Teton Crest Trail - Late August

Here are some of the photos I took when I ran the TCT back in August. I just haven't put them up til now. As you can see, it was quite a gloomy day. Not ideal conditions to take in the hundred-mile-views in every direction, but still beautiful in a kind of dark, erie sort of way.

1st hour: Heading up towards Phillips Pass

2nd hour: Normally, this is the first glimpse of the high peaks when running the TCT from the south. Today... clouds. The broad Moose Creek valley heads down to the left.

3rd hour: Marion Lake...

... and Fox Creek Pass. Fossil Mtn is on the left. Spearhead Peak is on the right.



4th hour: Death Canyon Shelf. Typical cheeky Marmot. These critters are everywhere up here.

Looking north along the shelf. Death Canyon drops off immediately to the right.

5th hour: Preparing for the descent into Alaska Basin behind a group on horseback.

Evidence of an unusually wet summer. On the way up to Hurricane Pass.

Hurricane Pass. Table Mtn is the round peak on the far left. Paintbrush Divide is hidden amonst the jagged peaks far off in the center. Cascade Canyon heads to the right in front of and below those peaks.

My favorite view from Hurricane Pass

That's the Grand Teton behind me.

Looking down into the upper Cascade Canyon water basin

Marmot tending to a precipitous itch

6th hour: Heading down the south fork of Cascade Canyon. This is the funnel (the "V") through which the glacial lakewater passes

7th hour: Inspiration Point overlooking Jenny Lake at the mouth of Cascade Canyon. My preferred finish for the TCT is over Paintbrush Divide (which adds 6 miles and 3,000 ft of elevation), but after feeling like I had already pushed my luck with the weather, I decided to take the shorter route back to my car at String Lake. This ended up being a very wise decision as 30 minutes after finishing, an enourmous black thunderstorm broke out over the entire region.

Oh, and for good measure, here's a shot of my downstairs neighbor who is currently living under the top step of my stairs. Every summer, there are just a handul of Cat-Faced spiders that take up residencies on the exterior of our buildings. I'm not fond of spiders AT ALL, but I can't help but find these guys fascinating. But this photo doesn't really let you see it.

This one does.