.: Middle Teton, Jackson WY

Craving the outdoors, I ventured above Jackson, WY this weekend for an immensely and infinitely wonderful hike. I've spent the totality of my summer out west of Idaho Falls, out in the Lost River Range which claims Idaho's tallest peaks. I've only been to the Tetons once in the past two years, and that was for a jolly hike up Table Rock.

There is nothing like the Tetons.

They're crisp and laid and teeming with life, rivers, waterfalls, jeweled alpine lakes, and gentle ascents. The sunrise comes across a vast valley, and caresses the slopes in in an orange hue. The Tetons stand strait from the group, without the clothing or adornment of smaller peaks, providing a somewhat menacing and stark visual experience.

I left home at 3:30 am (after a meager 4 hours of sleep!) and hit the trailhead by 6am. I ascended to Surprise Lake in 2 hours, and ventured on past Amphitheater into the adjacent canyon. I was greeted by several football fields of rocks (as large as your car), which I promptly scrambled across. After two hours of painstaking progress, and the realization that no other hikers were following me, I knew I'd taken some type of wrong turn (as is generally my unintended custom).

You see, I pay little attention to the difficulty of the trail, and the most attention to where I think it is going. I therefore climb unnecessary hedges and descend otherwise steep precipicii. It isn't until I'm in a bind that I'll look around and think, "hmmm... this is probably too difficult for the average hiker. Maybe I'm in the wrong place." And that 'ah ha!' moment only comes when I've bunkered into a dangerous situation.

I retraced my steps to find that I'd missed the trail turnoff 2.5 miles back. Nothing too big, right? I took the balance of the day climbing what was to be the original trail up to the Middle Teton, climbed up near the saddle, got tired, laid on a rock in the sun and napped for 30 minutes, then sped down the mountain.

Following the 10-hour hike, I had to stop 3 times on the way home to get food!

Surprise Lake; at 7am there is a perfect reflection unwavered by ripples.

My embarrassing non-professional gear. Expecting to traverse snow fields and susceptible to falling rocks, I knew I needed some type of safety gear. Living on the most pathetic shoestring budget, I could barely afford the gas to get to the trailhead, let alone any decent mountaineering gear. So.... frugal and unabashed, I headed into our local Deseret Industries (an ultra used thrift store), I purchased a construction helmet ($2) and skiing poles ($3) to double as a climbing helmet and hiking poles. Apart from a couple comments from sarcastic fellow-trail-goers, they worked surprisingly well.