The Great Adventure

I awoke early - not a good nights sleep as the air conditioning kept cycling on and off during the night in an attempt to keep the temperature in the room to a bearable level.

My guide had arranged to meet me in the Antler Motel reception at 8.30 and as the Antler didn't offer any form of breakfast I headed over to the Teton Steak House opposite which opened at 6.30 am for an early breakfast. The restaurant has lots of old saddles and implements - genuine artefacts rather than the contrived "oldie worldly" of many premises.

Teton Steak House from MotelUnfortunately my timing was not quite right and I ended up behind a large coach party who were noisy and hungry so it was some time before I arrived at the counter. The Steak House offered an "all you could eat" cooked breakfast for $5.95 but I could not face a greasy fry up. I was however rescued by a helpful waitress who managed to source me some toast, cornflakes and coffee. A good sign was that a local police officer came in and settled down in the corner  to read the local paper and have breakfast.

Returning to the motel I headed down to the Antlers reception a couple of minutes before 8.30 am and having settled my bill was accosted by Christine Benton who I later learned was to be the only other person on my trip. As to where the other two participants that Paul Knight owner of Wild Horizons Expeditions had advised me were booked on the trip had gone I never  discovered.

Christine, originally from Walsall in the West Midlands of England, is a Para -legal and has lived in Brooklyn New York for over 30 years  and now has joint UK and US nationality. Very handy for avoiding visa queues when visiting either country.

Dave and Christine

I didn't have an opportunity to learn any more as at that moment my guide Dave McConnell appeared on the scene - another change from that advised by Paul Knight. Dave's first question was to ask whether I was happy with the backpack provided, which left me in a state of confusion as I had previously advised that I was (tent excepted) bringing my own equipment. 

Untroubled he disappeared into a store room behind reception and emerged a moment later with a backpack from which he retrieved a tent and also a large bulky bag which contained our lunches for the next 5 days. I was later to learn that the tent weighted 8 lb and I estimated the food 20 lb. Suppressing a rising feeling of panic as to how I might fit these two huge items into my already quite full backpack  I headed back to my motel room. It was immediately apparent that some kit would have to be discarded and I removed an additional fleece as well as strapping some of my kit to the outside of my pack.

Having squeezed the additional items into my pack the next shock was to discover its weight which I estimated at between 70/75 lb. I puffed back to reception wondering how on earth I was going to cope on a trail when I was struggling going down the stairs. Christine I was to discover was a hardened trekker and as I helped load the packs into the back of the Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV) for our trip to the trailhead realised that she had a very light pack weighing only about 35 lb. The omens for me were not good.

Our Sports Utility Vehicle

During our drive back over Teton Pass, through Victor and onto the trail head at South Badgers Creek  near Phelps I was rapidly reassessing my priorities. It was immediately obvious that further significant weight pruning would be essential and I advised Dave as much as we bumped and bounced down 15 miles of dirt roads on our way to the trailhead.

Looking back out of the dirt covered rear window of the SUV through the dust cloud left hanging in the air by our passage all I could see was miles and miles of empty semi featureless space. It was my first taste of what the wilderness really meant.

Dave missed a turning and having to partially retrace our path we eventually arrived at the South Badgers Creek Trail Head at about 10.30 am. Unsurprisingly given the complete absence of any traffic on our drive in we were the only vehicle there. Dave advised that the SUV would be collected in a couple of days and moved to the appropriate resupply trailhead by other staff.

Dismounting from the vehicle I retrieved my pack and started an immediate reassessment of my needs. I dispensed with all additional spare clothing reasoning that I could always wear the same items dirty and comforted by the thought that as I had purchased technical clothing (i.e. mainly synthetic) there was little risk of it becoming damp and un-wearable. Regrettably I also had to leave my GPS receiver with which I was going to chart the distances walked along with a large supply of AA batteries. By this stage my new backpack and contents had been covered in a large quantity of dirt and I was already appreciating the realities of trekking - you become dirty and stay dirty.

Dave was in no rush to exit the trailhead and head into the back country, advising from previous experience, that it was better to take time now to ensure that nothing essential was forgotten so with further advise I eventually managed to pare my backpack down to a more manageable (but still heavy) 60lb.   

Finally we were off and headed surprisingly downwards from a side ridge at 8,000ft through the trees onto the South Badgers Creek Trail.

The day was hot and I was glad that we were heading downhill as it allowed me time to adjust my pack and become used to moving over rough ground with the equivalent of over 4 stone on my back. Its certainly a different ball game carrying this sort of weight and I picked my step carefully along the path conscious that the scope for injury, given an inadvertent slip was much higher. I was also aware that at this altitude my breathing even moving downhill was deeper and I felt a slight tightness in the chest, which although not uncomfortable was just a reminder to take a little extra care and not overreach myself. After all  I had gone from sea level to 8,000ft in a little over 36 hours.

The valley floorReaching the valley floor we left the cover of the  heat screening trees and emerged into the open to be assailed by the direct heat of the fierce late morning sun.

In this unfamiliar environment my senses and hearing in particular were heightened and I half expected at any moment to meet a bear. I was however reassured by the pepper spray that Dave was carrying clipped to his belt and the knowledge that it is typically sole hikers who are attacked by bears and very unusual for groups of three or more people to be troubled.

We plodded on the weight of my pack torturing my shoulders and hanging around my hips like an anchor until eventually a halt was called for lunch. As I was carrying the lunch rations I eagerly discarding my pack, my shoulders decompressing and apparently floating as I did so and delved into it for the food bag within. I had by this stage (12.30 ish) built up a large appetite and was looking forward to the first of the promised "hail and hearty" meals  as advised on the Wild Horizons Expeditions website.

Bread, jam and peanut butter for lunch? That was my first surprise and a semi brutal introduction to Wilderness Trekking. You carry what you eat and as I was discovering weight is pretty much everything. I did wonder how on earth I was going to survive for ten days eating such small quantities of such basic food, however even the most basic food tastes delicious when you are in the middle of nowhere and hungry. Lunch consequently disappeared in a flash and we packed up and moved on.

The afternoon became hotter and as we  started to gradually climb towards the  head of the valley Christine and I became aware that Dave was struggling somewhat with some form of mild allergic reaction causing him to have coughing fits ( I know how he felt - although my lethargy I suspected was down to altitude)

First night camp

At about 3pm we reached the head of the valley and its junction with Dead Horse Pass and Green Lake Trails. Instead of heading as intended steeply uphill out of the valley in the direction of Green Lakes,  Dave asked whether Christine and I would mind calling it a day to allow him time to recover. I was quite happy even given the apparent early hour  to call it quits for the day so we set up our camp amongst the trees adjacent to a noisy running river surrounded on all sides by tall mountains. 

The camping/trekking routine is certainly different with early starts and early to bed. Having had our tea (basically all the food is dehydrated to which water boiled on a stove is added) we adjoined to sit around the camp fire and absorb the atmosphere and view.

As dusk fell I could hear a strange whistling noise which turned out to be the sound of the wind travelling up the valley canyon only reaching our location some 15 seconds later. Certainly a fascinating experience. 

We retired to bed to sleep at 8 pm and I experienced for the first time in a long time the sounds of nature. Emerging briefly at 3 am to attend to a call of nature I saw the star lit nights sky above me. It was as if I had been moved closer to the heavens so clear and brightly did they shine.

I returned to my tent contented and fell asleep to the sound of the nearby tumbling river and the wind rustling through the trees. So ended my first day out in the wild.    

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