"Can I Make It Back Up?"

25-June 2004 to 26-June 2004: Now that I was at the bottom of the cliff, I was really worried that I might not make it back up. The scramble was steep and the footing was slippery. I sure hoped those fallen trees hanging onto the gully could support my weight on the way up. Then, the dark thunderclouds ominously loomed above threatening to wet the cliff and prevent me from going up.

The Falls River almost covered the entire canyon floor I was in. Clearly I could go nowhere without getting into the water. Then, with a roar of thunder, I quickly abandoned any thought I had of trying to get a decent shot of Terraced Falls from its base and just took the photo that was available.

Another roar of thunder ensued, and I hurriedly made my way back up the cliff. The whole time I kept thinking to myself, “Can I make it back up?”…

• Day 1: A RISKY SCRAMBLE
• Day 2: THE WHIRLWIND TOUR OF THE GRAND TETONS

Day 1: A RISKY SCRAMBLE

Julie and I woke up and broke camp before 6am. We had left the Mammoth Campground and its relatively fine weather at around 6:30am.

Today, we planned on getting to the Signal Mountain Lodge to spend our only night in the Grand Tetons. I was really looking forward to seeing the famed skyline of the 13,000+ ft peaks, but given the persistent thunderstorms, I wasn’t sure we’d see them.

The drive south through the park was pretty uneventful as we had set out very early and we pretty much took our time going from Mammoth all the way to Norris then to Madison and then on our way to the South Entrance via Old Faithful.

At 7:30am, we arrived at the Fountain Paint Pots and decided to briefly walk its boardwalk towards some more thermal features (I recalled there were a pair of geysers kind of going off at the same time). I figured that we hadn’t visited this part of the park during our time when we were staying at the Madison Campground so why not check this place out just to see what it was about.

But I think after seeing the Upper Geyser Basin and the Mammoth Terraces, these paint pots didn’t quite hold our interest. Perhaps we were a bit jaded after seeing so many thermal features on this trip. It also didn’t help that the weather had threatened rain again and thus muted the colors in the pools.

Next, we made a brief visit to a car park near Firehole Lake. We didn’t actually see the lake itself, but we did notice there was a geyser cone protruding out of the ground that caught our interest. But we didn’t stay here for long.

Shortly afterwards, we checked out the Black Sand Basin where we saw more interesting pools. But without the sun’s rays amplifying the colors, they were merely ordinary pools. There was another geyser over there that was periodically spouting but not erupting.

There was also the so-called Rainbow Pool which looked very deep but also very dark. Because of the overcast and threatening skies, whatever colors the name suggested we were supposed to be seeing wasn’t present at all.

When we arrived back at the Old Faithful Lodge, Julie and I decided to have a brunch. After all, we weren’t in any hurry so why not have one last meal in Yellowstone National Park.

Up until now, we hadn’t really spent any quality time in the famed rustic building of the Old Faithful Lodge. So we figured a meal here would immerse us in this gaudy yet historical monument.

The high ceilings and wooden structures really gave us the sense we were in a building like no other. It all seemed so grand. If we had time, I really wished we could’ve explored the upper balconies, and perhaps checked out an Old Faithful eruption from the lookout near the top of the building.

Anyhow, the buffet brunch was rather ordinary (we knew buffets tended to be this way), but we certainly enjoyed spending time in the lodge.

But now it was late morning and it was time to head further south and leave Yellowstone National Park.

During the drive, I had this crazy idea to give Terraced Falls another try. I was so disappointed with our attempt five days ago that I felt compelled to go back and see what it would be like had I went down that steep cliff towards the base of the falls.

It appeared all along that Julie was skeptical of the idea, but she didn’t protest knowing that I had an itch to scratch.

And so when we returned to Flagg Ranch, we headed on our spur on the rough and rugged Grassy Lake Road towards the Cascade Creek Trailhead again. It was about 12:30pm when we arrived at the trailhead with a bunch of mosquitos waiting for me to get out of the car. Julie opted to stay in the car and nap.

So with bear spray in the holster, bear bells attached, and a light day pack with hiking sticks, I was off. Having been through this trail earlier, I quickly made it back to Terraced Falls before 1pm.

