Backpacking the Teton Crest Trail: A Photo Journal

I had biked through Grand Teton and neighboring Yellowstone National Parks on numerous occasions — once on a solo trip and three times leading trips for Adventure Cycling. I felt as though I knew The Tetons fairly well. And I did, as well as one can from the seat of a bicycle. But never had I ventured beyond where my steel steed could take me. So when my adventure partner, Alan, asked whether I'd be interested in backpacking the Teton Crest Trail, I gave him a hearty affirmative. "Sure thing, Alan!" It would, after all, be a pleasure to experience the Tetons from within the crest rather than gawking up at them from 4000 feet below.

The Teton Crest Trail.

The Teton Crest is often considered one of the top backpacking trails in the United States. More than 40 miles in length, the trail traverses the Grand Teton National Park, Jedidiah Smith Wilderness, and Bridger-Teton and Caribou Targhee National Forests. The route offers a lovely array of jaw-drop vistas, from granite peaks and wide-open meadows to aquamarine lakes and magnificent evergreens. To top it off, The Teton Crest would be painted in a rich palette of autumn colors when we planned to backpack the trail at the end of September. Yup, I'd be up for that!

Happy 6th Re-Birthday to Me!

Happy 6th Re-Birthday to Me!

Six years ago today, I held my breath, crossed my fingers, and mixed together the ingredients of the early retirement elixir -- a dash of hope, a dash of crazy, and a whole lot of courage. Voila! All of the sudden, I found myself free of a job, free of the tedium of normalcy, and free of the confines of time.

Happy 5th Re-Birthday to Me!

Happy 5th Re-Birthday to Me!

Gee willikers! Has it been five years already? As Gretchen Rubin said, "The days are long, but the years are short." 

Backpacking the Beartooths: A Photo Journal

For four days and three nights, my friend (Greg) and I backpacked through the Beartooth Mountains. What's not to love about backpacking in a place where the sunsets look like this?

The sun sets in the Beartooth Mountains.

Located just to the northeast of Yellowstone National Park, the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness straddles the border of south central Montana and northwest Wyoming. The Beartooth Plateau is the largest high elevation plateau in the United States. Exceeding 10,000 feet in elevation, the plateau has more than 300 lakes and more than 25 peaks greater than 12,000 feet in elevation. Can you say "hubba hubba"?

The First 800 Miles with My Brompton

If you're here to learn more about Bromptons, read the review I wrote about my Brompton for the Adventure Cyclist magazine. Otherwise, read on...

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A little over a month ago, I introduced My New Set of Wheels -- my folding Brompton bike. Many of you asked how I liked my new bicycle, which I affectionately named "Bromleigh." At the time, I hadn't put enough miles on Bromleigh to form an opinion. But now, with more than 800 miles on my new rig, I'm ready to share my thoughts.

Me, just about to set out on my first tour with Bromleigh. (Photo: Pat Goede)

In the past, I've toured with Shirley, my trusty Long Haul Trucker. Commonly referred to as the "gold-standard" in affordable touring bikes, I've been nothing but satisfied with Shirley's performance. However, on my recent bicycle travels to South America, I learned that traveling with a full-sized bicycle can be cumbersome and expensive. And so it was that Bromleigh was born into my repertoire of bicycles.

My Mostest Favoritest Bike Trip: Central Oregon

My most favorite bicycle trip is no longer. No worries, though, it's been replaced by an even more favoriter trip.

Had you asked me two weeks ago to tell you my favorite bicycle trip, I would have answered that my favorite trip was my ride down the Pacific Coast in 2012. The trip had been at the top of my list for a number of reasons: the route included stunning views of the ocean, the ride was jam-packed full of fantastic people and places, and the trip signified a big step for me -- my first, long-distance, solo tour.

But my favorite trip has now been outdone by an even more favoriter trip. The honors now go to a recent ride through Central Oregon. The trip jockeyed its way to the top for a number of reasons: the ride included continuous, spectacular views of forests and mountains, the route consisted primarily of traffic-free roads through the wilderness, and I had an awesome riding buddy with whom I got along super-duper well. Similar to the Pacific Coast ride, this trip also signified a big step for me -- my first foray into off-road touring.

Plus, how could a trip not be the mostest favoritest when the final sunrise looked like this?

The sunrise on the final morning of my mostest favoritest bike trip.
Note that this is an unedited photo --
no colors have been prettified in this photo.

You may recall from my last post, Sampling the Sierra with Adventure Cycling, the mention of a guy named Brian. He was the mechanic on the trip. And, yup, he was the guy who spent a good deal of the trip being sandwich-kissed. Well, Brian asked if I might be interested in joining him on a bicycle ride through Central Oregon in October.

Pavlovian Conditioning at Pratt Lake

The Pavlovian conditioning was cemented after my last backpacking trip (see Backpacking, Hunkering Down, & Bookreading).

The stimulus: the desire to read a book.
The response: the need to head to the mountains for a solo backpacking trip.

Backpacking, hunkering down, & book reading...again.

My desire to head to the mountains coincided with the long Labor Day weekend. Knowing that holiday weekends are synonymous with an exodus to the mountains, I decided it best to begin my trip early Friday morning and to return to Seattle Saturday afternoon.

Backpacking, Hunkering Down, & Bookreading

I've always wanted to backpack somewhere beautiful to hunker down and read a book.

Backpacking to somewhere beautiful and hunkering down...

...to read a book.

That's what I've wanted to do, and so that's what I did.

Backpacking in Hell's Canyon

This, my friends, is Hell...

Hell.
(Photo courtesy of Paul's camera.)

Well, to be more exact, this is technically "Hell's Canyon." Maybe you're thinking what I'm thinking. "If this is Hell, I wonder what Heaven looks like!"

We'll come back to Hell in a second. For now, let's rewind a few months...

Great Weekends Are Memorialized By The Knees

Sarah ain't had a proper summer if her knees ain't scraped-up'n'bruised.

This summer has mostly been filled with biking. And while I love biking, it keeps my knees a little too pristine.

Thankfully my friend, Phil, and I went on a backpacking trip this last weekend to the Cascades. This trip enabled me to roughin' up my knees for this summer.

The photo on the left shows my knees after the first time I went rock climbing, five years ago. The photo on the right shows my knees after this weekend. Granted my knees aren't nearly as beat up as they were after that rock climbing trip, but they've still earned some color to them.

Great memories are memorialized by body scars. The proof is in the black circles.

The Adirondacks & The Drive to Chicago

After my bike trip ended, I met up with my older brother (BJ) and his girlfriend (Lilia) in New York. We spent twelve days together, exploring the Adirondacks and then slowly making the drive to Chicago.

Below are an assortment of photos from the trip. (Lilia requested that her photos not be posted.)

We borrowed a kayak for an overnight camping trip on Jabe Pond.