Pic: Pecan pie tin: ✅ Yellow Pages: ✅ Post-it note: ❌ Recycling bin, Grand Teton NP, WY
My backpacking trip was a success! I learned a lot that I hoped would come in handy for avoiding the crowds in Yellowstone.
The two miles back to the car included a 400′ descent that I definitely felt in my knees. On the way, I encountered a small group who immediately asked me if I’d seen any pine martens. The specificity of the inquiry so stunned me that I forgot what a pine marten was: “Uh, is that a bird?”
“No, like a weasel.”
“Oh, right. No pine martens, I’m afraid. Just squirrels. And some marmots. Oh, and a moose had lunch with me.”
My takeaway from Grand Teton was that the really good stuff involves multi-day loops through two or more mountain passes. While it’s true that I was too unprepared, too out-of-shape, too lazy, and arguably too alone for several days of climbing multiple thousands of feet while carrying a heavy pack, my official reason for rejecting a more ambitious plan in the Tetons was this warning in the Park Service’s Backcountry Camping publication[1]:
Safe travel over [high-altitude divides and passes] may require an ice axe and knowledge of its use into August.
Since the closest I’d come to an ice axe was binge-watching mountaineering movies last year[2], I decided to remain grateful for the glimpses I’d seen of the Tetons’ vast and striking interior and return another time.
I continued to not see any pine martens as I giggled through Moran Junction toward a motel room, but I did see my first bison!
Pic: Back in Jackson, we got a saying: we’re walkin’ here! Grand Teton NP, WY
[1] nps.gov: Backcountry Camping
[2] My favorite was The Summit but K2 had some vintage 1991 je ne sais quoi.
Danger Beyond This Point 