A Day Like no Other

Recently I was given the privilege of taking a short term resident on his one and only park trip since he was a wee lad. As he was days away from leaving the valley without setting foot in either of our glorious parks, I felt it my duty to rectify this unfortunate situation (he is not the kind of person who should be allowed to miss these treasures).  The difficulty in this endeavor was the addition of our two dogs, as we all know National Parks are not pet friendly. I had hoped that we could hit up the Pacific Creek trail head that sits just outside GTNP off Wilderness Road, alas it was snow bound and inaccessible. We decided as we were already in the park we might as well see the sights and took the mini road trip north towards Flagg Ranch, that gem of wilderness snuggled between GTNP and Yellowstone.

Once there we decided to walk from the road closure towards Yellowstone, which unbeknownst to me was a mere 2.3 miles ahead. When I realized we had arrived within the gates of the park, My hiking companion, turned an abrupt right and headed down a steep slope to the Lewis River. The dogs were set loose and we enjoyed a scenic detour. We had a slight mishap when Jude, the hiking companion's pet,  fell through some ice into the frigid waters. Pi of course felt he would be of assistance and demolished the ice in his attempt. Pi managed to get out  of the water without assistance, however Jude thought that following Pi would be the best route. Unfortunately for Jude this lead him further from saftey. Jude was rescued when his attentive master used rocks to break the ice confining the poor pooch and he was able to swim to safety. 

We used our extra layers to dry out the sopping canine and then snuggled him inside the warm embrace of his loving owner's arms, which were conveniently wrapped inside a down jacket, that had just enough extra room for the shivering beast.  Body heat, as we all know, being a quick fix to hypothermia. Once Jude was no longer a pupsicle we climbed out of the river valley and headed back to the car. 

Upon our arrival into the parking lot, my wonderful asshole of a dog decided he no longer wished to hear let alone heed any commamds and went galavanting amongst people, pets, and their engine fueled beasts. This day was just not what I had intended.

Once Pi had be wrangled into the car (simply opening the car door and shouting load up) We devoured the delicious lunch we picked up from Creekside Deli back in Jackson and headed South towards Jackson Lake dam and the remainder of our day.

On the drive my unbelievably patient copilot said he had more hiking in him, if I was amenable. 

Yes. Always yes.

So I took him to the tried and true, always decent, winter road closure of the Gros Ventre  just past Slide Lake. 

We hit the trail with no expectations. And were delighted with our adventure. The road was a bit of a mess, icy and slushy, slick and rough. It was just demolished by the heavy use of snow machines but it was a tried and true trail and took us to some excellent sights. Is it a true trail... No... Was it amazing.... Yes.

At one point Pi was behaving a bit more irradict which turned out to be a reaction to a herd of big horn sheep on the hill above us. When we discovered our company I did my best to distract Pi while our guest photographed away.   I headed further down the trail and spotted the bog boys, called over the photographer and let him snap away. After the sheep encounter our spirits were lifted. We trekked on. Later we encountered some elk and the wonderfulness of the day was solidified.

When we reached the trail head for Sheep Mountain at Red Hills Campground I broke the news that we must soon turn around. As it was sunset and we had hiked in 5.5 miles. 

On our return we witnessed both herds of ungulates we had previously trespassed upon . The sun sank, the stars did their darnedest to peek through the clouds as we ended our hike in the pitch black night of Jackson Hole.  We ended the day with 16 miles under our belt, wild life encounters, and a story for the books. Spectacular Day.