Two Girls Gros-Venturing in Dresses

After having breakfast in town at the Lotus Cafe (a must go-to if you ever visit Jackson Hole), I drove back to Kelly Campus to not unpack from rock climbing or camping at the Wedding Tree...no sir-ee, I just dropped off all my gear, packed up my daypack, and headed back onto the trail, this time with Mandy, one of the graduate students.

Mandy and I share a lot of things in common, like a love for wearing spandex and patterned pants, but one thing that we both have been craving is a decent day-hike...no, not a hike up and down a trail that takes about 30-45 minutes...but a nice, long, legit day-hike! Every time we decided or planned to attempt to hike something, the weather would fall through, we'd have a program to teach, or we were completely exhausted from work!

This time, we were not going to let anything get in our way! So, I get back to campus and meet her in the Dining Lodge to go over the day's hike. She is already talking to a bunch of faculty who have hiked this route before and getting the details of what we were going to have to do.

Today's Mission of a Hike: Hike in the Bridger-Teton National Forest to the 9190' elevation peak, literally in our backyard from Kelly Campus. Super pumped! We learned that we could take part of the route that we use when we backcountry camp with students in Ditch Creek up to Cobble Ridge, but instead of going down towards one of our backcountry campsites, you continue along Cobble Ridge to the east on a horse pack trail. Oh...and another side note, we were both in dresses! Another Super Pumped reason we are awesome!

Our Hike Path-Map!

Our View from the Backcountry Trip Overlook Lunch Spot

Once you get onto the horsepack trail, it is that time of the hike where you get out your map, compass, and orienteering skills and put your bushwhacking skills to the test! Since there is no exact trail from Kelly Campus to 9190' you must get your bearings from a high point, gain your orientation and put that compass to work and just go forward in that direction!

See That Peak All the Way in the Background?!?!
Yep, That is What we Hiked and Bushwhacked To!

When Mandy and I were on the horsepack trail, we oriented ourselves to the map and stated that once we found a small little lake, we would stop and have lunch. This little lake was the last mark that would help us determine where we were on the quest before having to rely on the surrounding mountains and geologic landmarks for bearings. We get to this area where the horsepack trail started curving to the southeast and we both stated, there should be a lake around here somewhere...nothing. As we got closer to the ridge, we look down and low-and-behold, there it was! So tiny! Boom - our orienteering skills - on point! so far!

The tiny little lake!

As we were eating lunch, I looked down near my pack and shared with Mandy my discovery - 'Why are there shells on top of a ridgeline?' and then she reminded me - 'Ancient Seas, Christy! Ancient Seas!' And to our surprise, we found fossilized shells from the anicent seas! So cool! All of the information and knowledge that the faculty instilled in us at the beginning of the year and what we teach our students - came full circle to actually finding evidence! Boom!

Ancient Seas' Fossilized Shells
On Top of a Ridge!

Continuing On Our Quest
We Were 'Half-Way' There!?!

Our Lunch Site View
Absolutely Gorgeous!

After lunch, we followed the ridgeline until we realized the horsepack trail was going to the south more than northwest. If we continued to follow the horsepack path, we would end up heading down towards Turpin Creek. So, it was declared...it was time to get our legs scratched and bushwhack...Oh! Did I mention Mandy and I were both in dresses for this trek!?

Bushwhacking in the Gros Ventre is really challenging - sure there are your standard prickers like wild rose, your waist-high shrubs, and well the no-trail deal, but let me just say that the Gros Ventre also has a few gems of its own as well: like lots and lots of dead trees (still standing, toppled over, or intricately creating mazes for you to climb over, under, and around; not to mention the best gem of all....MOSQUITOS! Just letting you all know now, after this trek...I can still hear them buzzing that annoying buzz in my ears!

Keeping on the Bushwhack Trek!

Let me tell you, Mandy and I definitely worked on and perfected our leadership and community member skills that represent the Teton Science Schools Graduate Program. Effectively being able to be open with Mandy regarding my intense fears of being in dead standing trees was great - we were able to communicate and collaborate together on which routes to take and which direction we needed to be in. Not to mention, since we were definitely not in bear numbers, we found creative ways to make the bears (if they were in the area) known of our presence - like talking in loud, funny accents and just talking about any and everything.

Survived One of MANY Dead Tree Stands!

As much as Teton Science Schools programming works their grad students to lead hikes up and down strenuous terrain, the trek to 9190' was beyond strenuous - even for experienced hikers like Mandy and myself! We were totally huffing and puffing and sucking air to get up there! Lots of breaks is definitely key!

At the Base of 9190'! Almost there!

Almost There...It's Right Up There!

