Like the canyon

Teton loop!

I've had this one on the to do list for a couple of years now.  Getting up the Mddle Teton and doing a couple of runs on the Idaho side of the range earlier this summer left me wanting to get back to the Tetons and get this one done. 

A tight shedule made this a quick trip.  I left home around 6:30 PM on Monday, pulled into the boat ramp parking lot at Jenny Lake just before midnight, threw my bag in the back of the truck, set the alarm for 4:30 and crashed hard. I woke up a couple hours later to a starless sky and a trickle of rain and really hoped I hadn't driven 5 hours to get rained out.  Alarm went off at 4:30 and it was still slightly drizzly and no stars, it was too early to get a look at the sky and assess the weather.  Decided to sleep a couple more hours, until I could get a look at the sky. 

Waking up at first light, it was cloudy and the peaks were a bit socked in, but the weather looked like it might hold or get better, so got my stuff together to leave, throwing in my rain shell with a hood, some light gloves and a hat, just in case. I left Jenny Lake sometime around 6:30 in the morning headed clockwise. 

The elevation profile (stolen from Matt Hart' trip report) above is for a counter-clockwise loop.  That direction would be better for speed, but clockwise, in my opinion, is a little more asthetic.

Blurry first moring light.  Fun little single track between Jenny Lake boat ramp and Lupine Meadows TH.

Bradley lake I think (Taggart maybe?) A few miles in and nothing but fun, fun rolling trail to this point.  In a few miles I would intersect with a very lonely and seldom used section of the Valley Trail that connects to Phelps Lake and the Death Canyon Trail.  It's about 3.5 miles of very overgrown, densely wooded, seldom traveld by people, very prime bear habitat. Bear scatt in several places on the trail, the time of day, and being alone made for a reasonably tense 3.5 miles.

Beautiful trail up Death Canyon.  First ime on this trail and it was amazing! The trail climbs steady next to the creek up to the skyline and then transitions into gorgeous valley.

Valley in the top of Death Canyon.  Pic was taken from the trail up to Static Peak Pass, which is a huge, unrelenting climb. 

Nearing the top of Static Peak Pass.  Looking back to the East at Phelps lake and the Snake River. The trail skirted the lower left edge of Phelps before climbing to here.

Getting above tree line. Looking up trail from about the same spot ther last pic was taken.

Looking across to the West from the Static Peak Pass at a really cool hidden lake.

Looking North for Static toward Alaska Basin. Trail is just visable cutting through center right. About 18-19 miles in at this point. Biggest climb out of the way.  Running on cloud 9!

Looking back toward Static from my little detour into the unknown.  My mental map notes said to stay runners right coming into Alaska Basin, but apparently not too far right.  I ended up on the sucker trail you can see cutting across the talus.  It lead to a pass and dead ended. Probably added a mile and 800 feet of climbing. 

Back on track and wildflower running in Alaska Basin.

More of the same. Stunning place to be.

Starting the climb up to Hurrican Pass, looking back up A. Basin toward Static Pass. Mile 24 or so.

Approaching the top of Hurricane Pass, the Grand and Middle Tetons coming into full view. Pics don't do it justice, incrediable place to be. Mile 26 or so.

Great view of the Southwest col route on the Middle Teton.  This is the route I did a couple of weeks ago.  Follows the talus slope from the saddle up through the v-shaped notch in the rock above.  Looks like the icey spot that had my shaking in my shoes is finally gone.

Looking forward to some downhill runn'en.  Cresting the pass and headed into the top of Cascade Canyon. 

Upper part of Cascade Canyon.  There may not be a prettier spot in the lower 48 than the top of Hurricane Pass into Cascade Canyon.

Long descent from here.  The trail got more and more crowed the closer I got to the boat drop off from Jenny Lake. The last few miles down to the lake were pretty much very slow walking.  It got to the point where I would have to have been completely rude to pass people or just settle in behind the conga line and pass when I could.  I really had no idea it was possible to walk as slowly as some people moving however.

The couple miles around the lake seemed to take forever.  I was out of water, it was getting a little hot and still too many people and too narrow of a trail to really run much.  This is one of the biggest reasons I think the counter-clockwise loop would be much faster. One would get through this section of trail early, before the masses of slow walkers showed up. 

Made the loop back to the truck and settled in with a cold Coke I begged off a nice couple from Arkansas parked next to me. Next to Kalalau Trail, this might be the new #1 on the list of best adventure runs.  Perfect loop, just the right amount of climbing, not too long or too short, and non-stop vistas to whole way.

Stats:

Around 36 miles with the detour, 8100-8800 vert, 7:48 on the watch with one clock stop at the top of Hurricane Pass.  I would guess the crowds on the trial in the last bit added 30-40 minutes.

Packed up, grabbed a bite in Jackson Hole and made it home by 8:15.  Almost under 24 hours for the whole trip.