8-9-08

Our last couple days in Teton Village have once again been random and fun… On our last days off, we headed back over to Driggs to watch a blue grass concert that ended up being moved indoors due to the rain… But luckily, our friend Reinhold (from Oregon) drove us in his moving van, which we hung out in after the concert while the rain passed over. Coming back over the pass we were able to enjoy the lights of Jackson once again and reminisce on our seemingly much longer three months here.

Now, we pack our stuff and trek back towards Michigan… our paths aren’t really clear, but Christine and I hope to stop back at Wall Drug and spend our change jar money on Wall Drug mercantile.

7-27-08

Here are some new pics of christine and my venture to Curtis Canyon and also some older pics of our trip to Darby Canyon in Victor, ID:

Three Weeks Remaining in Jackson

As Cam and I head into our last three weeks here in Teton Village, we’re spending as much time as we can embracing the area and accomplishing as much as we can. During our last two days off we spent much time with our new friend Dave, and kept quite active. Thursday evening was spent in Wilson, where Dave is crashing for the time being, and the three of us splurged on an amazing cook-out, and spent the evening around a bonfire out back..much of the time discussing out similar tastes in music.

Since we had the day off Friday, after a quite exhausting week of work, the three of us decided to go climbing out at Teton Canyon in Driggs, Idaho. After making our way over the pass to Idaho, before heading into Driggs, Cam and I decided to spend some time in Viktor while waiting for Dave to get off of work. As we perused the town for an hour or so, we ran into a few welcomed surprises. We first went into a tiny soda bar where we snagged a few monster finger-puppets, and from there Cam finally ran into a road bike! We found ourselves in a neat little second-hand sporting goods shop, and he was able to pick up a great bike for only $35..can’t beat a deal like that! After shopping for a bit, I was met by a variety of great photo opportunities, which was great since I haven’t found much to boost my portfolio in awhile. Just before Dave rolled into town Cam and I stopped in a neat little shop called Festive Living, where I purchased a cute little lantern for our room, Cam got a neat mug with a chair inscribed on it (suits him perfectly!), and we also received some great advice from the sales clerk. We were referred to a hike which leads to a variety of wind caves not to far from Viktor itself..with this we were instantly sold on the kind lady’s advice, and decided to hike out that way for a somewhat mellow hike, and some camping.

Once Dave finally arrived, the three of us caravanned into the Jebediah Wilderness Area, where we hiked about an hour to a beautiful meadow fairly high in altitude, and one of the areas many waterfalls. After exploring for awhile, we decided to find a place to set up camp and build a large fire. Cam thought it would be a good idea to hike up to the plateau above the waterfall, as the ground looked as it would flatten out as we hiked higher. Once we reached said plateau, we ran into an old campfire, and what seemed to be the best option for a camping spot. Due to the fact that Dave was under the impression we were doing simple car camping, he decided to bring along some ground beef for dinner. It was quite comical to watch this chore take place for about an hour. I originally thought our friend would be accompanying us on our excursion, so I was without any cooking utensils, minus two spoons and a knife. The boys decided to cook the burgers on a rock in the fire, and use the two spoons, tapped to the end of sticks to flip the patties. After dropping two in the fire, there were three successfully made burgers, and the rest of the meat was thrown down the waterfall, as to keep any wildlife away. The three of us talked late into the evening, and at one point Cam was fortunate enough to see the shadow of a bear against the night sky. Our little backpacking adventure was just perfect, and I’d have to say a great way to spend one of our last day/evenings off!

The next day Cam and I decided to take in some climbing in Teton Canyon with our buddy Brent..we were however met with an area so cumbersome, a map too confusing to read, and a blistering sun directly above us, that we decided to head back to Teton Village..at this point a first bike ride together sounded much more enjoyable. After making a few adjustments to his bike, the two of us went for a twenty-mile ride, round trip, just past Wilson and back. The weather proved to be just perfect, and I even say a fox!

The weekend was extremely enjoyable, and I’m begining to become a bit sad about leaving this place so soon..three weeks to go and it’s practically time to head back to school.

“Live for the Moments that Make You Smile”

7-14-08

Here’s a couple more pictures of climbing at Blacktail butte:

It’s kinda difficult to Belay a climber and try to take decent pictures of them… basically we need more people to climb with

While climbing “Time Flies When you’re Alive” (far left) Christine’s cell phone fell from her pocket and bounced off the rock below and came flying straight towards my face. Luckily I caught it before it flew into the great wooded abyss below!

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Yesterday I utilized my Coleman 1-person raft on Fish Creek, that runs from Teton Village into Wilson (around 9 miles). I was invited by my new friend Dave, who I met in the parking lot after he yelled “All right Michigan!” (His hometown is Kalamazoo). His friends, Ally and Paul also joined in the rafting experience. On our trip, we came relatively close to a moose and her calf that ran away after we came around a bend in the river.