So here's the timeframe that we went through: by the time we hit Cobble Ridge and forked up the horsepack path, that was about an hour into the hike, two hours into the hike we were eating lunch, and  it took three hours to bushwhack our way to our destination; by 4:00pm we were heading up the steep sides to 9190!

By 4:40pm, we got to the top of 9190' and actually had cell phone service! Called our Emergency Point of Contact, Aaron (a TSS grad faculty) to let him know we made it to the top and that we were going to be late getting back (aka not getting back in time for dinner!).

Checking the Elevation For Proof!

The view from 9190' was awesome! You could see everything - not just the Teton Mountain Range, but the Gros Ventre Slide, Jackson Peak, all of Sleeping Indian and beyond, Mt. Leidy, and the rest of the Gros Ventre Range that was hidden from what is beyond the Kelly Campus! It was absolutely gorgeous and breath-taking...we could not believe that the view we saw literally in our backyard! Crazy!

There Was STILL Snow Up There!

Purple Flowers & The Gros Ventre Slide (left top corner of photo)

Summit Posing from 9190'
(Mt. Leidy & the Gros Ventre Mountain Range in my background)

Large Giant Ant Hills!
Photo Credit to Mandy Redpath, fellow Teton Science Schools Graduate Student

Bushwhacking down was another intense part of our trip - we decided to go another way back instead of taking the path we came in. So we decided to follow the ridgeline of 9190' back towards of the streams that leads to the South Fork and eventually catch back up with the backcountry route towards the Ditch Creek Road Trailhead Car Access point. This was really challenging because along the stream, it was super dense full of conifers, willows, dead snags galore, and our favorite...MOSQUITOS! So gross! There was a point in our trek back, that we were literally in a storm of them, and as I was searching for my Natrapel bug spray, Mandy was hitting my back in attempts to squash those buggers! Such a process! But we finally descended back to the elevation we wanted, and hit a 4WD access path, which led us into a meadow.

I am not sure if was from being sun-tired, a little dehydrated, or just hungry/tired in general...but once we hit that first meadow, I kept saying...'Oh my gosh, this may be Grace's Meadow (the meadow we camped in during the backcountry trip).' And as we looked about the whole meadow - no trails, no nothing! Bummer! So we continued to bushwhack - continually talking in funny accents and saying, 'You know what we would appreciate right now...A Trail!' We came upon a second meadow, and similar to the first - no trail and no sign of Grace's Meadow. So after stopping to fill and purify our water bottles with Aquamira, we trekked further, and low and behold, an 'A-ha!' moment! We found Grace's Meadow - I was so excited with joy! And then...answering to our wishes, a trail was found! We followed the trail through Grace's Meadow, passed Shark Fin Meadow, and finally got to the trailhead and access road.

It took Mandy and I about 4-hours after summiting 9190' to actually arrive back to the Kelly Campus. By the time we got back, our knees were in throbbing pain (bad knees), we were hungry, tired, and totally scratched up from the thighs down! But it was sooooo worth it!

Mandy's Aftermath From the Dress and Sandals Expedition to 9190!
Photo Credit to Mandy Redpath, fellow Teton Science Schools Graduate Student

Overall, it was such a wonderful hike - Mandy was a great hiking companion! Collaborating on routes, great person to have chats and stories with, and a wonderful person to experience summiting 9190 with! Thanks, girl!

TheChristyBel

You Think You're Bad Ass?
Try Two Girls Gros-Venturing in Dresses Through Lots of Prickers and Mosquitos!
That's Right...Second Guess Your Bad-Ass Level!
Photo Credit to Mandy Redpath, fellow Teton Science Schools Graduate Student

Camping at Wedding Tree

Saturday was an awesome day! In the early afternoon, Marc and I made it to the Enclosure Rock Gym for a few hours to test out my new harness and get into top-rope climbing. Super fun although really tiring - haven't been on a wall in a long time and definitely rarely on a harness! It was great that I remembered a bunch of terms and processes from my EMS days and that Schools to Stores professional development day at Chickie's Rock! Now it was time to try it, Teton's Style! Another awesome moment, when I discovered I could climb a 5.8-5.9 route! So exciting! Now...its time to work on some of the projects that stumped me then onto outside!

That evening, we decided to go camping in the Bridger-Teton National Forest; this was awesome because 1.) you do not need to reserve a spot - it's first come, first serve! 2.) you can have a campfire and 3.) and the view from this particular campsite was phenomenal!