Now, I moved forward past the warning signs and looked down at that gully that kept me from the banks from Falls River below the falls. The scramble still looked steep, but doable. So I left my hiking sticks behind and went ahead with the scramble.

At first, it was fairly manageable, but as I got closer to the bottom, the gully got steeper and parts of the cliff were even wet. I grew worried that once I got down, I wasn’t able to make it back up. But I had made it here already and I saw some fallen trees and a few informal footholds that might facilitate my climb on the way back up. Still, I was concerned…

Now that I was at the bottom of the cliff, I was really worried that I might not make it back up. The scramble was steep and the footing was slippery. I sure hoped those fallen trees hanging onto the gully could support my weight on the way up. Then, the dark thunderclouds ominously loomed above threatening to wet the cliff and prevent me from going up.

The Falls River almost covered the entire canyon floor I was in. Clearly I could go nowhere without getting into the water. Then, with a roar of thunder, I quickly abandoned any thought I had of trying to get a decent shot of Terraced Falls from its base and just took the photo that was available.

Another roar of thunder ensued, and I hurriedly made my way back up the cliff. The whole time I kept thinking to myself, “Can I make it back up?”

With my heart racing at a million miles an hour from the fear that I might get stuck here, I reached for footholds and fallen trees that precariously hung onto the steep gully. The climb seemed like forever, but you could imagine my relief when I finally saw my hiking sticks again at the top of the gully.

I picked up the hiking sticks and immediately started hiking fast back to the car. My prevailing thought now was about how disappointing both my Terraced Falls experiences were. That cliff scramble I made wasn’t even worth it, and in hindsight, it was foolish on my part to even try the scramble.

Once again, it could’ve been another dangerous situation had the thunderstorm dumped rain while I was at the bottom of the cliff. With water eliminating the friction I would need to get out, I would be stuck and I would also be threatened by the potentially rising waters of the Falls River. It was chilling to think about what could’ve happened had things not gone my way…

Anyways, I continued the fast walking back to the car. All the while, I was singing Blink 182’s “All The Small Things” just because it was in my head at the time and I tried to make sure I wouldn’t startle a grizzly bear at the wrong time.

The thunderstorm eventually dumped its heavy rain and even some hail. I didn’t care that I was totally drenched. I eventually made it back to the car and an awaiting Julie at a little after 1:30pm.

I was a sweaty mess, even despite the pouring rain. My clothes were full of dirt and mud from my cliff-side scramble. But with the AC of the car rental turned on, Julie and I were headed back towards Flagg Ranch. The thunderstorm started to relent as we got closer to Hwy 89.

It was 2:45pm when we got back to the Hwy 89 just south of Flagg Ranch when I noticed a big brown four-legged animal in the bush to my left. Could this be a moose?

We had seen elk, bison, and black bears, but we hadn’t seen any of the more rare fauna such as wolves, grizzlies, and moose. I was excited about seeing the real Rocky Bullwinkle in person (from a distance of course)!

And just when I stopped the car and tried to get a good photo of it, the moose suddenly sat down as if it knew people started taking photos. Me and several other photographers scrambled a bit to try to see the moose again, and we got our views, but the moose stared right at us and didn’t seem too pleased. So after taking my photo of just its head, I headed back to the car without any desire to go up against a potentially raging moose.

We finally started to see parts of the Grand Tetons Mountain Range after 3pm. What struck us was how much gravel flats we saw. Clearly, Jackson Lake wasn’t as big as it should’ve been and it appeared as if the drought hit this area hard. It was only late June, and I hated to imagine how much drier this area might be as the summer progressed (despite all the rain and thunderstorms we had been experiencing throughout this trip).

As we went further along the road, we caught even more attractive glimpses of the plains fronting the imposing Teton Ranges. We were starting to realize that what made these ranges so attractive was that the rise up to 13,000ft was dramatic as the plains we were in seemed to be pretty low.

In contrast, you have 14,000ft peaks of the Eastern Sierra in California, but the Hwy 395 was roughly 3000-4000ft so the change in altitude wasn’t quite as dramatic as here.

