A rather unexciting week in the office this week. Seasonals are
ending their terms, and the hallways and dorms are starting to empty
out. We've lost 2 people (out of 6 total) in my dorm in the past 2
weeks, and we're loosing one a week in my department. 4 of my
coworkers left on Friday for 2 weeks in the back country. The
mosquitoes are hungry this time of year, trying to lay one more
clutch of eggs before it starts to freeze...but it may be too late
for some of them. Summer is officially over here in the high
country. It was a nice two months, but the temperature has dropped
below freezing for 3 nights this past week. Not a good sign.
Due to a lack of anything going on in Mammoth Hot Springs this
weekend, Rob and I decided to go on a spur-of-the-moment road trip.
He had never done the "tourist thing" in
the park, so we went and saw all the thermal areas and interesting
natural features throughout the park. We got to the south gate and
decided to keep going.
Two hours later we ended up in Jackson, WY. It was a Saturday night
in the middle of the NFL preseason, so we did what any good football
fan would do in those circumstances and found a sports bar. While
we didn't find the game that we were looking for (we saw Cincinnati
beat the NY Giants after a one-hour lightning delay - Rob was hoping
to catch the Ravens/Falcons game), we did manage to eat, drink, and
be merry in the richest county in the nation (2002 gross adj. annual
income: $107,694). After a little rain delay, I even got to catch
the end of a Red Sox game.
We found a little forest service campground about 20 miles outside
of town and had a delightful night sleeping on the hard ground.
That sort of stuff gives you character, right? All I got was a
stiff back and neck. We packed up and drove back north the next
morning to Grand Teton National Park. We had received a rather
credible tip that there was some excellent bolted bouldering routes
"Down a trail, over a glacial moraine, and up a hill". Not the best
directions in the world, and no map accompaniment, but we decided to
try for it anyways. The ranger at the gate verified the existence
of the "City of Boulders", but he apparently never leaves the
gatehouse, so could only provide flimsy confirmation of the spot. We
found the parking lot right away, and a couple came out of the woods
with a bouldering pad and climbing shoes. We sauntered down the
trail and immediately found the moraine. We hoofed it up the hill
and found a huge
boulder field with many good routes. Except for a man with two
children and one other couple, we had the whole place to ourselves.
We climbed 6 routes over 4 hours, got nice and sunburned (again),
and got some really nice pictures of the most fantastic mountains
I've seen in the lower 48. Yeah, Alaska still wins, but these were
pretty spectacular.
Nick
