07/01/08: Hiking Devils's Stairs Trail:
The main reason I'm over here on the back side of the Grand Tetons in the Jedediah Smith Wilderness is for a more challenging hike that is still within (hopefully) my range. Everything in the park seemed to be too easy, too hard, too short, too long, etc for what I wanted to accomplish.
The Devil's Stairs Trail is about 8 miles round trip with the option to go farther. The book says its a 1500 foot climb too. I've allocated 3 days to finally do the whole trail at once. My goal today was to get about 1/2 way up the trail.
It was cloudy and cool this morning as I hit the trail at 8am, I walked from my campstite to the South Teton Trailhead at the 2nd parking lot. It's 2.7 miles to the Devils's Stairs Trail. I no sooner got started than I ran into a red fox coming down the trail towards me. This guy was much larger than the east coast red fox, more like a 1/2 or 3/4 grown coyote.
This is a pleasant trail through pine forests and fields of flowers with huge, snow topped walls on either side with an upwards bias of 100 feet or so. I got to the Devils's Stairs Trail in 1hr 20min or so. From here its .9 miles to the Devils's Stairs.
I didn't do too badly on this section. I think I got 2/3 to 3/4 of the way up. I think I got within 400 feet of the top which would mean a climb of 800-900 feet. The final pitch is the Devils's Stairs and starts at the base of a cliff and switchbacks up the cliff. It seemed that the upper part may be covered with snow. Probably the meadow above too. We'll find out tomorrow... maybe.
07/02/08 Hiking Devils's Stairs Trail:
The second day wasn't as good as the first. I struggled much harder than the day before and only got 100 yards farther. I attribute that to my legs being tired from the first day. So, I'm taking tomorrow off to see how I do on the 4th.
Today, as I approached the Devils's Stairs Trailhead a young woman was jogging down the trail with a dalmation. The dog scared up 3 moose who loped off into the woods. I thought all three were females but didn't see any calves.
Last night was interesting too. When I got back from yesterday's hike some dark clouds moved in and threatened rain for a couple of hours. In the evening it did rain fairly heavily. Then it started to hail. The only hail I'd been in before was little tiny things. These hailstones were about the size of the nail on my little finger. And did they make a racket on the roof of my van. I enjoy listening to rain falling on my roof but this was a bit much. Sounded like someone beating on it with a hammer. Only lasted 15 minutes or so though.
07/04/08 Hiking Devils's Stairs Trail:
Took yesterday off to rest my legs. Didn't make much difference because I felt worse the 3rd day than the 2nd and worse the 2nd day than the 1st.
In any case, I got the job done this time. It took a lot of time, a lot of pain and a lot of effort but I got to the top.
An overcast day and my legs were sore while still on the 2.7 mile access trail. Saw one moose along the way. Started up the Devil's Stairs access trail and the legs continued to ache and I started thinking about quitting. But I just kept struggling upwards.
Eventually, after a lot of breaks and a couple of sitdowns I got to where I stopped the 1st day and a little farther where I stopped the 2nd day. A little farther and I was at the bottom of the Stairs. They were only a short distance from where I had stopped before.
The Stairs themselves are only 200 yards or so and maybe 100 feet. Just a bunch of natural stone steps. I got to the top and went off to the side for lunch and declared that the top of the climb. It took me 1.5 hours to go that one mile. It took me 50 minutes to get back down.
No snow on the trail anywhere but a lot on the meadow at the top.
Back at the campsite I watched a red fox come trotting across a field of flowers to the other side of my picnic table. It stopped there, took a look at me and trotted off. This guy was smaller than the other one I'd seen earlier and had a very thin body. It's bushy tail was almost as thick.
07/06/08 Hiking Table Mountain Trail:
Took another day off and started up the Table Mountain Trail. Actually, I was going to try to do the Beard's Wheatfield Trail. Didn't really matter as I didn't do either one. Table Mountain Trail is 12.5 miles round trip and 2500 feet gain in elevation. People who are actually doing this trail start off at 6 or 7am in order to get back at a reasonable time. It takes most people 6+ hours to complete the hike.
The trail starts right off with a 400-500 foot gain in the 1st 1/4 mile or so. From there it's a steady upward grind most of the rest of the way.
Beard's Wheatfield Trail branches off to the left about the 1.5 mile mark. It too rises 2500 feet in about 2 miles. I thought I'd just slog along as far as my legs would let me. Turns out I got to the junction and my hamstrings were whining and complaining like a 3 year old asking for ice cream. I continued a little farther on the Table Mountain Trail and gave up.
I didn't see any critters but some people on the way back saw 2 bears working their way down the far slope and a few moose, one with a pretty decent rack.
07/07/08 Hiking Table Mountain Trail:
Started up the Table Mountain Trail again this morning. Had some rain last night with somw boomers.
I didn't get any farther today than yesterday. Legs complaining again. If I'm not making progress and/or not having fun, why bother?
Wanted to try my legs out later that afternoon so went back up the trail to the Wilderness sign. Legs felt much better on the uphill part as well as the flatter part.