Searching for some sheep
So, quick update...
Last week I had a short weekend. After work on Saturday I had Sunday off and then I had to work from Monday-Thursday in Grand Teton National Park. More on that later, as I'm going to break this up day by day.
Sunday:
My only day off. I devoted it to Teton Pass and their incredibly sick mountain biking freeride trails. Three trails: Jimmy's Mom, the Powerline Jumps and the Parallel Trail, combine to form around 3,000 feet of vertical fun filled with jumps, kickers, gaps, step ups, drop offs and berms. The trailhead that I started at is waaay up on the pass so I drove up there and parked, hooked up my helmet cam and rode down.
Holy smokes. The first trail, Jimmy's Mom, starts off with a gap jump then goes right into a 10 foot step up to a 15 foot boulder, followed by a 20 foot drop which goes into a 20 foot gap jump. I skipped the boulder and the gap jump lol. I rode all three trails fine, hitting some big jumps and some small jumps. I had a few close calls, but nothing serious. On the parallel trail I hit a gap jump which had about a 6-8 foot gap and just BARELY cleared it. I felt my front tire kiss the backside of the landing before rolling over it. Whew.
When I got to the bottom of the network, I checked out my camera to find that the tape ran out between the end of the powerline jumps and the start of the parallel trail. I walked back up Old Pass Road (the old paved road that used to serve as the pass but is now just a trail) and got back on the parallel trail so I could catch it on tape. I rode most of the things I had ridden the time before (some better, some not as well). When I got to the gap jump I barely cleared last time, I tried hitting it a little faster. Well, this time I didn't clear it. My front tire hit below the lip of the landing and slid out to the side throwing me down to the right. The helmet cam footage is awesome and is on both facebook and youtube.
The rest of the ride was fine. I got some scrapes on my leg/knee/ right elbow and shoulder, but nothing too bad.
Monday:
Got up at 6 and headed out to Grand Teton National Park where we met up with a friend of my coworkers who let us tag along for his bighorn sheep genetics study. We drove down to Colter Bay marina and hopped on a boat which took us across Jackson Lake and dropped us off at Wilcox Point. From there we hiked 10 miles up into Webb Canyon towards Moose Basin, where we found our little backcountry patrol cabin. It was a cozy little cabin. The hike took all day, so that's pretty much the end.
Tuesday: Got up around 6:30 and went out for a day of looking for sheep. We hiked up to the moose basin divide (9,000+ ft.) and hung out for awhile scanning the nearby cliffs and mountains with our binocs for sheep. I spotted the first sheep, two ewes, and then we watched and waited for them to take a poop. When they finally did and moved off, John (coworkers friend) and I hiked up to the cliff and collected the poo. That was our job lol. After that we split up with Shawn and the ever-incompetent Jenny and took off on a ridgeline towards Elk Mountain while they took off to hit up some other peaks. We were scanning Elk Mountain from a mile or so away and we spotted at least 6 rams chilling out about halfway up the west face. We watched them for awhile until they moved off (we got to see two butt heads at one point, that was awesome) and then we hiked through the valley and up to the point where they were to collect the poo. From here we hiked back to the cabin (a good 7-8 miles) and finally arrived there around 7:30 pm.
Wednesday: Woke up to some bad weather: wind, rain and lots of dark clouds. We took off towards a few other peaks that we missed the day before. It was a cold day, and the wind and rain didn't help, so rain jackets and extra layers were in order. We stopped at nice vantage points, but were having trouble finding sheep throughout the day. We were using radio telemetry so we were following a ewe and her lamb all day but never really caught up to them until around 3 pm. Throughout the day we were dodging passing thunderstorms and trying to stay warm and dry, but it got hard to do sometimes. Jenny lagged behind all day, as always. At one point we downclimbed this steep boulder field; which took Jenny FOREVER. The three of us got well ahead of her, but since we had all agreed to where we were going, we figured she'd meet up with us there. Well, I noticed that we were out of her sight so I convinced Shawn to wait up for her. We waited...and waited...and waited... no Jenny. I went back aways to see where she was and I saw taht she was reclimbing the same face she just downclimbed slightly west of where she came down. Seriously, she has no sense of direction. There was a storm arriving and, for some reason, she thought that we had gone back in the same direction from whence we just came. I pointed out this mess to Shawn and we went running after her shouting. She looked around, kept climbing, we shouted more, she looked RIGHT at us (shawn was wearing a neon green rain shell), turned around and kept climbing, we finally shouted more and then she came back down. The girl is going to get herself killed. I don't like working alone with her because it's like taking an infant into the backcountry. You have to be responsible for yourself AND for her, plus you end up doing all the work. If, God forbid, something were to happen to me when I was alone with her, I'd probably end up dead because she wouldn't have any idea whatsoever of what to do. I had to teach her how to make Instant Oatmeal, for heaven's sake... AFTER the three of us had made it in full view of her (i mean... there aren't many steps to remember...).