The Clouds Slowly Moving Out of the Teton Landscape

The campground near the Gros Ventre Slide holds some really nice sites that overlook the Teton viewscape! Located near the Wedding Tree, there are a few little campfire pits to the north of the two Wedding Tree. The view was a little iffy when we got there at first - there were really big and dark storm clouds lurking over the Tetons. We were both a little worried if the dark clouds were headed east towards us. Luckily, the wind directed northward and started to pass behind the Tetons and stayed away from us!

A Beautiful Sunset Building! We Were Waiting For the Spectacular to Start!

We decided to bring dinner to cook over the fire - aluminum foil packet dinners! So delicious - made a ground beef and lamb dish with cut up sweet potatoes, tomato, and onions. All ingredient were placed together, seasoned, and placed in the foil, then wrapped up to cook all together on the embers of the fire from the awesome fire place of a pit at our campsite. Sorry, there was no photo of the meal - too delicious to take a photo before eating.

In the Mean Time, Built a Fire to Cook Our Dinner and Heat Up the Evening!

Oh Man, Look at That Sunset Starting to Peak Its Way Out!

During dinner, we looked up and the sunset that we saw...let me tell you, it was so beautiful! the clouds were blocking the direct rays of the sun, so you could only see a few rays peaking through. It was completely gorgeous - full of shades of dark purple, magenta, pink, orange, yellow, and red. Absolutely stunning! And well the spectacular did not just last during dinner, it lasted until 9pm-ish - constantly changing its color patterns and the rays from the sun as they peaked through the clouds.

Dun-Dun-Dun!!!!! Such a Sunset!
Photo Credit to Marc Sweet

The next morning before packing up, we woke up to no clouds in the sky and a clear view of the Tetons! Such a great night!

Great night for a night outside!
TheChristyBel

Teton eXplorations - Embracing the Beep

Teton Explorations!

These past 10-days have been incredibly wonderful - I love working with middle schoolers! These students were hilarious, crazy, engaged, challenging, and leaving me incredibly exhausted everyday. But, it was worth it. These 13 inspiring, talented, and all-around awesome students are the reason I want to be a teacher some day. Despite the constant reminding to take out all smellies from your backcountry tents or keeping them focused, Teton Explorations was such a wonderful program to teach in. Having 10 long days and nights with these students was really fun - getting chances to try out lessons on them (that were being used for Expressions), working with an out of comfort zone age group (not going to lie, after this program, I like them more than high schoolers!), and start out with a smaller program before getting ready for our core program - Expressions.

The students that made up Teton Explorations were a variety of open-enrollment middle schoolers from all over the country, including Baltimore all the way to California, and then some even from China! It was super cool to work with a variety of students geographically, but also from a variety of different cultures, backgrounds, and school systems. I love diversity and this program was diversity to it's finest (in the most positive of ways)!

Community Building - The Human Knot

Teaching everything and anything from communities on the Kelly Campus, to leadership and strengthening our program team, to canoeing, to a day trip to Yellowstone, to a few days 'embracing the beep' of mosquitos in the backcountry - these students received an educational, but extremely unforgettable experience here in the Tetons!

Overcoming Group Challenges

From the start when all the students were arriving, this group clicked instantly! The Baltimore boys arrived first - and were incredibly hilarious, open, and welcoming to the instructors and the other students. Friendships were created on the first 'hello' and communal soccer and card games included everyone as the welcome day progressed! It was beautiful to see that everyone got along so quickly and easily! I guess that's what happens when you're in middle school - the desire and constant urge for friendship just happens pretty fast and organically? At least, that is what I could tell.

Scientist vs. Naturalist

Every moment I shared with these students was the most unbelievable - constantly engaged, pushed through challenges, and strived to be better than the last moment. I was able to speak with several students one-on-one at times to hear their impressions and opinions of this program. It was remarkable to hear what they would tell you - from talking about how their parents sent them here for fun to I applied for a scholarship to be here because my family could not afford something like this for me. At times, it really broke my heart to hear things about not being able to afford this or that. But it made me want to make sure that they received the best experience while being here.

Exploring Places We've Never Been Before

Enjoying What is Faithful at Old Faithful in Yellowstone

Artists Point at the Grand Canyon in Yellowstone

Digging Deep into Scientific Research

Teton Explorations discovered how interconnected and similar each student and instructor was to each other. Through a bunch of leadership and community activities, as well as every experience we all shared together, this group of 13-students and 5-instructors got incredibly close over those 10-days.

Understanding Our Community
We Are All Connected

The backcountry trip was a whole other experience and level of closeness and community. It was also really empowering and an honor to hear that many of the students had never backpacked before! So, seeing them set up a tent or prepare meals on a whisperlite stove was beyond priceless. For many of the students, they thrived while being in the backcountry, despite the swarms of mosquitos that attacked us for 24-hours straight each day.

