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Hiking Recommendations for the Tetons (GeoShort) · PlanetGeo: The Geology Podcast

• 0:04
  SPEAKER_00: All right, welcome to Planet Geo Shorts, where we answer listener questions.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_00: Chris, how you doing today?
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_00: Doing well.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_00: How you doing, Jesse?
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, excellent.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, so we have had some interest in Grand Teton National Park in specific hikes to go on, and you are the expert on Grand Teton National Park here.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know about that.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_00: Well, you're the one you're the expert in the room.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_00: So we're gonna hit you with three quick questions.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_00: We're gonna I'm gonna ask you what your favorite hike is for one backpacking, two day hike, and three to see cool geoscience stuff.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: Good with that?
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: All right.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_00: All right, hit it.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_00: Chris, let's do it.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_00: What is your favorite hike at Grand Town National Park for a backpacking trail?
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_01: Uh for backpacking, for me, that's the easiest question out there.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_01: The Time Crest Trail is amazing.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_01: I've done it with my family, and uh we've done it three times, the whole thing.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_01: How long are we talking?
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_01: Um, it it depends.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_01: Like we one of our favorite places on the planet is Death Canyon Shelf.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_01: And so we when we get to Death Canyon Shelf, which is like halfway-ish into the backpacking trek, we spend two days there usually okay just hanging out.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_01: We don't move.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but yeah, most people do it south to north because they they're able to ride the tram up from Teton Village, and then they get to start out at like 10,000, 10,500 feet, something like that.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_01: And then they hike the Teton Crest Trail and they come out Paintbrush Canyon on the north side.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_01: And so they they start high and end low.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, cool.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_01: And but we have always done it the other way where we start on the north end in Paintbrush Canyon, hike up over the divide, and we end up at Rendezvous Mountain.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so that's the same hike we did last year, then the in the inn to go on uh into Paintbrush Divide there.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that would have been our first day.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, cool, beautiful, right?
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_00: Beautiful stuff.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so the thing is about that, when you end up that way, you end up at Rendezvous Mountain, they only charge you going up, so they don't charge you going down.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_01: So we end, we'll end at Rendezvous Mountain and we'll go into that lodge up there where you get the best waffles on the planet, and you get to and you get to drink a beer and ride the tram down for free.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_01: So that's sounds ideal.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_00: I love a good waffle and beer.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_01: I know it's weird, but you know, after like seven days, you you kind of want a beer.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: Totally, totally.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so easily the Teton Crest Trail, it's it's amazing, and we take our time on it and just enjoy every single day.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_01: So good stuff.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_00: All right, cool.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, day hike, best day hike in Grand Quito National Park.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_01: All right, that's a hard one.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_01: I think the the favorite day hike for me in the park is Amphitheater Lake.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_01: That's the one that I take my students, and I I took Jesse U on that trip.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, definitely.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_01: We went up to Amphitheater Lake.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_01: That's where you you and I talked on the way down the whole time.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_01: It's just sentimental for me.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, it's a beautiful area.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_01: The trail's busy, but it's not as busy as other places in the park.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_01: Um, like uh, you know, another really favorite hike of mine is Delta Lake, which is absolutely stunning.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_01: The water is turquoise blue, it's it's gorgeous, but it is it literally a freeway.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, you get traffic jammed in certain areas, and it is just too busy for my taste.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_01: But so I think Amphitheater Lake, I I love it.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_01: It's like uh you know a 10-mile hike-ish, and it's just stunning.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's it, but it's a good workout if I remember correctly.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_00: It's up pretty pretty straight up, pretty straight down for and the destination's big enough where you can lose yourself up top.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you know, you don't you can get away from people and just kind of you know get go go off alone and be with yourself and just enjoy the beauty.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_01: Awesome.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, awesome.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_01: You know, one of the things about the Tetons, I th another like shorter version of a day hike that I think is one of my favorites is Blacktail Butte.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, Blacktail Butte.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_00: So this is this in like the half day hike, couple hours hike category.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's like it's maybe a four-mile total hike, and it's in the middle of the valley.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_01: And and what I love about it is you get up to the top of Blacktail Butte and you climb, you you hike up over to the other side, and and like just the opportunity to eat lunch and and have the whole Tetons uh splayed out in front of you, um, and you're up kind of this higher vantage, you know, vantage point on Blacktail Butte looking at the Tetons, it's phenomenal.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_01: You know, because when you're hiking in the Tetons themselves, the views aren't that spectacular because you're in the mountains, you know?
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, but when you're when you're on Blacktail Butte, you just get to look at all of it.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_00: Very cool.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_01: So that's I love it.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_00: Yep, that's that's mine.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_00: All right, and last one, what about the best hike to see the coolest geoscience stuff?
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_00: This could be rocks or glacial features, whichever.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I think for me, um, I would think going up paintbrush divide.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_01: To paintbrush divide, up paintbrush canyon to the paintbrush divide.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you get just uh a lot of rocks, a lot of glacial features.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_01: Um I think that that that's it's a it's a hard day, it's a hard hike, but you get to see a lot of really cool geology.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_01: Beautiful.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_00: Oh beautiful stuff.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_00: Cool.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, well, there we go.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_00: That's a wrap.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so if you're interested in Grand Teton National Park, if you have any more questions for us, let us know.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_00: Hit us up at planetgeocast at gmail.com, and we'll talk to you soon.