Dennis Dixon is heading West!: August 2017

Tuesday, August 15, 2017 - Wyoming to Idaho - 186 miles altogether:

After a GREAT breakfast, I head out of town, north out of Pinedale:

At 9:30 I hit Trappers Point National Historic Landmark, which celebrates the Rendezvous, which was a gathering of trappers, Indians, traders from the East, from 1833 to 1840. It was witnessed and painted by Alfred Jacob Miller in 1837:

Alfred Jacob Miller - "Pipe of Peace at the Rendezvous", Stark Museum of Art, Orange, TX

It was pretty cool seeing "A.J. Miller" named on the plaque.

And I saw a Pronghorn Antelope on a ridge while I was there.

GREAT country:

At Jackson, it was up-and-over through Teton Pass to the State of Idaho:

Up (east on) Darby Canyon Road

to hike the Darby Canyon Wind Cave Trail:

I hiked 8.93 miles in 3 hours - I can't figure out how the pr literature can say it is a "5 mile heavily trafficked out and back trail". I'm pretty sure I did not stray very far.

The Trail has a great stream:

beautiful wildflowers:

horses (the lead guy said "Don't panic, it's organic":

and some beautiful views back down Darby Canyon:

The "Wind Cave" is huge:

which is why I wanted some pictures with people in them - from the outside:

and from the inside-looking-out:

I was running out of time, so I headed back down the trail in record time - saying hi to the horses on my way:

To get to Grand Targhee Ski Area I had to go back down Darby Canyon Road, then north on Stateline Road, then east on Alta Ski Hill Road. "Stateline Road" was HORRIBLE - actually the worst road I drove on this whole trip! Because of this slow-going, I arrived at Grand Targhee Ski Area at 5:04. I asked an employee when the chairlift-to-the-top closed, and she said "5 PM" - so I JUST MISSED IT. Well, I've already hiked 9 miles today, so what does another few miles matter:

Well, it turned out to be 7 miles in 3 hours.

It was a beautiful late-afternoon, the sun was high in the sky and wasn't going to set for another 3 hours. What - I'm going to go sit in a hotel room?!?!

It took me 2 hours to get to the top of the mountain, and it was a real pretty day:

The reason I wanted to do this hike is that this is the view that Thomas Moran originally had of The Tetons back in 1871 - not from the east, but viewing from the west.

Thomas Moran - The Tetons, Idaho, 1879 watercolor, Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, New York, NY:

And so I hiked out along the ridge trail:

to try to catch the setting sun on the mountains:

Although two girls were following me on the trail up, by the time I got to the top they had disappeared; so I HAD THE WHOLE PLACE (as far as you could see) TO MYSELF!!

By the way, for the Total Eclipse 7 days later, Time Magazine reports "The resort opened the mountain to the public, selling 500 tickets to the top of the mountain, mostly to locals who lived and worked in the area and bought tickets weeks in advance, according to Wilkes."

Beauty on the way back down, but then a drive in the dark to the Super 8 in Rexburg, Idaho - that's ok; I've been through the area before, and it is kind of flat. I did see some cool lightning storms in the distance, though. What an adventure - Thank you God for this wonderful day!

Music for today was more albums from my purple nano:

The Royal Wedding: The Official Album, 2011
Jerusalem (The Choir of Her Majesty's Chapel Royal, St James's Palace; The London Chamber Orchestra; Conductor: James O'Donnell)