The river was especially nice because it runs right by Paul’s house.

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On another note, I’ve been busy searching for bouldering gear for the bouldering cave I want to make in the house I’m living in next semester… I found this sick deal on some holds from Gear Express that will be a great starter kit for the wall!

7/8/08

Christine and I had the day off today, so we hiked up the ski hill the the gondola, which took around two hours. We had no desire to hike back down so luckily we got a free ride down in the Gondola! Later we headed out to the Blacktail Butte for some evening climbing with Christine’s new climbing gear that she bought from the climbing store, Moosely Seconds at Dornans. We’ve had some trouble keeping the rope from twisting on itself, which I’m pretty sure is being caused by Christine and my opposing dominant hands. So I might have to start belaying right handed, for the sake of safty!
          

 

        

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These are some older pictures that I sorted through… they are mostly from Stonehenge and a couple from the rainbow gathering, that christine and I went and checked out for the day. If you’re not familiar with the Rainbow Gathering you can read it about it here. Our friends Brent and Tyler invited us out for the opening on the Fourth of July:

7/1/08

One of the perks of working in a commercial area like Teton Village is the employee benefits and discounts. Christine talked to the old Hostel (x) owner, Mike, and found out that we could go white water rafting for free! So we made reservations for yesterday and we invited our polish friends, Votick and Micalena. Although Christine and I had to race to get done with work, we managed to pull together and had the fortune to miss the storm that came through later that night.

Here’s are some pictures provided by my poperotsi: Sands Wild Water River Trips 

The trip was about an hour long and went down a section of the snake river near the Targhee National Forest. I also got a chance to talk to your river guide, Jib (back of boat), about skiing and rock climbing, and also talked about his connections with Teton Gravity Research, which is a video production company filming primarily here in Jackson Hole. One of the companies office’s is located underneath the hostel (next to our lobby) and the headquarters are also here in Teton Village. I really really really want to get to know some of these people and possibly get a chance to chat with some pros!

On the bus ride to the boat launch, I caught a quick glance of The Hoback Shield, which is another place I’m looking forward to climbing at! Unfortunately, Brent is in Idaho for work, so Christine and I are settling on a nice long hike tomorrow, possibly up Death Canyon.
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After the rafting, we stopped at Smith’s grocery store so Votick and Micalena could get groceries, since they don’t own a car. Christine and I ended up buying these sweet little Coleman One Person Navigator Boats for only $10! Who knew they sold inflatable boats at grocery stores!? …Although they take up a lot of space in the room, they’re great for relaxing in the pond, that’s right behind the hostel! We’re kind of wondering if it’s legal, but until we get asked to leave, we will enjoy our evening escapades!

And to top the night off, we got free pizza for being “desk clerks,” with some coupons from our boss! Another employee perk that can’t be beat!

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I was feeling like I needed a new piece of clothing, so I purchased this awesome Di Vinci Shirt off ebay for $10. I originally saw the shirt while I was in New York last year. My plan is to buy a cheap shirt with every pay check! If you have any suggestions, please, leave a comment!!

Here’s today’s Muxtape brought to you by Spazztasic: 

6/24/08

Hey everyone. Sorry it’s been so long since we’ve last updated, we promise to keep you posted more once the busy part of the season hits. But in all truthfulness, we have lots to update on, so here’s a recap:

This last weekend (friday and saturday) we took work off for an over night trip to Stonehenge to climb and camp. Located in the middle of a cattle-grazing, desert-like field, a cluster of boulders seem to have fallen from the sky just for us to climb! And there was NO ONE else there! The experience was delightfully humbling and relaxing! 

Here are some pictures that Christine snapped of Brent and I climbing:

 

 

 

 

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You may have noticed the slightly different haircut in the climbing pictures. Yes, it is mohawk… my coworkers were all giving each other haircuts the other night and I decided to join in and get a free cut. Here is the result:

 

 

6/16/08

As Cam and I end our fourth week of cleaning rooms and keeping things in order here at the Hostel, we continually find ourselves running into a variety of “goodies”, left behind from guests–the tips may be seldom, but the box of runts, cantaloupe and six-pack of Teton brewed beer has greatly made up for it. In fact the other day we ran across an unopened lemon pound cake which we savored half of for lunch that day–and to our embarrassment were confronted by said cakes owner as we finished cleaning–it was apparently left behind on accident, and not meant to be enjoyed as our tip.

