Triangle X Ranch

Every hike is my favorite hike. Well, except the really not fun ones. Essentially if I'm out of doors with my family, and its a nice day, and no one is complaining then its a perfect hike. With us that happens often, so every hike is my favorite hike. Until a really spectacular one comes along, then its my super favorite for a while. Last Sunday was that hike.

I finally told Kevin that I had to, just had to go up this Teton Forest Service road. It is on the right hand side of the road just after you pass Triangle X Ranch, heading north on 89.  There is also an adjacent parking area on the left hand side of the road. All he wanted to know was the condition of the path, and said lets do it.  After we picked kids up from Grammy and Grandpa, we headed up, grabbing Mickey D's for lunch on the way. We took the Forest Service Road until it dead ended into a parking area. We parked, got the kids in their snow gear and started to head out. A man that was parked nearby asked us which way we were headed, and then explained what was up the path ahead. He told us that when the road forks, on the left path about 6 miles up is a dry lake bed. The path to the right lead around to some excellent views of the Tetons. We thanked him and decided that 6 miles to a dry lake bed seemed neither exciting, nor possible, so we would be going to the right. He wanted to know as he was going to be target shooting.






Snowball fight. She got my camera.

    

We stopped and looked at the trail head map, for curiosities sake. The trail starts on an up hill slope, and just after you loose sight of the parking area it forks; well really the trail continues and a path connects to it on the right. The path to the right doubles back on the original path, and opens into a valley. Eventually it leads into the Triangle X Ranch development. Its a really nice path that follows the bends and curves of the hills seamlessly as it winds around. Oddly open and sheltered simultaneously as it flows through the trees.

Beware The Dilemma.

As we came upon the Triangle X Ranch development Kevin spotted 3 moose off to the left hand side of the path. Since he was in the lead he headed back towards us. We quietly grouped up and had each child firmly in hand then proceeded on. Two of the moose were laying down, the third was standing and eating. They all looked at us, and then instantly lost interest. One even laying down in boredom. We lingered for a few moments to snap some photos and to make sure the kids all got a good look, then we quietly headed on. In Triangle X we came across a large group of cross country skiers, we warned them about the Moose and headed through town. We followed the snowmobile path through the street and into a Cabin Rental area where the trail looped and dead ended on itself. In the middle of the snowmobile loop was a moose path, so we decided to follow it instead.

Kevin in the lead, the kids between us, myself bringing up the rear. We told all the kids to keep their eyes peeled for animals and to watch the level of their voices. Along the way we saw piles of proof that the trail we were following was indeed that of a moose, perhaps one or more of the moose we just meet. We kept checking the 'proof' to be sure it was left by something long gone, each time positivly reassured. The kids loved it, the moose left a trail of bridges surrounded by empty pits of snow. They made a game of jumping from bridge to bridge, whoever missed and fell in one of the holes lost.

We followed this trail until it was no longer passable, apparently the trail we were on was often used up until this point. Here the animal had taken many different paths after each return trip. Or the multiple animals that had walked it parted ways. Either way it was our end point. We stopped, had some water and oranges, then headed back. We returned through Triangle X to our original path. Right before you leave Triangle X there is a path  that leads up the into the forest. We decided to take it,  as we hadn't traveled nearly as far as we typically would.

Heading up this path we again encountered a moose, a really big and super close moose. About 20 feet away in the woods walking around. We decided to leave this moose alone and just head back to the car. The original three moose remained where we left them. Safly tucked in the woods a good distance from the path.  As we neared the parking area, Kevin and Jack took an abrupt left into the woods. I assumed that they were going to play a trick to see if we noticed, the girls at this point were too intereseted in the scenery to be moving at a speedy pace. However that wasn't the case, Kevin found a short cut to the car, one that started as an animal path and quickly ended. So we carved our way through the thigh deep snow and earned the short cut to the truck.