Wyoming and Idaho

Last week Ginny and I went backpacking in Grand Tetons National Park and it certainly lived up to the hype. I had to go wait in line at the Ranger Station the day before our trip to get a backcountry camping permit and I was fortunate to get the campsites that we wanted. The NPS also loans out bear cannisters for food storage which was nice as we didn't have one otherwise. We saw a bear (most likely a grizzly but it was too far away to be certain) on our second night so we were really careful with our food storage, made lots of noise on the trail and always kept our bear spray handy! 

Our itinerary was the Paintbrush Canyon to Cascade Canyon loop with a day hike to Hurricane Pass. The trip included a good portion of the Teton Crest Trail which is probably the most popular backpack trip in the park. I tried to plan the trip to have reasonably short hiking days but we still ended up with a 15 mile day hike with more than 3,000 feet of elevation gain. Suffice to say that Ginny was not pleased with me at the end of that hike! All in all, it was a great trip though with incredible scenery and we also really lucked out with beautiful weather for the entire trip. 

Enjoying the view at Paintbrush Divide

Ginny celebrating making it to Paintbrush Divide

Ginny hiking up to Hurricane Pass

On the trail with Grand Teton looming above

Ginny taking a break from all the hiking

Breakfast time!

Selfie at Hurricane Pass (Grand Teton in the background)

After our backpacking trip, we started to make our way towards Idaho where we had plans to visit friends and do a housesit. We drove the van up the ridiculously steep Teton Pass Highway which I don't think we'd do again as it was a struggle to make it over that pass. Then we had a few nights boondocking on Forest Service land on our way to Sun Valley. We visited an old high school friend of Ginny's in Ketchum, which is home to our new favorite public library and we go to tons of libraries. BTW, real estate in both Jackson Hole, WY and Sun Valley, ID is ridiculously expensive! It seems to be the playground for the rich and famous and it's tough to make it there if you're anybody else. 

We've been doing a housesit in Bellevue, ID since Thursday, which is about 30 minutes south of Ketchum. It's been a great housesit with one dog (Gnocchi) and two kittens (Jiji and Kiki). There are lots of trails right from the house so it's easy to walk the dog and go trail running. Tomorrow we carry on south towards Utah where we're going to visit friends in Salt Lake City and (of course) do a couple more housesits! 

Ginny goofing around at Mormon Row in Wyoming

Mormon Row with the Tetons in the background

Ginny biking around Bellevue ID

Jiji and Kiki, the kitties, at our housesit in Bellevue ID



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