Climbing the Grand Teton

 At the end of July, Scott, Everett, and Talmage did something on their bucket list--climb the Grand Teton in Wyoming. *Spoiler alert* It was grueling and they all three vowed never to do it again. But they did it!

We drove up to Rexburg on Sunday afternoon, which was its own adventure with the car breaking down. Then early Monday morning, the three of them drove to the trailhead--about 2 hours away. There they met up with Dan Hemmert and his two boys. Dan has done this hike several times so they were relying on his expertise.

Monday afternoon they hiked 5 miles to the base camp with their very heavy packs full of sleeping bags, tents, climbing gear, food, etc. The packs weighed about 40 lbs. Talmage said when they took them off, they felt like they were floating.

Near the Lupine Meadows trail head

At the "Platforms."

Camping in Garnet Meadows

Everett thought this was going to be a cave, but it wasn't.

They were on the trail before the sun rose.

At the lower saddle. Rangers camp there for the summer.

A view from the lower saddle.

Heading out of the lower saddle towards the upper saddle.

A view from partway up.

It was a little cold in the shade.

At the upper saddle.

Getting ready to head out of the upper saddle.

A little before the Belly Roll. You can find some pictures of people going over and around the belly roll at http://wyomingwhiskey.blogspot.com/p/the-belly-roll.html.

Looking down on the "Catwalk."

The summit!

A view towards the east from the summit.

At the lower saddle on the way back down. Running out of water and energy.

Hiking back through the moraine field.

They were a little worried about running into a bear, but this was about as ferocious as the wildlife got.

Probably the hardest part was the emotional strain from the upper saddle to the summit. There were many places where a simple mistake could lead to a devastating fall. The constant bouldering (both up and down) from the lower saddle to the upper saddle was also a challenge. But they did it!