Campin.

over the past two days Mike and Cindy treated us to a weekend camping with them and their friends, the self-proclaimed working class of jackson, in the beautiful gros ventre mountains. It was fully enjoyed. they circled the trailers and campers full of atvs and pulled out lawn chairs that only moved when the shade did. different from our usual weekend escapades; a relaxing weekend of four wheeling, sitting in the shade eating peanuts and the most stories and jokes i've ever heard in the course of two days. i'm afraid most of them can't be repeated in such a mass media manner but may be relayed later in person.

Death Canyon

The name is not my own invention. Death Canyon is the actual name given to this particular canyon which we couldn't pass up. Twenty-six miles over two days, with elevation changes to make your legs turn to clay. in retrospect it was a bit long, but a very enjoyable hike. It did however begin on the wrong foot. The alarm rang saturday morning and we decided to sleep in instead of getting an early start. we eventually left the apartment and discoved vacum sealed tuna at alberstons. by 10 we were nearly at the trailhead but the road became too rough for the elantra to navigate so we saddled up and began our hike. There were a lot more people on the trail than we are used to seeing and the interaction was interesting. are there any true written rules for passing on the trail? we crossed paths with an older gentlemen who recently had two knee replacements and was persistently continuing up the trail without any water. it was at least 90 degrees. i lent him a nalgene and wished him luck. Later we came upon a man from cincinnati on his way to the summit of static peak. as we filled our nalegenes in the stream he stopped to talk with us. It turns out he was looking for adventure and headed towards the Grand the next day on a guided climb. the ranger he had met the day before told him the water wasn't safe to drink but after seeing us fill up he decided to dip in as well. Its my feeling that if you are careful theres a much better chance of dying from heat stroke without water than dying or even getting sick just from drinking from the stream. At static peak divide we met a couple from atlanta in jackson for the week on vacation. Its interesting to see the diversity and the numbers attracted to the tetons. seasoned hikers and clowns alike enjoy the mountains and will travel from across the country or even across the world. something to think about. At the boundry of the jedediah smith wilderness area we spotted across the basin an opportunity we couldn't pass up. doing so would leave us with a lifetime burden of regret. a small lake sat beautiful across the basin just below a hill of snow. the pictures explain more. The sport doesn't have a name as of yet, but one of the first rules will be no more and no less than underwear and hiking boots can be worn.
we eventually made our camp, by throwing down our bags, near mount meek pass. tuna wrapped in pitas filled us. waking up in the middle of the night i've never seen so many stars filling the sky.
the next day was slightly less exciting but it was a nice hike. we followed the trail to fox creek pass and then down death canyon shelf where we passed quite a few hikers who seem to be from all walks of life. a slurpee from loaf-n-jug was a perfect ending to the weekend.
oh beautiful glacial valley.

Heat of Summer

Revised picture compliments of Joe Boyd.
Classic rock wisdom of the week: "love is like oxygen, too much and you get high, not enough and you die."
The past week -
sunday night,
finish Jailbird by vonnegut
monday,
ranch laundry in town
horse fly trap construction
tuesday,
trail blazing and exploration
shoveling horse shit
Its interesting that on the east coast the concept of working on a ranch is seen as an adventure of a lifetime. In wyoming however, the ranch is a job similar to any other. most enjoy their job and thats why they do it.
wedensday,
hiking camp. only a stake through the heart will send the horse fly, spawn of satan, back to hell. possibly too many vampire movies. time spent sitting on logs in woods discussing everything.
science fiction; Rule Golden by Damon Knight, kyle if you get bored, find and read Incommunicado by Kathreine MacLean; not incredibly written but interesting.
Thursday,
trash to dump in town
splitting wood
painting the barn
swim in the lake
dinner dishes and serving
Friday,
cleaning cabins
working with kyler, hes 16 and a wyoming regular, a good kid. reminds me of luke occasionally.
i've decided that at 16 you think you know everything and you have no idea how to say it, but you try again and again to say it anyway. at 20 i still think i know everything and i even think i could say it fairly well, but i am a lot less likely to admit this to others. someday i'll learn.
tomorrow morning,
death canyon

Thunderstorm

A thousand hands
rolling under hills
of beating snares
unaware tapping tips
five off beat
fingers muffled as
if outside laughing
sounds between cotton
sheets of tumbling
maleable spheres creamy
center of sunlight
now very faint
clouded muddy stream
of conscious flowing
freely falling dropping
through open space
too cramped for
clacking bellowing energy
a thousand hands.

