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.
