Saturday, December 6, 2008

Hiking adventure

This morning I got it in my head that I was going to go hiking since it was a fairly warm day and partly cloudy. Since Snow King isn't open yet that was the optimal spot. Kerry decided to join me for my adventure so we headed out the door and across the road and we were at the lift which we have taken to calling the yellow and blue lift (the Rafferty Chair if you are looking at the map). We hiked up a green trail (the gentlest slope) called Slow Trail starting at the bottom of the blue and yellow lift. Due to the altitude, and our bodies trouble with it, it was very slow going. It seemed like every couple hundred yards we had to stop because our hearts were pounding. I guess after living at 52 feet above sea level for 6 months and then moving to a base elevation of 6209 feet makes for quite a hard change on the body. Let alone then hiking from 6209 ft to 8008 ft.

The yellow and blue lift.

Kerry enjoying the nice weather.

It seems that Snow King had been hoping to be open much earlier because the snow guns were ready and raring to go as soon as the temperature drops and all of the signage was up on each trail. We had to laugh at the Thin Cover signs that could be seen all over the trail heads. We were quite surprised to find that apparently hiking Snow King is the popular thing to do in Jackson on a Saturday, we probably saw at least 15 people all out for a hike with their dogs.

Thin cover? No kidding....

The sun coming out to play.

The beautiful Tetons rising above Jackson.

We reached the summit (7800 ft at the top of the lift) and noticed that we could hike an additional 200 feet of vertical up to the top of the mountain where there were several radio towers (elevation 8008 ft) and a beautiful view. We decided to go past the No Trespassing sign and get the full view.
So when we both miraculously come down with some random disease we will know why.

Kerry and I with the beautiful mountains behind us.

Later that evening as we were sitting around in our living room and happened to catch the sunset off our back porch. Not exactly roughing it....

Sunset from our porch.

Friday, December 5, 2008

Cold Day

Kerry and I went skiing today, but since it was 7 degrees when we left in the morning we didn't stay long. The best description of the day was crisp-- the snow and the air. After a few hours we headed home to do some errands (the library and bank and such). In the evening we met our new neighbors. 2 out of the 3 are from Seattle, WA and came to the Cowboy Bar and 43 North with us. Like Mike they are trying to find work, which is slow going.

Thursday, December 4, 2008

First day up

WE WENT SKIING!!! We finally got our passes squared away and went out for a few runs at the resort. It was a perfect blue-bird day and about 25 degrees. There is only one trail open, but it was fun to make some turns. The trail varies from a blue to a double blue, although on the east that would easily be a black. My camera conveniently ran out of batteries so we only had time enough for one shot.

Me and Kerry enjoying the sunshine.

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Granite Falls Hot Springs

After a busy Monday of running around town and going to a training that ended up being canceled, we decided to go adventuring on Tuesday. Kerry found out about these hot springs that are south of Jackson near Pinedale. The directions we found online ended up being wrong, but luckily we ran across a woman and her horse. She directed us to a gas station that gave us directions to the hot springs. On the way we came across the Snake River and decided to pull over and be tourists and take some pictures. Once we came to the road to the hot springs we noticed a sign that told us the springs we 10 miles back. The dirt road was really muddy and potholed. Along the way we came across 2 ATV's that were being pulled by 8 sled dogs apiece. The snow began to fly after about 8 miles in. We finally came to the waterfall and knew we were in the right spot.

Ready for an adventure.

The Snake River.

The boys on the Snake River.

Right at the gate to the dirt road, about 1 mile back.

Getting out of the car at the hot springs.

Kerry crusing down the 1/4 mile hike in.

Granite falls.

It wasn't until we got down to the river that Mike noticed that there was someone already in the springs and that he somehow was on the other side of the river. We asked him how he got there and we thought he said he walked across, but it was hard to hear over the falls. We decided to ford the river, so we all stripped down to hoodies and our bathing suits. The river was about 40 feet wide and was about 32 degrees so it was less than pleasant to walk across. In typical Dana fashion as soona as my toe hit the water I let out what was called a "priceless yelp". We finally got to the other side and met a nice guy named Mark that had also just moved to Jackson and is working as a winch cat operator at the resort this winter. After chatting with him we found out if we had driven a little ways further we could have walked around and never got into the water. Good life lesson there. The hot springs were great though. As we sat there the snow started dumping and it was absoluetly beautiful.


The springs were on the other side of the river, brrrr.

Me and Kerry enjoying the warm springs.

Roomates.

The fun really began when we had to get out of the springs and ford the river back to our clothes and boots. We took some time to get adjusted to the cool air outside the springs, but apparently I didn't wait quite long enough. After crossing about 10 feet of the river I started to feel very faint and sick to my stomach. Luckily there was a small island of rocks, I stopped and told Kerry I needed a minute, that is when it was like someone had turned down the volume on the waterfall and the lights. I knew immediatly that I was going to faint. Luckily Kerry got me sitting down and I managed to get through the episode without smashing my head on anything. Once I came back to the world Kerry continued to cross the river. When he was about half way across I got up the courage to continue across, Mike held back in case my well-timed fainting episode continued. Somehow I flew across the river and beat Kerry who had about a 20 foot headstart. I have never been so happy to see my boots and sweatpants. The drive back down the road was much more slippery since about 2 or 3 inches of snow had fallen while we were there. For the most part I had a great time and it really made me thankful to have such great friends.


Running back to the car in a very stylish outfit.

Sunday, November 30, 2008

Roadtrip to WY

After spending the Thanksgiving holiday in Vermont with my family and friends I flew back to Portland OR. Kerry picked me up from the airport and then we headed back to my aunt's house for a few hours of rest before getting up to drive to WY. The first day we drove from Vancouver, WA to Boise, ID, 440 miles. The first day was rather uneventful, it rained a bit for the first hour and then it cleared off to be quite a beautiful day. By the time we stopped for lunch it was in the mid-60's and sunny. When we got to Boise we went to get some pizza at a great local place. We shared a pizza and some PBR in honor of the start to our ski bum life. Kerry woke me up at 6am the next morning because he wanted to get an early start, I told him there was not a shot in hell I was getting up and he let me sleep until 7am. We got ready and checked out and then headed in search of breakfast. We ended up stopping in downtown Boise, which was a very cute little city. Our second day of driving took us another 367 miles into Jackson, WY. Once we got off the highway the terrian began to become much more hilly. We didn't hit any snow until the last 20 miles once we crossed the Wyoming border. My car did great though, the new tires I bought did awesome even going down a 10% grade. We got to our condo and it was better than we could have ever guessed. Everything we need is here and we have awesome landlords too.