not dead yet

saturday afternoon we left for driggs idaho, much like jackson but smaller, less tourists.
we spent the afternoon at the used book store and wandering around town until we decided to begin our hike up devils stairs. the stairs weren't bad, the flys could drive a man insane. we pitched our tiny tent and crawled inside. we awoke, sometime later, to find people on the trail and our bags scattered where we left them. these things happen. a nice sunset. sunday afternoon we threw food in a plastic grocery bag, this is how we've begun carrying our food. not exactly hip, but it works. we also each carry a nalgene. a few weeks ago i read an article about water purification in backpacker and since we've given to drinking straight from the stream or spring. no one has died yet. arriving along the top edge of the alaska basin we constructed a snowman. possibly wilderness blasphemy but we had a good laugh indeed. moose sighting even without moose calls. the flys begin to attack again. rock collecting. not really any idea how far we walked..somewhere between 5 and 25 i'm sure. we were hiking in the jebediha sp? wilderness area; a bit different environment than the gro ventre even so close by. it was beautiful.
only 4 weekends left until we begin our traverse of these united states for a second time.
Snakes on a plane. does anyone else find this to be an awful idea for a movie? civilization ha.

the lone ranger

I do believe the idea for showers was God's gift to man.

Its true i enjoy spending time in peace and solitude. The past few weeks however have given me a new perspective on the sailors loneliness, the brokeback phenomenon as well as the mountain mans curse. While we haven't turned to whores, homosexuality, or hunting? for gold?, theres a chance we could be spotted chasing chipmunks with spears or threatening each others lives over a game of cribbage. Formerly played by housewives and grandparents, cribbage takes on a new importance while alone in the mountains. I understand why men were killed over a game of poker in the wild west. Matt and i spend half of our work week at a hiking camp. we're there to watch over the camp, take care of work etc. there is no one else there. this is in addition to our self imposed weekends in the wilderness. i suppose we enjoy it. i'm fairly certain we get paid to go hiking. we have yet to discover the catch.
Matt and i take each solitary moment (that we spend together, i promise its possible. someone related it to marriage, explains some things, a lot to learn) and do our best to savor it. the lone rangers downfall is beautiful and terrible. a week after we get home matt flys to rome. from wyoming, no cities, to the the eternal city. I shall soon after be headed in the direction of Leeds, another large city. it should all prove interesting.
tonight shall be our first real venture into the "social" jackson...if you can call a midnight showing of The Goonies true interaction. tomorrow to driggs idaho.

address

If you are so inclined.

ryan, matt etc.
PO Box 9760
Jackson, WY 83002

we'll be enjoying wyoming
until august 20th, or something near there.

Jackson Peak

book lust

watching reality bites.
saturday morning = yard sales in jackson wyoming. so we walked away with used books; as you do. we stopped at the great used book store supported by jackson as well, but i restrained myself there.
It rained thursday afternoon and we spent our time off reading in the tent. i listened as matt called home and proceeded to confound mr. page. he didn't understand who was calling claiming to be, "your son, matt". matt couldn't understand how he dialed the wrong number. in any case we got the chance to talk with kyle who, as i understand, has two cds in the works. jazz as well as the combovers. thats my promo. i look forward to free cds.
we were tuned into the rumor of an abandoned canoe earlier this week by mike and cindy. they work at the ranch and have somewhat looked out for us. they advise us in practical matters and are always eager to point us towards a neat trail or place to camp. in any case we spent the afternoon searching for the canoe which we planned to commadere. sadly we spent 3 hours traversing the sage brush and rocks around the lake with no pirating. something about wandering a shore adorned in sandals and ripped pants with an old oar in hand makes one long for the sea. i can't imagine what people thought of the two guys carrying paddles down the gravel road. im' sure we looked lost. we hitched a ride from the end of the lake back to our car in the back of a pickup truck driven by friendly fishermen from california.
we've discovered that jackson hole, although it gives off an auro of hustle and bustle, is really just a small town in the middle of no where. with one or two main roads we've run into or seen the same people over and over again. if you aren't in the backcountry, where you would be alone, you are at albertsons (grocery as well as liquor), the library, or wandering the streets. we saw a german couple at the rodeo who we later saw in a parking area in teton national park. i've seen the same crazy bearded old man outfitted with rucksack and blue jacket twice now. i see people from the library everywhere. the same drunken mazda who stopped to discuss directions with us while we walked on the road was also seen at albertsons. of course the yardsales had a regular crowd as well. its an interesting phenomenon.
father and brother are coming to visit next week. i'm excited, i think they'll enjoy the mountains as much as we do; we'll enjoy pretending to be locals. on that note, this nearly thought provoking bumper sticker seems appropriate. "my wyoming has an east infection".
matt just pranced across the room singing something about ice cream; bearclaw. its fantastic.