Lupine Meadows – Garnet Canyon - Middle Teton Total Miles: 15
I did this hike alone on my birthday. My goal was to summit the Middle Teton at 12,800 ft and over 7 miles in. Since Emily was 3 months pregnant, I figured it wouldn’t be a good idea for her to come along. The picture above was a panoramic I stitched together looking over the saddle looking into Idaho over Ice Flow Lake.
I started the hike at 6:30 am. Since I was alone, I set a time limit on when I would turn around. If I wasn’t eating lunch on the summit by noon, then I would turn around. The picture above is at the mouth of Garnet canyon after I had hiked about 3.5 miles.
The peak above was my destination, the hiking trail ends and it is nothing but steep uphill and boulder fields from here on up to the saddle (a ridge between the Middle and Lower Teton), this is where it got really hard (and really dangerous to do alone).
The hike was real pretty, scrambling over the boulders I encountered a few problems with loose footings and some slippery spots. There is no established trail, if you don’t know the “route” then you just have to stop every so often, look ahead and see the best way to get to your destination. This slowed me down quite a bit along with the fatigue of already ascending thousands of feet in one morning. I would have felt better about doing it alone if I had seen anyone along the way, but the entire morning I didn’t see a soul.
I made it to the saddle exhausted. Having been born and raised at or below sea level my entire life, the high altitude of 10,000+ ft had taken its toll on me. From the saddle you can see Ice Flow Lake, it was real pretty and REAL far below me. It is a shear drop down to the lake, with cold winds rushing over the saddle. All of that made it kind of creepy and cool all at the same time. I sat here for about 20 minutes and ate an apple before continuing on.
It was about 11:00 and you can see the summit there. I knew I was a few hours from the summit and being as exhausted as I was, along with the fact that I was alone, I made the hard decision to turn around. I guess this was the now “30” year old in me making a “responsible” decision. Had I still been in my 20’s I would have most likely pushed on (and might have possibly gotten into some trouble).
On my way down I made a few bad turns and lost the route twice ending up on huge cliffs with no possible way to get down. I had to retrace my steps (uphill) to find the correct routes. Being as tired as I was, this was very discouraging. The boulders had also taken a toll on my knees and my feet were sore from the 40+ miles I had already hiked that week. The picture above I took after I had safely made it back to the established trail at the mouth of Garnet Canyon.
Were I to do this hike again, I would do many things differently. First I wouldn’t do it alone. A climb this big should never be tried alone, it only takes a small slip to get yourself into some serious trouble. Second I wouldn’t try it in 1 day. Most of the people that do this summit, break it up into an over-nighter. This gives you that extra energy you need to push for the summit which I had burned up on the hike in. Third, I would make sure the person I was with had hiked it before. This would have saved me a lot of time and energy not having to guess and try my way up (and down) finding viable routes. And fourth, I wouldn’t have tried it after doing so much hiking earlier in the week. My legs and feet were just a little too worn from our hikes the previous 3 days.
All in all it was a good hike though. I don’t regret my decision to turn around, and feel it was the right one to make. It was a beautiful hike which pushed me to my limit and I felt good about myself for getting as far as I did in my “30’s”. It’s kind of weird to say that.
Emily’s Day
While Jason did his solo hike I went sight seeing. First I went and bought the Christmas ornament we had picked out earlier and then I went to Mormon Row. On this road in an old farm building and some barns that were built in the late 1800s/early 1900s when the Mormons settled there.
Since I was by myself and didn’t really know where to go I traveled down this random dirt road after looking at the old structures and saw some wild bison on the side of the road. Again, very neat.
