Most hikers were doing an out-and-back and had not come over the pass. We passed several backpacking groups and I always stopped to chat, asking where they had spent the night, digging for clues about what coming over Paintbrush Divide was like. This is columbine, my favorite Western flower. The day was plenty warm and I was trying to stick to Mike’s mantra: walk at a sustainable pace. As we took a break in the middle of the trail we watched a marmot scurry away. The trees became scarce and the trail continued to climb.
With every switchback the waterfalls grew larger until I realized I could delete the first 10 photos taken from a distance. Looking up at the walls of the canyon, we saw waterfalls that were enormous even from a great distance. The amount of water was surprising – it was everywhere, large whitewater and small gushes. We passed into the subalpi ne forest, crossing Paintbrush Creek and other creeks a few times. (I think this photo is blue pen- stemon). The flowers were not as abundant as the previous day, but beautiful none- theless. A divide or pass is the spot in a mountain range that is lower than the surrounding peaks and the preferred way to get to the other side of the range. A vocab lesson: A canyon is a deep valley between mountains, sometimes created by a river, but in the Tetons they are mostly U-shaped and formed by glaciers. Moran, which is actually one canyon over. Jeff and I skirted the eastern side of String Lake, crossed the bridge between String Lake and Leigh Lake, and paused to look at Mt. SOOO…Mike ate his to-go breakfast while Jeff and I made last-minute checks, lamented at how heavy our packs were (Jeff had the bear canister, which is both bulky and heavy – and oh, yeah, MY food was still in it), shifted stuff around and looked at the sky, and all the while Mike chuckled at our “trailhead jitters.” And thus began the second scariest day of my hiking life. I don’t understand hikers who just “decide where to hike when they get there.” the following morning.” “What if we don’t meet up then either?” “Well, each will assume that something happened to the other and we will each just hike back out that morning by the shortest route.” Good worst case plans, so each was responsible for him/herself and did not have to s earching blindly for the others. Since we were starting out separately for our first day, the night before we had devised meticulous “what-if” plans: “What if we don’t find each other in the camping zone when we get there and we have to set up camp separately?” “Well, we’ll meet at this designated spot at 8:00 p.m.” “What if we don’t meet you at 8:00 p.m.?” “Well, we’ll meet at this other designated spot at 9:00 a.m.
I was cheering for Plan B from that point, a much longer hike on the last day, but a much safer I-want-to-live-to-tell-about-this option. She even wrote on the permit that she cautioned us against it. The nice young rangerette told us that Paintbrush had about ten snow fields, all passable without an ice axe, but that she strongly recommended that we not attempt Static Divide (planned for Day 3) without ice axes – or really at all. Part of our chores the day before had included registering with the backcountry office, getting our required bear canister (Mike had his own) and getting updated on the latest trail conditions. Mike’s plan was to take the boat shuttle across Jenny Lake and hike straight up Cascade Canyon to the North Fork and set up a campsite for us, marking the trail with an “S” to guide us from the trail. There are some designated spots to camp in the camping zones, but you can pitch a tent anywhere in those areas. Jeff and I planned to hike 3,800 feet up Paintbrush Canyon, over Paintbrush Divide (topping out at 10,700 feet) and down into North Fork Cascade Canyon, ending at the Lake Solitude camping zone. Jeff and I snarfed down our Bubba leftovers, Mike got breakfast to go at the Chuckwagon, and we drove to the String Lake picnic area where Mike would abandon.uh, drop us off.
I was blissfully unaware that a wet tent would not be my biggest challenge today. I knew from our first day that although the morning is all blue skies, in the afternoons the clouds build up and we would likely encounter rain, and I do hate being wet. Maybe you’ll get a chance to dry it out during your lunch stop…maybe not. You want to just wait until it dries, but you don’t have time. Packing up a wet tent is a mental challenge early in the morning. Grand Tetons Adventure – Day Three – 7/27/09 – Leigh Lake Trail/Paintbrush Divide Trail to North Fork Cascade Canyon Campsite – 10.5 Miles
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