After driving along Hwy 89 deeper into Grand Tetons National Park while taking wildflower photos before the gorgeous skyline, we eventually made it to Signal Mountain Lodge to check in. The view from here was magnificient as it sat right on the shores of Jackson Lake.

Still, there was some hours left in the afternoon to do a little bit of more sightseeing before we would call it a night.

And so we promptly left our belongings in our nice cabin and began the drive further south starting on the Inner Loop Road. The skyscraping peaks of the Tetons looming large behind Jackson Lake and then Jenny Lake was really a sight to behold. We wasted no time taking as many photos of the skyline that we could. We also noticed a few waterfalls (albeit small and wimpy-looking) such as Broken Falls and Ribbon Cascade.

When we headed back north on the Outer Loop Road, we were hoping to get to the famed Snake River Overlook to get a sense of what Ansel Adams saw when he made this viewpoint famous. However, the forbidding thunderclouds covered the mountains and dumped buckets of rain with alarming force. Even the fastest windshield wiper setting couldn’t clear the smattering of water droplets quickly enough on our windshield as we drove slowly. We’d have to come back to this overlook tomorrow to pretend we were Ansel Adams.

And so we returned to the Signal Mountain Lodge. Both Julie and I were famished and eagerly went to the Peaks Restaurant to have a meal. I couldn’t recall what we had over there except I knew local trout was the way to go. Anyhow, the meal was satisfying and the setting probably would’ve been romantic had we not gone through such an action-packed day of sightseeing.

When we left the restaurant, I couldn’t help but notice how the fading light of the setting sun painted the thunderclouds purple and pink above the contours of Mt Moran. So with Julie’s camera, I took a few sunset shots in the dark but dramatic setting. It was about 9:20pm when I was done taking photographs. Julie was already back in the cabin showering and cleansing herself of the deet and sweat accumulated during the day. Meanwhile, I engaged in a some small talk with a fellow visitor who was also photographing the same thing I was seeing.

Eventually, I’d rejoin Julie in our cabin as we had to pack our stuff knowing that by tomorrow evening we’d have to return to Salt Lake City and fly home to LA. Only then did I finally take a shower and tend to my dental hygiene before resting with Julie.

It was a relaxing end to another adventurous day. Impressed by the rustic charm and lovely views, we wished we could’ve stayed another night here. But I knew there was still tomorrow morning to get our last fill of the Grand Tetons before embarking on the 5-hour drive back to Salt Lake City…

Day 2: THE WHIRLWIND TOUR OF THE GRAND TETONS

It was around 5am when I awoke. But when I looked out of our cabin at the Signal Mountain Lodge, it seemed like the skies were overcast. Yet when I looked out in a different direction towards the east, the skies looked clear. Something was up.

In any case, I got up this early because I wanted to see some alpenglow or some kind of soft morning light painting the Teton Range. I wasn’t sure if I was already late to the party though.

Nonetheless, I left Julie to sleep in while I got in the car and headed out. My first inclination was to drive all the way to the Oxbow Bend for a reflective view of the Tetons with alpenglow, but it was apparent that fog was obscuring most of the peaks as I was headed north on the Outer Loop Road.

So I turned around and as I was zooming southwards, another guy was driving crazily as he passed me and recklessly zoomed forward probably trying to do the same thing I was doing – photograph soft light on the Tetons.

I was encouraged as I was driving southbound because I was starting to be able to see some breaks in the clouds, and it was starting to become clear that the clouds I saw were merely low lying fog. If I could only get to the top of some place to look at the peaks above the clouds, I’d be in good shape.

And the nearest peak that I could think of would be the top of Signal Mountain.

I’d eventually be at the top of Signal Mountain by about 6am. Unfortunately, it seemed like the alpenglow had already passed and now it was just soft morning light.

So the best I could do under these conditions was to take photos of the Tetons rising high above the clouds creating the illusion that where I was standing was actually high in the sky above the clouds.

As the morning light was getting brighter, I could see that the fog was slowly starting to dissipate or at least move and reveal more of the landscape beneath the Teton Ranges.