But anyways, we finally caught up to the ewe and her lamb (Shawn, John and I did, anyways), and after that we started to turn around to head home. We were a good 10 miles or so from the cabin and just as we got up to leave, we got socked with a blizzard... a big one. We were up high; around 10,500 feet, and a good distance from home. Visibility was very very low so we were stuck between a rock and a hard place because we wanted to hike fast before the weather got too bad (we wanted to get to lower elevations), but we couldn't go TOO fast because we'd REALLY lose jenny if she lost sight of us in the blizzard. So we did the best we could and finally, with some good mapwork, we got down into a drainage and out of the weather. Everything was soaked down there, however, so by the time we got home we were all soaking wet. At least we made it home, though. It was quite the adventure.
Thursday:
On thursday we basically got up and hiked out. We woke up around 7:30 am, cleaned up and packed and then hiked the 9-10 miles back to Jackson Lake. Nothing really exciting to report here except that we were late meeting the boat because of Jenny. John and I took off ahead so we could catch the boat and tell him we were on our way; we left shawn to babysit. We got there and the ranger driving told us that he had to swing by on the way to check out a grizzly bear report at some lakeside campsite. Once Shawn and Jenny arrived, we all got on board and swung by the campsite and I spotted the griz munching on some huckleberries. He heard our boat coming and got up on his hind legs to get a better view, but once he realized we were in the water (and he couldn't charge us lol) he went back down to his four legs and continued munching. Num num num. He was a big bear too, probably around 600-700 lbs.
Well, today is Friday and I have a 5 day weekend to look forward to. Not sure what I wanna fill it with yet, but climbing Teewinot and/or Mount St. John and/or mountain biking Shadow Mountain are all in order of things to be done. We'll see how it turns out!
Last week I had a short weekend. After work on Saturday I had Sunday off and then I had to work from Monday-Thursday in Grand Teton National Park. More on that later, as I'm going to break this up day by day.
Sunday:
My only day off. I devoted it to Teton Pass and their incredibly sick mountain biking freeride trails. Three trails: Jimmy's Mom, the Powerline Jumps and the Parallel Trail, combine to form around 3,000 feet of vertical fun filled with jumps, kickers, gaps, step ups, drop offs and berms. The trailhead that I started at is waaay up on the pass so I drove up there and parked, hooked up my helmet cam and rode down.
Holy smokes. The first trail, Jimmy's Mom, starts off with a gap jump then goes right into a 10 foot step up to a 15 foot boulder, followed by a 20 foot drop which goes into a 20 foot gap jump. I skipped the boulder and the gap jump lol. I rode all three trails fine, hitting some big jumps and some small jumps. I had a few close calls, but nothing serious. On the parallel trail I hit a gap jump which had about a 6-8 foot gap and just BARELY cleared it. I felt my front tire kiss the backside of the landing before rolling over it. Whew.
When I got to the bottom of the network, I checked out my camera to find that the tape ran out between the end of the powerline jumps and the start of the parallel trail. I walked back up Old Pass Road (the old paved road that used to serve as the pass but is now just a trail) and got back on the parallel trail so I could catch it on tape. I rode most of the things I had ridden the time before (some better, some not as well). When I got to the gap jump I barely cleared last time, I tried hitting it a little faster. Well, this time I didn't clear it. My front tire hit below the lip of the landing and slid out to the side throwing me down to the right. The helmet cam footage is awesome and is on both facebook and youtube.
The rest of the ride was fine. I got some scrapes on my leg/knee/ right elbow and shoulder, but nothing too bad.
Monday:
Got up at 6 and headed out to Grand Teton National Park where we met up with a friend of my coworkers who let us tag along for his bighorn sheep genetics study. We drove down to Colter Bay marina and hopped on a boat which took us across Jackson Lake and dropped us off at Wilcox Point. From there we hiked 10 miles up into Webb Canyon towards Moose Basin, where we found our little backcountry patrol cabin. It was a cozy little cabin. The hike took all day, so that's pretty much the end.