Lounging at the Top of 8015'!

These students took on challenges with open minds and then conquered them. To see many of them carry their heavy packs up ridges and in rain was really hard to watch, but to see their faces when they reached tops was totally worth it!

Absorbing Some Awesome Views

Backpacking with Steaze!

Let me say that the mosquitos were the worst in the backcountry - being covered in bug nets, rain gear, and any form of a barrier of clothing was the only way to relieve your mind and sanity about the swarms of blood-suckers around you. I know a few instructors, including myself, almost of did go mosquito crazy. But the students definitely pushed through and learned to 'embrace the beep' or should I say 'buzz.'

Embracing the Beep of Mosquitos

Enjoying the Outdoor World!

Not only did we teach our students about the natural world and the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, but we taught them about the awareness of self, others, and place. Yes, it got a little heavy every once and a while - but it was really cool to see these students get much closer than they were after every activity. For example, we did an 'Awareness Circle' led by Heather. This was one of my favorite activities for these students. They would open up to really personal prompts that reflected their home lives, their school lives, how they felt towards themselves, how they felt towards others and their other Teton Explorations peers, everything. There were times that I just wanted to cry or hug or even take home a student based on what I heard them admit to - like hearing about not enough money for food or how sad they feel when others bully them. But it made me also aware of myself and my surroundings, and how thankful I am for the things and opportunities I have been given. Although, at the same time, it was a great awareness of where my students were at too and how I could support them. (I hate to admit it, but I felt like a mom at times....scary, huh?!)

Being Aware of Self, Others, and Place

Finding the Wyoming Ground Fruit!

Grace & I as Twins on the Backcountry Trip!
My New Little Sister!

Making New Friends with Flowers

I do not think I can stress enough how wonderful these students were: they were not just accepting to their fellow Teton Explorations peers, but to the instructors as well. By the end of the program, I did not leave that program with 13-unforgettable students who I taught, but 13-individual friends!

Each and every one of these students from Teton Explorations are so talented, smart, inspiring, and strong! I was so proud of them from when they entered the program to where they ended and left us on June 25. I hope you all can see how wonderful and awesome these kids were through the photos on this blog entry and the videos taken from our Celebration of Learning Talent Show!

Enjoy!

TheChristyBel

Teton eXplorations A-capella Singing 'I'm Yours'

Molly's Celebration of Learning Creative Writing Excerpt About Her Scholarship Award
This Reading was Incredibly Powerful!

Grace's Celebration of Learning Poem - Incredibly Beautiful

My Baltimore Boys (Vincent, Tyree, & Deondre) and Carlo From Chicago!

Survived My First Mountain Biking Experience

Earlier this afternoon, Marc gave me a mountain bike lesson in the Village today. Let me tell you, mountain biking here is so much different than when I went mountain biking back home...there were a lot more pads and gear involved this time! It was super fun, and I think I caught onto it really quickly. Marc was a great instructor; he will do really well when he instructs others on the mountain - very patient, supportive, and great with feedback! It was great using the chair lifts to get to a higher point on the mountain and then bike, well cruise, your way back down. However, turning when picking up speed still freaks me out, but I guess similar to snowboarding, it gets better when I get used to it and do it more often. Also, standing on a bike for most of the ride is really interesting too - key is to keep your knees bent! But overall, great afternoon learning something new! Another activity, I am tempted in getting more into! Uh oh!!!!....

Met a New Friend on the Trail!
Cute Little Squirrel!

Surviving the Mountain...This Time on a Bike!

More adventures to come!

TheChristyBel

Swinging at the Resort

After prepping a whole bunch of gear for the Teton eXplorations program's backcountry trip at the Jackson Campus, I decided to meet Marc at the Jackson Hole Mountain Resort in Teton Village. And since I only had two hours to kill before I had to head back to Kelly Campus, we decided to leave mountain biking for Saturday and go on a hike instead. The hike was awesome - a bunch of switchbacks up a path called the Wildflower Trail. There were some awesome views...and then when we got probably half way up, we discovered something amazing...A SWING! Best hike ever!

Swinging into the Teton Valley!

Marc being a little child! Adorable!

Climbing up trees...or walking up trees?!?

A Cecropia Moth Chrysallis! So freaking cool!!!!!!

I Will Never Grow Up!

Best Hike Ever!

TheChristyBel

A Tetons Magic Trick

Want to see a magic trick that just happened on campus?!?

Now you see the Tetons...

And Now You Don't!

Crazy, intense thunderstorm took over the valley, causing the Tetons to disappear!

It's been a cold, windy, and rainy day here on campus.

Hopefully tomorrow will bring better weather!

Stay dry,

TheChristybel