, and north and south. So, I returned to the car, 5.5 miles down. There, my sister awaited me without her son. I related to her that the camp was empty, so we went back to the visitors center. When we pulled up, there was her son, eating an ice cream cone on the sidewalk!
He was indeed surprised, but had not been with the group on the “shorter trail”. Of course shorter trails in heavy mountain areas do not always mean ‘easy trail’. He took the longer trail which was a much easier hike! We whisked him away with us and began the long drive back to the Chicago area.
These two days were actually very wonderful for me. I not only got an incredible workout, but I had the opportunity to spend some quality time in Grand Teton National Park. This is something I had not had the opportunity to do before. The back country is simply incredible! I got to see wildlife, scenic vistas like nowhere on earth, and had a wonderful time. I even had the opportunity to recite some John Muir poetry to a couple that I met on the trail:
“Climb the mountains and get their good tidings.
Nature’s peace will flow into you,
As sunshine does into trees,
And cares will fall off, like autumn leaves.”
I will return to the Tetons in the future for a much more lengthy trip, this time hiking and camping for about a week.
Recommended:
Yes
Best time to go: June-August
Recommended for: Anybody
Review Topic: Hiking & Trails
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
Ironcladd
|
 - Top 500 |
|
Member: James Zaworski
Location: Shenzhen, China
Reviews written: 506
Trusted by: 157 members
About Me:
I am an English teacher, Archeologist and Anthropologist.
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.