Tuesday: Got up around 6:30 and went out for a day of looking for sheep. We hiked up to the moose basin divide (9,000+ ft.) and hung out for awhile scanning the nearby cliffs and mountains with our binocs for sheep. I spotted the first sheep, two ewes, and then we watched and waited for them to take a poop. When they finally did and moved off, John (coworkers friend) and I hiked up to the cliff and collected the poo. That was our job lol. After that we split up with Shawn and the ever-incompetent Jenny and took off on a ridgeline towards Elk Mountain while they took off to hit up some other peaks. We were scanning Elk Mountain from a mile or so away and we spotted at least 6 rams chilling out about halfway up the west face. We watched them for awhile until they moved off (we got to see two butt heads at one point, that was awesome) and then we hiked through the valley and up to the point where they were to collect the poo. From here we hiked back to the cabin (a good 7-8 miles) and finally arrived there around 7:30 pm.
Wednesday: Woke up to some bad weather: wind, rain and lots of dark clouds. We took off towards a few other peaks that we missed the day before. It was a cold day, and the wind and rain didn't help, so rain jackets and extra layers were in order. We stopped at nice vantage points, but were having trouble finding sheep throughout the day. We were using radio telemetry so we were following a ewe and her lamb all day but never really caught up to them until around 3 pm. Throughout the day we were dodging passing thunderstorms and trying to stay warm and dry, but it got hard to do sometimes. Jenny lagged behind all day, as always. At one point we downclimbed this steep boulder field; which took Jenny FOREVER. The three of us got well ahead of her, but since we had all agreed to where we were going, we figured she'd meet up with us there. Well, I noticed that we were out of her sight so I convinced Shawn to wait up for her. We waited...and waited...and waited... no Jenny. I went back aways to see where she was and I saw taht she was reclimbing the same face she just downclimbed slightly west of where she came down. Seriously, she has no sense of direction. There was a storm arriving and, for some reason, she thought that we had gone back in the same direction from whence we just came. I pointed out this mess to Shawn and we went running after her shouting. She looked around, kept climbing, we shouted more, she looked RIGHT at us (shawn was wearing a neon green rain shell), turned around and kept climbing, we finally shouted more and then she came back down. The girl is going to get herself killed. I don't like working alone with her because it's like taking an infant into the backcountry. You have to be responsible for yourself AND for her, plus you end up doing all the work. If, God forbid, something were to happen to me when I was alone with her, I'd probably end up dead because she wouldn't have any idea whatsoever of what to do. I had to teach her how to make Instant Oatmeal, for heaven's sake... AFTER the three of us had made it in full view of her (i mean... there aren't many steps to remember...).
But anyways, we finally caught up to the ewe and her lamb (Shawn, John and I did, anyways), and after that we started to turn around to head home. We were a good 10 miles or so from the cabin and just as we got up to leave, we got socked with a blizzard... a big one. We were up high; around 10,500 feet, and a good distance from home. Visibility was very very low so we were stuck between a rock and a hard place because we wanted to hike fast before the weather got too bad (we wanted to get to lower elevations), but we couldn't go TOO fast because we'd REALLY lose jenny if she lost sight of us in the blizzard. So we did the best we could and finally, with some good mapwork, we got down into a drainage and out of the weather. Everything was soaked down there, however, so by the time we got home we were all soaking wet. At least we made it home, though. It was quite the adventure.
Thursday:
On thursday we basically got up and hiked out. We woke up around 7:30 am, cleaned up and packed and then hiked the 9-10 miles back to Jackson Lake. Nothing really exciting to report here except that we were late meeting the boat because of Jenny. John and I took off ahead so we could catch the boat and tell him we were on our way; we left shawn to babysit. We got there and the ranger driving told us that he had to swing by on the way to check out a grizzly bear report at some lakeside campsite. Once Shawn and Jenny arrived, we all got on board and swung by the campsite and I spotted the griz munching on some huckleberries. He heard our boat coming and got up on his hind legs to get a better view, but once he realized we were in the water (and he couldn't charge us lol) he went back down to his four legs and continued munching. Num num num. He was a big bear too, probably around 600-700 lbs.
Well, today is Friday and I have a 5 day weekend to look forward to. Not sure what I wanna fill it with yet, but climbing Teewinot and/or Mount St. John and/or mountain biking Shadow Mountain are all in order of things to be done. We'll see how it turns out!