Two Nights in Alaska Basin

In preparation for Adam's 50-miler, some of us hiked up to Alaska Basin in the Tetons, and spent a couple of nights. We had a magnificent time.

Starting out, on the bridge over Teton Creek, about a half mile into our journey. This was Big Jack's first backpacking trip, and he carried his own pack, weighing about 12 lb.

The air was pretty smoky our first day. Not sure where the fires were.

During a break (mostly for me to rest), Pete and Jack spent some of their extra energy exploring a little waterfall.

As usual, I was pretty wiped out after the first day. It is about 7.5 miles from the parking lot to our camping spot in Alaska Basin. Most of it is gentle climbing, with a bit of steeper stuff at the end. Total altitude gain of about 2500 ft.

We actually took our 6-man tent. Adam carried the footprint and stakes. Pete carried the poles. Jann carried the tent, proper. And I carried the fly. So, Pete, Jann and I had packs around 30-35 lb, and Adam's was about 22 lb.

Supper the first night. Chicken noodle soup, enhanced with real chicken chunks. This is the same camp sight Rory found last time we were here. It is perfect.

The second day, we just day hiked to Sunset Lake, and Hurricane Pass. This is Sunset Lake at mid day. I wonder if it is totally cooler in the evening.

If you look close, you can see the trail of the rock Pete is skipping.

At the top of Hurricane Pass, with the three Tetons (Grand, Middle, and South) in the background. And some random other hikers.

Pete, showing us his "light on your feet" stride.

Pete launching off our jumping rock in Mirror Lake, near our camp site.

Adam, showing somewhat more artistic flair. Unlike Pete, he hadn't brought any swimming trunks.

Jack wanted to explore some caves above the camp site, so he took Jann, Pete, and Adam. After our second day of hiking, I didn't quite have the energy to join the others.

Second night. We're enjoying our Lindt Chocolate. This is a commercial advertisement.

Jack on a rock.

Pete, pretending he's a bear trying to get at our bear bag.

Jack and his piggy tail hat.

Our second night was actually a little chilly. There was frost on the ground when we left the tent. But it soon warmed up. We had perfect weather all three days.

Pumping water the last day, preparing for the hike  down.

Our flower shot, just outside our camp site, after pumping water. It seems most people camping in Alaska Basin choose camp sites nearer the lakes. Which means that they see lots of neighbors. Our Rory site is completely isolated, and looks out on this spectacular open meadow. We never saw anyone except when we went to the lake.

Soaking our feet after the hike down. It was nice and chilly.

Boys, water, and rocks.

When we got back to the parking lot, there was Grandma and Granpa's car, but they were not to be seen. We had told them we were going to camp the second night on Death Canyon Shelf, and hike down The Devil's Staircase. But you need a permit to camp on the Self, and you can't reserve it until the day before, if you hadn't scheduled it way in advance. Turns out, it was already scheduled for another group. So we stayed in Alaska Basin both nights, and then just went back the way we came up. But the grandparents had intended to surprise us by meeting us as we came down. They hiked all the way up The Devil's Staircase, and quite a ways along the Shelf, before deciding something was wrong, and heading back to the car. When they finally showed up in the parking lot, Grandma was looking pretty tired. But they had brought treats, and food, so we blessed them, and had a nice visit recovering from our day.