The 6 am flight seemed early despite the excitement built up over the past few months. This was our return trip to the mountains and there was a lot to look forward to. This was also our first experiments with "climbing." All of our climbing has involved Class 1+ walk-ups, but hey, 12,000 feet is 12,000 feet. The flight into Salt Lake City was uneventful and after the customary raspberry milkshake at La Beau's in Bear Lake, UT, we arrived ready to go in Jackson Hole.
After a couple days of acclimating, twice daily gorging at Bubba's, and decompressing from the daily grind, we gained our first summit. Rendevous Mountian forms the backdrop Teton Village, site of the 1984 (I think) U.S. Winter Games, and site of some awesome ski runs. Rendevous Mountain is south of and sort of behind the Tetons and at 10,450', you can definitely feel the altitude. We figured this "climb" as part of our acclimation and elected to take the easy way up. For a few bucks you can ride the gondola to the top then hike the fourteen miles down through Granite Canyon back to Teton Village. Toward the end of the hike, our knees were confirming the suspicion that we should have hiked up and rode the gondola down!
Jackson Hole was also our first serious attempt at mountain biking. Labor Day marks the end of vacation season and we turned out to be the only clients of Teton Mountain Bike Tours this day. Bikes, bear spray (it is grizzly territory), and lunch are packed in a van for the drive up to Togwotee Pass in Bridger-Teton National Forest. Even though we rode through a grizzly recovery area, not a bear was spotted. The scenery was inspiring even though the contrasty mid-day sun eliminated photos of the Tetons. The 30 mile route combined forest road and singletrack.
One of the tennants of this trip was to evade the always-on-the-go feeling of the PCH trip. It worked too. Strolling the petunia lined streets of Jackson, reading as the sun set, and kicking back in the spa focused the relaxation. This is definitely the right vacation strategy. Fully decompressed, we were ready to move on to the Rocky Mountains.
Pine Lodge is a two room cabin outside Estes Park, Colorado, with a front porch that opens to a view of the northwest face of Longs Peak, the highest peak in RMNP. The second leg of our trip began each day with this inspiration. Sadly, a photo op of this view never presented itself. Our exploration of RMNP began with a hike to Lake Haiyaha from the Bear Lake trailhead. Not lacking in scenery, this photo of a Mountain Jay is one of my favorite.
Flattop Mountain was the altitude goal for the trip. At 12,324', the 4.4 mile climb up Flattop on the Class 1 trail is mostly an endurance test. Despite several days of acclimitization, we could definitely feel the altutude once above the tree line. Wanting to beat the afternoon thunderstorms, we set out before dawn at 6:15 from Bear Lake. The sun beat us to the tree line, but we were greeted with a beautiful day by the time the trees disappeared.
The views only got more dramatic above the tree line. Stopping to breath gave us plenty of chances to take in the vistas. The summit of aptly named Flattop Mountain is marked by a simple wooden sign marking not only the summit, but also the junction of the Continental Divide Trail. Grand Lake and the western boundary of RMNP are clearly visible. We decided not to glissade down Tyndall Glacier and instead returned to Estes Park by the Bear Lake trail.
The remainder of the trip was spent fine tuning and perfecting our relaxed moods with day hikes to Bierstand Lake, stalking beaver near Morraine Park, and after dinner coffee on the streets of Estes Park. The final act was taking in the Longs Peak Scottish Highland Festival in Estes Park: bag pipes, terriers, you name it.
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