5/3/2023 0 Comments Paintbrush divide teton![]() ![]() If we survived the night unaffected by grizzlies, avalanche, or hypothermia, I would wake up on my birthday morning in my new favorite national park.Īs we made our way down I took time to reflect on the experience we just had. We got in our sleeping bags and shared body warmth in the subfreezing temperature before drifting off to sleep. The wind whipped over the canyon and temperatures fell as quick as the sun. We laid out a tarp and pitched our tent nuzzled behind a big healthy tree on a rock solid piece of ice. Though we were nearly there, we wouldn't attempt to continue to Holly Lake. The rain stopped but trail conditions grew worse and we felt that it would be best to concede and look for a place to set up camp before sunset. If only we could've captured that moment in a photo. We would later find out how rare of an encounter we had just experienced. By the time that I processed that it was a herd of bighorn sheep a few yards in front of us, they quickly frolicked away in the opposite direction. It took a while to interpret what the herd of huge swirled-horned creatures were that was staring us down. I hear a rustle from above in the direction that we were headed and look up to quite surprise. We stopped to check our map to estimate our location. ![]() You can look toward the peak of the mountain and trace the mass destruction that the rolling snow caused knocking down trees of various diameter in the process. We make it near Upper Paintbrush Canyon to an enormous avalanche debris field. It's amazing how fast conditions can change at elevation. The actual trail was several feet below us under the thick snow.Ī very slushy rain began to fall with the sun still beaming down. We were Lewis and Clark carving our own path to Upper Paintbrush Canyon. The home stretchĪs we got higher, so did the snow packed on the ground. Even with the snowshoes and trekking poles, we spent a lot of time on our backends sliding down slick ice avoiding trees. We got the hang of it fast and we continued the hike guessing which way the trail was going. They were buried in the several feet of snow below us. There were no longer any signs of trail markers of any sort. You could tell that the trail itself was steep but the snow packed on top of it effectively turned it until a ski slope. It wasn't until we hit what could be confused as a wall of snow that we decided it was time to stop and don the snow shoes and trekking poles and I was sure glad that we brought them. As we kept climbing we began to see more and more snow and ice. The trail traversed upward and we continued along still eager in excitement. The trail splits and we hang a right splitting off from our fellow hikers. We were awarded with our first view of the beautiful blue water of Leigh Lake backdropped by the Teton Range very early in the hike. We would take Leigh Lake Trail up into Paintbrush Canyon towards Holly Lake. It wasn't until this point that I begin to wonder what we were about to get ourselves in to. "You must be going up," one older gentlemen belted at us before wishing us good luck. They looked at us and our packs with inquisitive facial expressions. The trail was muddy and we ran into a few other groups of hikers on this stretch. The hike began at the String Lake Trailhead. There was barely any snow at the lower elevation at which we started but from experience we knew not be fooled. ![]() We loaded our packs with the necessities and adequate layers of clothing attaching snowshoes and trekking poles outside. This hike would still take us deep into the Teton Mountain Range through a major canyon and challenge both our endurance and pathfinding skills. The even better part was that since the snow was so packed, we could camp anywhere that we deemed safe. We would go some six miles to upper Paintbrush Canyon and promised to not attempt to cross any divides without ice axes. We originally wanted to attempt the Paintbrush to Cascade Canyon Loop Trail but compromised on just the hike up to Upper Paintbrush Canyon. "Several feet of snow," "no clear trail to be found," and that blasted "A" word, avalanche were just a few of the stern warnings the friendly guy in the campaign hat directed at us.īut we were there, along with our pride, and we were determined to get out there. It was clear that they didn't want anything to do with the fact that we were about to backpack up into high country in May. To say that the rangers were not so encouraging would be an understatement. We arrive at the visitors' center eager to learn our fate and to get out on the trails. It was still early in the season and we knew conditions were widely variable.
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