Alan in Holiday
Surprisingly the wind dropped overnight and I slept through undisturbed until 7am - by far my best nights sleep so far. Perhaps after 8 days I was becoming more attuned and relaxed in the outdoors environment or was it Dave's ear plugs?
The weather was reasonable so, rather than heading down Fox Creek Pass, we decided to head back up onto Death Canyon Shelf and thence Mount Meek Pass, before heading down Devils Stairs Trail.
Death Canyon overlook
The views from the Death Canyon Shelf were just a spectacular as yesterday and I could not help feeling a sense of jealously as we passed two lucky hikers who had camped on the shelf overnight. Of course had the feared storm arrived during the night, given its exposed position, I may have had a different view.
View back to Fox Creek Pass and deteriorating weatherFor the first hour of our walk the weather was quite pleasant and with the sun (and wind) on our backs we made good progress. However there was definitely a change in the air and we were pursued along the shelf by thickening cloud and as we started the climb up to Mount Meek Pass the sun left us and the day turned cold and threatening.
Such was the drop in temperature, that I donned an additional thermal top along with my wind proof fleece.
As we left the Death Canyon Shelf and the National Park behind we spotted on the skyline what appeared to be a Michelin Man moving very slowly towards us. As we moved closer we realised that it was in fact a lady hiker all on her own. She was fully kitted up in her waterproofs and carrying the largest backpack I had seen in a week of trekking (and I had seen plenty!). She explained that she had a 12 day camping pass for the park and had walked via Paint Brush Divide 10,700ft (C) over Hurricane Pass 10,372ft (E) and through the Alaska Basin (G).
She had completed all of the big climbs and suitably impressed we left her heading slowly onto the shelf in the direction of Fox Creek plodding along like a slow moving tortoise straight into the face of the threatening weather.
Looking down Devil's Stairs Trail from Mount Meek Pass
Having crossed Mount Meek Pass we turned left and started to down the Devil's Stairs trail. By now there was a hint of rain in the air, the cloud base having descended and we were relieved to have a rain free lunch perched atop a handy rock part of the way down the Devil's Stairs trail.
Continuing down the trail the path did not seem to be heavily used and occasionally disappeared into heavy vegetation that made navigation difficult. It may have been psychological but the trail seemed to go on for ever (6 miles ?) and it was with some relief that we eventually arrived at the top of the actual "stairs" themselves, efficiently timing our arrival for our descent of the rocky cliff face just as it started to rain.
Lunch Devil's Trail with Tetons in background
Unfortunately the rain rather put a dampener on my photography but here are some external pictures of the Devil's Stairs on the web. As will be apparent it fully justifies its name and climbs/drops alarmingly in only a short distance, the top being particularly interesting with a heavy pack.
Fortuitously we managed to navigate the steepest top part of the descent before the rain became heavy, necessitating for the first time on my trek the downing of waterproofs and pack covers. However even on the lower part of the descent the surface was treacherous and Dave slipped on more than one occasion resulting in him sitting unexpectedly on his posterior (there that will keep my mum happy not using the "A" word). Depending on the direction of fall the a backpack can either be an advantage by cushioning the blow (falling backwards) or exacerbate it by altering the centre of gravity (any other direction). I was making full use of my trekking poles and was careful to keep my weight over my legs as far as possible.
Teton Canyon below just prior to descending Devils Stairs
Eventually we reached the main Teton Canyon trail, last seen on the preceding Thursday but under somewhat better weather conditions. Turning left we started to head back towards the trail head where our SUV awaited. Dave went on ahead to organise a camping plot whilst Christine and I had a more leisurely walk.
Further down the trail I suddenly noticed to my left movement in trees - a large dark object. My heart pounding I immediately thought "bear" and that the pepper spray had disappeared down the trail with Dave. Fortunately, much to my relief, it was nothing more threatening than a large male moose wandering around in the trees searching for food. Christine and I watched him for some minutes in the hope he would become visible enough to enable me to take a picture, but he eventually disappeared altogether from sight and we resumed our walk back to the trail head.
We arrived back at the trail head, still raining, to find a father and teenage daughter about to set off on their annual trip over Hurricane Pass. What got our attention was not the family group of well wishers gathered to watch them go but their hour of departure (they were setting off at 3pm) and that Dad was wearing cotton jeans seemingly oblivious to the fact that once wet they would be an uncomfortable nightmare. He said he wore them every year and it was to be a pattern we saw repeated on countless occasions. They must be mad!
Luxury campingDave had not been idle during our leisurely descent down the trail and while waiting for us to catch up had organised a camping pitch on the South Teton Campground. We had the luxury of being chauffeured in the SUV the 300 yards to our pitch and what a site. Whilst it had no showers, there was a picnic table, BBQ pit, nearby tap water and a short walk away an enclosed earth pit toilet. It certainly made a change from digging holes, although I have to say that the view was not as spectacular as that of previous days.
Dinner "A la carte"
Dave left Christine and I to pitch our tents whilst he disappeared off to Driggs to source some luxury food - steaks, corn on the cob, fresh salad and goodies for tea. As will be seen from the picture we had quite a sophisticated set up. I must confess to a slight feeling of guilt that this was no longer "proper" camping and hoped that because of the deteriorating weather we had made the right decision to descend. Still this feeling was soon banished from my mind once I started to consume the food.
Another long day - having walked an estimated 14 miles and descended 3,500 ft. The evening ended with the sound of the occasional vehicle moving around the site and whilst not remotely noisy it did remind me that we were once again approaching civilisation.