Teton Crest Trail

I have four sisters. Anyone who reads this blog knows I love these girls like nobody's business. Remember when I went to Charleston, SC with Catherine and Emily? Well, this time I met up with the other two gals: Sarah (came from Texas) and Lindsey (who just moved to SLC-- YEAH!!!!) for some outdoor F.U.N. 

Hiked 26.5 miles in two days

traversed the Teton Crest trail 

was in desperate need of Tums

lost 1/2 our food (it was left behind by accident)

saw no bears

saw tons of stars

sang outside

laughed mucho

ate huckleberries (still on. . . can you believe it?)

argued about pace

and in true Hatch style, took 1,000 photos. 

Starting out-- a pre-trip photo before while everyone's hair is still done and the sweat has yet to fall. 

We were going to start out up Death Canyon, but the night before as we were getting ready Brian got called out to clear the area and close the road for an aggressive grizz and her three cubs. So we paid up and rode the tram all the way to the top of Rendezvous mountain. It shortened the day by one mile, but cut the elevation in half. Not too shabby.  

Since we had already cheated by taking the tram to the top of the mountain, why not split a waffle coated in brown sugar butter? Proved to be a great idea considering we were rationing our goods from here on out. Half of our food (the better 1/2 I might add) was left behind and added to the "will we make it out alive?" excitement. 

Still pregnant. When we all got dressed in the morning for our hike, we came out looking like triplets. Neon shirts and black spandex. So hott. I was never sure if people were staring at the prego lady or couldn't take their eyes of the neon lights walking down the trail. 

One of the best things about this hike is that I hadn't seen 80% of it. We actually got to consult a map at several junctions and hang out by alpine lakes. 

We set up camp on the Death Canyon Shelf, found a sink hole full of water, ate way too much broccoli cheese soup (I woke up dying of thirst with the worst heartburn ever), and chatted in our camp chairs till past 11pm. 

Lindsey, Sarah and me. What a good way to wake up in the morning!! We ate our meager ration of oatmeal and laughed about hiking 17 miles with our few cliff bars and trail mix. We packed up camp and started out toward Alaska Basin. I remember my grandpa telling me about taking horse-packing trips in this part of the park, and I had always wanted to see it myself. 

Lindsey and Sarah descending into Alaska Basin. 

We passed through tons of meadows of wildflowers, past trickling streams, clear alpine lakes, over slickrock and then up over Hurricane Pass-- the steepest part of our hike. We we crested the top we saw the peaks rise up in front of us. 

Pictures never do something like this justice. This spot was incredible. We hung out for a good hour with the Grand, Middle and South tetons right in front of us and South Fork of Cascade below. I have never been in these mountains when there has been so little snow-- even just three weeks prior when I climbed the Middle this whole basin was patchy snow!

I learned that it pays to have a hot single sister hiking with you. We ran into a friend of hers randomly on the trail at this very spot and after a few minutes of chit-chat I shamelessly asked if he had any extra food that he was weighing him down. He hooked us up with some Pop-Tarts.  

South Fork of Cascade Canyon is the most beautiful spot in the park. 

And how can I post all of this without acknowledging Brian who took two days off to watch Liesel so I could pull this off? And of course I was expecting a tear-filled greeting from my little girl who missed me like crazy and spends every waking moment with me. . . and of course all I got was a glance up from her while she was eating her dinner. She had a great time with dad. And I might as well throw in that the house was clean and BLTs and potato fries were waiting. What a man!