Over The Top Hike

Last summer I enjoyed a beautiful hike with a group of friends from the west side of the Tetons to the east, starting in Teton Canyon and ending at Jenny Lake. Then last September, Corbin and I took a different route, starting in Darby Canyon and ending on Rendezvous Mountain. Both were amazing experiences, but I have to say that I was just "wowed" by the first hike and wanted to show it to Corbin. Unfortunately, I am terrible with finding trails and had little hope of showing Corby something new!!

Our friends, Susy and Jeff, were excited to do this hike with us, and that inspired us to figure out how to find the "trail that was not on the map." Corb consulted with some local hikers and between his information and my recognition, we were able to find the right trail. All of this was after much work to find childcare and coordinate schedules ... all the effort was so very worth it.

Shortly into the hike (as we were looking for the "hidden" trail), we just about stepped on a cow and calf moose! Luckily they ran up into the hills before we could be too scared. The hike up was steep and got us up to some beautiful pastures with wildflowers and then to Hurricane Pass well before noon. We stopped to take a ton of photos, then savored each moment of the hike down. At one point on the way down, Corb and I realized we had forgotten our camera about 2 miles back ... so Corb and I ran back up to get the camera (well, after a few minutes, we hiked as fast as we could, then we ran down). We returned to find Susy doing "hill repeats" and Jeff graciously resting!

Jeff and Corb both agreed that this hike rose to the "top 3 ever hikes" on their list ... in truth it is in my top 2!! There are so many things we enjoy doing here ... hikes, floats, trips, outings, etc ... it's easy to think about what we haven't done. However, we've tried to remember to value what we have done, not dwell on what we haven't. This hike was a big success, and to be able to coordinate and do this with our closest friends here was just precious.

On the way home, we were witness to a bad car accident ... and recently there was a very sad story about a local car accident ... we spent the time waiting in traffic just counting our blessings and being grateful that we would return to our collective 7 children safely and happily. It was a day of reflection, appreciation, and joy for all 4 of us.