It didn’t take long before I had my fill of this view, and I would rejoin Julie back at the Signal Mountain Lodge to get packed up and ready to go. This would be the last day of sightseeing as we were bound for Salt Lake City tonight.

As we checked out and left the Signal Mountain Lodge, we decided to head over to Jenny Lake so we could take the boat shuttle and reduce the hike to Hidden Falls by 5 miles. Thus, it would only be a little over a mile round trip to see perhaps the lone accessible and legitimate waterfall in the Grand Tetons.

We got to Jenny Lake shortly before 8:30am. Sure enough we paid for and got onto the boat shuttle just in time. And about 15 minutes later, we were dropped off on the far shore of the lake and began our hike uphill to get to Hidden Falls.

We’d ultimately get to Hidden Falls a little after 8:45am. While we were there, we basically took plenty of photos from behind the fence railing and experienced as much as we could without getting all the way to its base (would it even be possible?).

As more and more people from our boat shuttle started showing up, we decided to continue hiking further up the mountain and towards the mouth of Cascade Canyon. During the hike up, we got some pretty panoramas of the plains to the east as well as Jenny Lake.

The climbing path was a little bit rugged, but it was well-used and quite easy to follow. It was the uphill hiking that started to make us sweat and breathe a bit harder.

We were finally at the mouth of Cascade Canyon a little before 9:30am. The view of Jenny Lake and the plains beyond was beautiful. But we knew wanted to at least see what it was like hiking in Cascade Canyon for this would be the place where we were flanked by 13,000ft peaks in a U-shaped valley.

I don’t think our cameras were able to do this place justice for being flanked by such neck-cranking peaks was a sight to behold. And we weren’t sure how much further we’d be going since it would take way too long to make it all the way to Lake Solitude, and it didn’t seem like there was a definite turnaround point that we could use as the clear indicator that we should be heading back.

It probably wasn’t until about 10am that we decided it was time to turn back. So we went ahead and descended the trail headed back down to Hidden Falls. We’d get a chance to experiene its rushing waters one more time before we arrived back at the boat dock for the return boat ride back to the main area and car park.

Once we recovered the car, we then continued driving the Outer Loop Road while getting views back at Cascade Canyon rising above the plains and trees before us.

We made one last look on the Inner Loop Road to check out Jenny Lake with a little better lighting, but then we finally decided to pursue the more famous overlooks in the literature – Oxbow Bend and the Snake River Overlook.

The Oxbow Bend didn’t have the reflections that I was hoping for, and I’d imagine we should’ve been here either very early in the morning or around sunset. Because right now, the waters were rippling, but at least the wildflowers fronting the bend in the river were attractive.

Next, we drove out to the Snake River Overlook where we tried to reproduce the photo that Ansel Adams took in black-and-white. Unfortunately when we got to the overlook, some of the thunderclouds were starting to form and they started to obscure some of the peaks in the background.

Finally, we went to Colter Bay to see if we could get a look at the combo of Wilderness and Columbine Falls. When we got there, we noticed there were some impressive mountain cascades way in the distance, and speculated that perhaps those were indeed the Wilderness and Columbine Falls. There were also a few more stringy cascades as well, but we couldn’t tell if they were legit or not.

After having our fill of these distant looks of the falls (probably needed a much more powerful zoom lens to bring these waterfalls in more), we finally drove south towards the town of Jackson. When we entered the town, I realized that I had completely forgotten about Mormon’s Row, which was a series of attractive barns fronting the Grand Tetons. So that would be yet another thing to do the next time we come back to this general area.

After passing through Jackson Hole, we then eventually made our way back to the I-15, and then we continued on the very long drive until we’d eventually make it back to the Salt Lake City area when darkness started to fall.

We did eat at this cowboy western place somewhere close to Salt Lake City, but it wasn’t memorable other than it provided us with a little bit of a dinner break before we had to check-in, pack, and have one more night’s rest before our flight back home tomorrow.

Indeed, this was the end of our epic Yellowstone trip, which put us face-to-face with many wildlife, geysers, waterfalls, and more. But there were still some things that we weren’t able to do on this trip that I’m quite determined to make sure we do it the next time around. This is especially true of the Bechler Backcountry area of Yellowstone.