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