Thursday, after work, I was at it again, racing up Table Mtn, then cutting over to Alaska Basin and out South Teton Canyon. It's the same loop I did two weekends ago, but I knew this time there would be much less snow which would make for a much faster trip. So after parking at the winter trailhead and cruising the 4 miles to the base of the climb in 30 min, I tore into the ascent and ended up arriving at the summit in 1:17:30. A full five minutes faster than my previous best. I was also pleased with how much less snow there was compared to two weeks ago. These were all very important details that not only would help me cover more ground quickly on this particular outing, but it also confirmed that a full-length Teton Crest Trail journey was ready to be prepared. I decided fairly quickly that Saturday would be the day.
My marmot friends were out to say hello as usual.
Catching the late sun on a warm rock is apparently a popular evening marmot activity.
A horse group above Hurricane Pass at 10,500ft.
Sunset Lake. At sunset.
Teton Crest Trail just north of Alaska Basin with Buck Mountian standing watch.
This huge tent group ended up with a decent camp site.
Alaska Basin's unique geologic features
2 comments:
Question...so how do you get from Table Mountain to Alaska Basin. We have been trying to figure that out as that would be an awesome loop to go up Teton Canyon to Alaska Basin and then up to Hurricane Pass and over to Table Mountain and then down and back to the parking lot.
It's perfect to not have to do any back tracking to get back to the parking lot.
BTW...were you running the Teton Crest the weekend of August 6th? We saw someone that started up Philips Pass and he stopped and talked to us for a moment while we were hiking up to Sunset Lake. Your water bottles and face look really familiar.
Anywho, it's refreshing to see other people that love to get out and enjoy the wonderful beauty of this area. Have a great day and thanks for your time!
Kimmie-
From the summit of Table Mtn, I have been downclimbing the east side of the peak, then wrapping my way around south down the steep talus slope to the saddle below the south side of Table. You can also turn south to that saddle just before heading up the west side of the summit block. From there, there is a very faint footpath (multiple footpaths in places) meandering south towards Hurricane Pass. Some of this will possibly be completely off trail, but you can easily see where you need to go. I highly reccommend the loop! It's one of my favorites! Just be prepared as the talus slope on the south side of Table is steep and loose.
And yes, I was running the TCT on Aug 6th so that was most likely me. Great to see you out there! Were you with the group of kids?
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