Teton Valley Weekend

Jess came up this weekend to visit the Teton Valley, the place we'd both be calling home for the summer. The Teton Valley sits on the west side of the Tetons, opposite Jackson Hole (the jay-hole), Yellowstone, and Grand Teton National Park. It is a broad valley nestled between the Tetons on the West, the Big Hole Mountains on the East, and the Snake River Mountains to the South. Bear, moose, and marmo

I'm already installed in the Valley, staying near Victor at a friend's house. Right now I'm sharing the house with Scott Christy, Bruce Smithhammer, and Kat Smithhammer. I've been working for NOLS as a program supervisor, getting courses ready to leave for the field and managing instructors.

The Teton Valley was awakening from the most severe winter in two decades, and on Wednesday old man Winter put the exclamation point on the end of the season with four inches of snow in the Valley...on June 10th! But Thursday brought sunny skies and warm temperatures, and Jess showed up that evening. We went for a short hike in Teton Canyon, one of the several canyons that rise to the east from the Valley floor.


Friday I had to work most of the day, but took a long lunch. Jess and Gus and I went for a run up Teton Canyon, alongside the North Fork of the Teton River.

Saturday we went for a mountain bike ride in the Big Hole Mountains. The trailhead is only 2.5 miles from the house. Gus got really hot but we found a watering hole to cool him down in.


Sunday we went for a run up Death Canyon in Teton National Park. I scouted out several climbs on Cathedral Peak, a large granitic buttress the north side of the canyon. The buttress is home to several climbs I'd like to do, including Sunshine Daydream, Aerial Boundaries, the Snaz, and Caveat Emptor. We saw a black bear chillin' in a meadow on the way home.


It was a wonderful weekend. Jess left at 6 p.m. Tiana White showed up at 8...she and I had beers at the Knotty Pine, a local watering hole in Victor, before she left for the branch to begin a NOLS course the following day.

I love my wife and am looking forward to the summer.