Visiting Brian in Grand Teton was good, but it would be more fun now that he had a day off with me. But it was only one day off so we had to make it good. Since I just had shoulder surgery 6 weeks previous, it would have to be a trip where the arms were not necessarily used. So that took away the thought of climbing the Grand. Brian had a trip that he was excited to do, though, that looked to be less arm intensive and more leg intensive. We would head up Moran Canyon to the largest backcountry lake in the park, Cirque Lake. We did not have much information other than the trip would be burly with a lot of brush since there were no trails up this canyon. We did not even know if it would be possible, but we were going to do our best to find out. We left for the trip after Brian got out of work. We made as many miles as we could before the sun went down. We took the only section of trail that we would have on the day at Leigh Lake. This took us around the eastern portion of the lake. From there, we cut through the woods until it brought us to Jackson Lake and Moran Bay. We followed that around until we found Moran Creek coming out of the heavily forested canyon and began to follow that up to Cirque Lake. By the time we got into the canyon, it was already nearing dark. We had gone possibly 7 or 8 miles already. So we looked for a place to put a tent. It proved a lot harder than we thought. There was so much brush we were having to fight through that placing a tent seemed unreasonably hard. Finally we found a spot and even though we may have had a few more minutes of daylight left, we called it good. We ate a big dinner before we went, so all that was left to do was to brush our teeth, store our bear canister far away from the tent, and get some rest. We slept well and woke with the sun. If the sun was up, that was sleeping too late with Brian, so we quickly got ourselves going. We decided to leave the tent up and fetch it on the
way back. As we continued up Moran Canyon, we were left with very few choices. We could walk in the creek which was frighteningly cold. We could walk near the creek and deal with slow, thick mud. We could walk away from the creek and fight much brush. Or we could walk on the steep rocky slopes above the trees and deal with loose rock and steep sides. We chose all of the options at some point hoping that one of them would prove to be better than the other
s. None turned out to be easy and with my recovering shoulder I was having to do a lot with three points of contact rather than four. It was giving me some good left hand practice. There were times when we were nowhere near walking on the ground as we were continually climbing over down trees. We were lucky enough to see a moose with a baby moose tagging along. Knowing how mean moose can be, we kept our distance, but thought it rather neat to see an animal in such a pristine environment. We really felt that we were in a place that less than 100 people had ever set foot in. There were zero signs of humans having come here and that really is what wilderness and national parks are all about. We were under some pretty large peaks, Mt. Moran being the largest of them, but we could just see the slopes approaching their summit as it was trees and brush for us. Eventually we got to where we had a junction and we followed our tributary of Moran Creek uphill to Cirque Lake. We did not know if we were going to run into obstacles like waterfalls that would stop us. We did see some good waterfalls, but around each corner was a slopy grassy section that we could walk up. We felt like we were mo
ving quick as it was so much less brushy that it did not matter that we had a steep grade. Finally, we saw a bright blue shiny glacial lake coming into view. It was worth it. Usually I do not get so wrapped up in lakes, but wow this one was massive and gorgeous. We scarfed down some lunch whil
e the wind whipped off the lake which helped us both resist the urge to take a dip. We had to keep the time in mind as we were probably 15 miles away from the car and we knew it was not an easy 15 miles either. So we had to appreciate the lake for a short time and th
en scamper back down the creek. We moved our fastest so far on the trip as we flew downhill into the forest. Here we met the brush head on again. We came up with a scale for bushwhacking that included a scale from 1 to 5. 1 being a trail, 2 no trail, 3 no trail and thick brush, 4 thick brush climbing over stuff and painful legs and 5 being where you were moving forward but your feet were not actually on the ground. We were either in class 4 or class 5 the rest of the day with more class 5 then either of us wanted. We were happy when we were finally able to find Brian's tent and pack that up. When we got out to Jackson Lake, it was like thank goodness the pain is over, but the hike definitely wasn't. We still had seven miles to go and we were both starving by this point having eaten all of the food we brought. Plus it was nearing sundown as we just had the last light of the day. We put our head down and just moved. We were surely making 4 miles per hour, especially when we hit the trail. I think the hunger and the frustration of fighting the brush all day had put us in the mood to just move. When we got to the car, we were very happy to see it. After a quick stop at Brian's house, it was off to Jackson where we got ourselves some double cheeseburgers to fill the vacant spot in our belly. What a great time I had and it really makes me appreciate a friend who loves putting in a full day out in the backcountry.
way back. As we continued up Moran Canyon, we were left with very few choices. We could walk in the creek which was frighteningly cold. We could walk near the creek and deal with slow, thick mud. We could walk away from the creek and fight much brush. Or we could walk on the steep rocky slopes above the trees and deal with loose rock and steep sides. We chose all of the options at some point hoping that one of them would prove to be better than the other
s. None turned out to be easy and with my recovering shoulder I was having to do a lot with three points of contact rather than four. It was giving me some good left hand practice. There were times when we were nowhere near walking on the ground as we were continually climbing over down trees. We were lucky enough to see a moose with a baby moose tagging along. Knowing how mean moose can be, we kept our distance, but thought it rather neat to see an animal in such a pristine environment. We really felt that we were in a place that less than 100 people had ever set foot in. There were zero signs of humans having come here and that really is what wilderness and national parks are all about. We were under some pretty large peaks, Mt. Moran being the largest of them, but we could just see the slopes approaching their summit as it was trees and brush for us. Eventually we got to where we had a junction and we followed our tributary of Moran Creek uphill to Cirque Lake. We did not know if we were going to run into obstacles like waterfalls that would stop us. We did see some good waterfalls, but around each corner was a slopy grassy section that we could walk up. We felt like we were mo
ving quick as it was so much less brushy that it did not matter that we had a steep grade. Finally, we saw a bright blue shiny glacial lake coming into view. It was worth it. Usually I do not get so wrapped up in lakes, but wow this one was massive and gorgeous. We scarfed down some lunch whil
e the wind whipped off the lake which helped us both resist the urge to take a dip. We had to keep the time in mind as we were probably 15 miles away from the car and we knew it was not an easy 15 miles either. So we had to appreciate the lake for a short time and th
en scamper back down the creek. We moved our fastest so far on the trip as we flew downhill into the forest. Here we met the brush head on again. We came up with a scale for bushwhacking that included a scale from 1 to 5. 1 being a trail, 2 no trail, 3 no trail and thick brush, 4 thick brush climbing over stuff and painful legs and 5 being where you were moving forward but your feet were not actually on the ground. We were either in class 4 or class 5 the rest of the day with more class 5 then either of us wanted. We were happy when we were finally able to find Brian's tent and pack that up. When we got out to Jackson Lake, it was like thank goodness the pain is over, but the hike definitely wasn't. We still had seven miles to go and we were both starving by this point having eaten all of the food we brought. Plus it was nearing sundown as we just had the last light of the day. We put our head down and just moved. We were surely making 4 miles per hour, especially when we hit the trail. I think the hunger and the frustration of fighting the brush all day had put us in the mood to just move. When we got to the car, we were very happy to see it. After a quick stop at Brian's house, it was off to Jackson where we got ourselves some double cheeseburgers to fill the vacant spot in our belly. What a great time I had and it really makes me appreciate a friend who loves putting in a full day out in the backcountry.
