Trail to Teewinot

Summers working for the Park Service can be rather busy, so I was lucky to get a couple of days off to travel up to Gardiner, Montana right outside Yellowstone National Park to go to our friends John & Mindy's wedding. Unfortunately, Jacqueline was not able to come and neither was Zyla. Jacqueline had been swamped the entire summer with work and it would just have been too long of a trip for Zyla. I left after work on Wednesday driving as far north as Salt Lake to stay with Jacqueline's brother Paul. I continued the next day with a drive into Yellowstone. I had to argue with the entrance lady to get it for free and then drove an hour or so out of my way toward where John and the bachelor party group were fishing. I never caught up with them and instead met them at John's house where everyone was already drinking. It was great to see a bunch of people that I had not seen in quite a while. John had a lot of fun that night and still had the energy to get up the next day and get to the rehearsal. We spent the whole next day doing wedding stuff mainly just hanging out and socializing. The morning of the wedding, we played a little b-ball and then John and Mindy tied the knot in what was one of the quickest ceremonies I have ever been a part of. We took some pictures after the ceremony and then we headed out to the reception. I got to hang with my other good friends, Brian and Angela Hays. They worked in Tetons, so they were able to bring their daughter Liesel along. Hanging out with a family makes you miss your own and I was wishing that Jacqueline and Zyla could be along while we partied at the reception. I was glad they did not have to try to follow me around as we did all the pre-wedding stuff, but post wedding I would have loved to dance and have fun with the wife. It was fun to see Liesel because it is hard sometimes to remember how quickly your kid grows up. Zyla was just a few months older than Liesel, but so much more active specifically because of the age difference. The next day, I left John and Mindy Hender to their wedded bliss and left with the Hays' family. We took a slow tour through Yellowstone visiting some of the hot spots. We could not do any major hikes or climbs because it was the Sabbath Day and Brian and Angela are LDS. We could do short strolls though, which is what we did. We took a short walk out to Tower Falls. Lots of water was pouring down there, but nothing compared to our next walk out to Yellowstone Falls in the Canyon District of Yellowstone. It was fun to revisit many of these places as my dad worked at Yellowstone for a few years, so I got a lot of visiting in during those years. Still it is quite amazing just to see how vast and incredible Yellowstone truly is. We had ourselves a picnic lunch and then went out to the mudpots. Those were always my favorite geyser feature liking them even more than the big ones like Old Faithful. We continued the drive to the southern portion of the park transitioning without warning into Tetons. We stopped and had a quick dinner by a lake with a great view of the Tetons, then headed into the park. Brian and Angela were still able to make church and I went at their suggestion to a mountain called Teewinot to hike the trail to the base of it. I started my hike at the hour when most people were getting off of the trail. It had been a couple of days without much physical activity, though, so I was chomping at the bit. I just went as fast as I could and amazingly when it is not 105 degrees, you can move pretty quick even uphill. It just shows how good of shape we are actually in at Zion because going uphill is such a challenge in the heat. Here though, I seem to be moving effortlessly barely sweating as I went. I was amazed that this trail was in such good shape because it was not on the map. The views were great as I got great looks at the Snake River and Jenny Lake down below. My goal was to try to make it to treeline and I almost got there. I had to time it all out, so I finished with a bit of daylight left. I got up very high with a good view of the peak to finish out my highest point. My body still wanted to keep going but the waning light and my long drive the next day would not allow me. I turned around reluctantly to enjoy the views on the way down. I had a good evening hanging out with the Hays' family arriving to their home about the same time they got back from church. They had a cabin that was perfect for the three of them. I wondered if they would be able to do it the next year once Liesel was getting into everything. I spent the night there and then in the morning began my 11 hour drive back arriving back to the 100 degree heat of the evening. I was glad to have a break to see some good friends and enjoy the cool of the mountains in the height of summer.