Brian and I decided to take a last minute trip to Grand Teton National Park for one last hurrah, before autumn passed us by. I've never experienced the Tetons in autumn before and have to say, it's alright.
Sometime I would like to hike the Paintbrush-Cascade Canyon loop, just a mere 20 miles, but with short daylight hours, this was not the day to try. Besides, it just doesn't fit our hiking style to book it from one end to another, just so we can say we did something. So, instead a hike to Holly Lake, only a 12.6 mile round trip, became the destination.
The trailhead starts at String Lake,
then winds around through thick forests, where Brian was kind enough to yell out, "hey bear" at every blind turn. I unfortunately watched a documentary called "Grizzly Man" and was just a bit nervous about having a bear encounter this trip. Fortunately, I also had bear spray with me to help calm my nerves, but let's just I was on high alert most of this hike.
Along the way, we stopped for a few photo shoots. First it was cold,
Then it was hot,
Then it was really cold.
Luckily, this didn't last and the sun was shining by the time we got to the lake. It was very peaceful and completely silent.
I had finished taking the above series of photos and was just about to sit down next to Brian when a loud, "BLEET/growl" echoed into that silence. The sound seemed to be coming from the trees just to the left of us and it didn't sound friendly (to me it sounded like a very loud, angry sheep). Brian said, "That was a bear." and we high tailed it out of there with our bear spray out of it's holster and the safety off (BIG thank you to my Aunt Lynette and Uncle Dave for letting us borrow theirs). We passed another couple on their way up to the lake (first people we had seen on this hike since the very beginning), and told them about the bear. They continued up and when they passed us on their way back (Brian and I are dawdlers), told us it was a mother bear and her two cubs.
Now, in retrospect I can say that I overreacted just a teeny, tiny bit. In my defense, I had never heard a bear in the wild, I've seen them but they were always very quietly eating, and I was VERY nervous about being eaten by a bear. Maybe next time I'll stick around for a looksy, but I'll worry about that next time.
On our, slightly quicker, way back down the trail, I took one last shot of the view.
Then this one of the sunset on the drive back to our nice, warm, safe, bear free hotel.
"May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds." -Edward Abbey
Sometime I would like to hike the Paintbrush-Cascade Canyon loop, just a mere 20 miles, but with short daylight hours, this was not the day to try. Besides, it just doesn't fit our hiking style to book it from one end to another, just so we can say we did something. So, instead a hike to Holly Lake, only a 12.6 mile round trip, became the destination.
The trailhead starts at String Lake,
then winds around through thick forests, where Brian was kind enough to yell out, "hey bear" at every blind turn. I unfortunately watched a documentary called "Grizzly Man" and was just a bit nervous about having a bear encounter this trip. Fortunately, I also had bear spray with me to help calm my nerves, but let's just I was on high alert most of this hike.
Along the way, we stopped for a few photo shoots. First it was cold,
Luckily, this didn't last and the sun was shining by the time we got to the lake. It was very peaceful and completely silent.
I had finished taking the above series of photos and was just about to sit down next to Brian when a loud, "BLEET/growl" echoed into that silence. The sound seemed to be coming from the trees just to the left of us and it didn't sound friendly (to me it sounded like a very loud, angry sheep). Brian said, "That was a bear." and we high tailed it out of there with our bear spray out of it's holster and the safety off (BIG thank you to my Aunt Lynette and Uncle Dave for letting us borrow theirs). We passed another couple on their way up to the lake (first people we had seen on this hike since the very beginning), and told them about the bear. They continued up and when they passed us on their way back (Brian and I are dawdlers), told us it was a mother bear and her two cubs.
Now, in retrospect I can say that I overreacted just a teeny, tiny bit. In my defense, I had never heard a bear in the wild, I've seen them but they were always very quietly eating, and I was VERY nervous about being eaten by a bear. Maybe next time I'll stick around for a looksy, but I'll worry about that next time.
On our, slightly quicker, way back down the trail, I took one last shot of the view.
Then this one of the sunset on the drive back to our nice, warm, safe, bear free hotel.
"May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds." -Edward Abbey
Comments
Those are very nice photos. I love the last one especially. Thanks for letting me cyber-hike with you.