A few days after the cake discovery, Cam and I decided to go on a hike with our only American co-worker, Mike. The three of us set out on trail located on the Jackson Hole ski area, that traversed the left side of the mountain, and went up–the trail was fairly steep in some areas, so the trekking poles Cam and I found in the basement, proved to be quite useful. After hiking through much beautiful dense forest, crossing a few areas of runoff from the snow, and actually going over a few patches of snow, we found ourselves at a random hut in the middle of the woods. It was shaped like a hut one might see in the tropics, but this was much more modern. It housed four sets of bunk-beds and the ceiling was lined with prayer flags–I’m guessing this little discovery is either used but individuals doing research on the mountain to live in the summer, or may be rented out to backpacking groups.

After perusing the area for a little while we continued on the trail, up higher into the mountains. We soon came across an area filled with boulders, and I realized things were beginning to look somewhat familiar–we had coincidentally happened upon an area where two years ago, my father and I had found ourselves lost skiing Wyoming’s back-country. It was pretty neat having the opportunity, to take in the area during the summer, and that it is so close to an area Cam has been wanting to climb–the face we went searching for is in eyesight of the boulder field, however the amount of snow still in the area, kept us from making it to our pre-ordained destination–we’ll have to remain patient a few more weeks before climbing this area.

As we began our journey back down the mountain things seemed to be going much smoother than our previous hike–no bison to be seen on this trail. But as we were coming to the end of the thickening in the woods, a baby moose ran just ahead of us. Now, for those of you who aren’t up on your moose facts, it is known that mothers are known to charge homosapiens when with their young. This made me a bit nervous, and since we obviously get great phone reception way up in the mountains, I decided it couldn’t hurt to call my pops for advice. After telling mother dearest that I need some advice from my father, I can hear him in the background saying he has anther call to take–apparently talking to Uncle Curt is more important than the possibility of his own daughter being charged by a moose. Then as he decides he can spare a moment to talk to me, he admits he doesn’t have a clue what to do–it’s funny since the day before he told me how he had run into baby moose twice before while hiking in Jackson. Needless to say we didn’t run into the moose and its elders as we forged ahead, and made it back in once piece.

-Take the path less traveled.

6/14/08 Danger/Danger

Since Brent left all of his climbing gear in my car, Christine and I hit up the blacktail butte yesterday. A few locals were already climbing on the rock face that we had hiked to, but they insisted that we climb the route neighboring theirs. They told me it was an easy 5.9* climb with the crux* at the beginning two bolts*. It was Christine’s first time belaying* a lead climb* but I trusted her since the climb looked rather simple.
After completing the beginning 40 feet of the climb, I searched for the following bolt and didn’t see anything! The closest bolt in view was nearly 20 feet from the one I was clipped into. And if you’ve ever lead climbed, that means forty feet of falling, which I (and Christine) where not prepared to take. Although the climb was easy, it was such a relief to be able to clip into the proceeding bolt. But then I got to the top and there is only ONE top rope, being used by our neighbors. I yelled down to see what I should do but they didn’t seem to care. Nonetheless, I jimmy rigged a top rope and waited to climb again until the two guys had left. I couldn’t believe that they would suggest I lead climb the route. It was practically asking to get hurt, on friday the 13th nonetheless!!

*Here’s some climbing terms explained, that might be gibberish to you!

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Today, Christine and I decided to lay off the climbing and go for a hike on the Blacktail trailhead. We ventured to the top and enjoyed the beautiful weather and view of the Grand Tetons. We found a trail that headed down the backside of the mountain, so we took it intending to sweep the valleys, wrap around the mountain, and head to the parking lot. The trail turned into a horse path that led us around to the front side. Off in the distance, there was a small heard buffalo. As we took the corner, a single buffalo was grazing about 100 feet from us. We kept on the path and didn’t worry to much about the animals… BUT then we came over the crest of the mountain and five or six buffalo were thirty feet in front of us, blocking our path. There were baby buffalo in the group, so Christine and I quickly changed our route and headed up into a valley, cut across a field, and followed the main road back to the car. It was definitely a scary situation.
On our trip back to the village, we saw a Moose and her calf eating through the fence. Unfortunately, there were loads of cars surrounding the area and people flashing cameras and holding camcorders out the windows of their Oversized SUV’s. It was a pretty sad display of disrespect, so we went around the crowd and headed back to the Hostel.

*Here’s some climbing terms explained, that might be gibberish to you!

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Check out Waffle Ponies Muxtape! Good stuff!

6/12/08

After a great day of climbing, the snow and rain moved in, keeping us inside for the last two days. This is a picture of our porch that was actually accumulating snow!

Luckily I now have my djembe to play around on when the weather is nasty. They’re surprisingly loud instruments, so I usually have to play with moderation. But the drum itself is beautiful… it’s a nice red wood with a dark stain on it that catches the wood grain nicely. Unfortunitly you can’t really see the wood grain in the picture.

Here’s another picture from our Blacktail Butte climbing session, once again framing the tetons and our new climbing buddy, Brent: