Peaks and Passes

Friends in the Hoodoos. 7/16/16.

The night before we hiked Avalanche Peak, a group of us went out to the Hoodoos. We hiked out at dusk, then sat and watched the moon rise over Bunsen Peak. The light on the granite when we were hiking out was amazing. I kept turning off my headlamp to look at the stars and the moon, so I ended up at the back of the group. Suddenly, the people ahead of me suddenly scattered and acted panicked. I reached for my bear spray, thinking it was a bear. Turns out the people in the front had gotten within feet of walking into a bison. We were all on an adrenaline high for the rest of the hike out.

Moonrise over Bunsen Peak. 7/16/16.

After work on Sunday, Patrick, Annie, and I hiked Avalanche Peak. The trail climbs almost 2,000 feet in a little over 2 miles. It's straight up, but we took a lot of breaks, so it was not horribly hard. We made it almost to the summit, and a storm blew in. The wind was blowing the rain into us, and it hurt too bad to stay above tree-line, so we headed down without making it all the way to the summit. 

The storm almost made it prettier though, because the sky was clear over the lake, but there were huge storm clouds on all sides. The Tetons were the clearest I've ever seen them from the park though.

View from Avalanche Peak. 7/17/16.

After work on Monday, a group of us drove to Cooke City. We ate dinner and played monopoly on a roadside picnic table while waiting for the second half of our group to arrive. Once they got there, we drove into the Beartooth Mountains to find a camp spot. We ended up at the Island Lake Campground. The moon was one night from full, so we got to watch it rise. We had 6 people in a five-person tent, and it was the warmest night of camping I've had since being here. 

Professor Jacob at the Island Lake Campground, Shoshone National Forest. 7/18/16.

The next morning, we woke up early to drive to Billings. We drove the entire Beartooth Highway, which is listed as one of the most scenic in the country. We stopped at the top of the pass, which is 10,947 feet in elevation. Rachel and I went off in the rocks to take a bathroom break, and I scared a pika. It's the first one I've seen here, so I got really excited.  Before we drove away, I made everyone take a group picture, which we took by propping Patrick's phone on his shoe on the hood of the car. Super high tech. 

Canyon Kitchen Crew at the top of the Beartooth Pass. 7/19/16.

John looking out over the Beartooth Mountains. 7/19/16.

We drove the rest of the way to Billings. There, we went to Denny's and then to Target. Half the group went to get tattoos; the half I went with found a cool record store, then sat in a park for a while. We eventually met up with the boys to see their tattoos being finished. We all went to Cracker Barrel for dinner, then drove back to the campsite. The full moon on the drive back up the pass was insane. It was the brightest moon I've ever seen. It looked like a spotlight was shining on us when we were sitting by the campfire. 

Sitting by the fire at Island Creek Campground. 7/19/16.

The next morning, half of the group went to do Specimen Ridge. The rest of us drove back to Canyon, where Patrick, Davis, Jared, and I immediately turned around and drove to Jackson. It was my first time seeing the Tetons, and I was speechless. In the park, there are huge mountains, but they mostly all have foothills leading up to them. The Tetons appear out of nowhere; it's a huge valley, then suddenly there are 14,000 foot peaks that come out of nowhere. We stopped at a pullout, and I made the boys pose for a photo...

The Boys at the Tetons. 7/20/16.

After spending the past 2 months in front of the camera, I finally decided to get a picture of myself. I wish the picture showed more clearly that my shirt says "Mountain Mama" from John Denver's Take Me Home, Country Roads. That song has become the song of the summer for all of us. Good thing it came out in 1971...45 years ago.

I can't even begin to wrap my head around the fact that I leave the park 2 weeks from today. Patrick and Abby already left, and I've been an emotional wreck. I'm not ready to leave this park and these people. This has become home to me, and the people I've met are my family. This has been the experience of a lifetime, and I'm just not ready for it to end.