SATISFACTION
Christy
and I left Ashton, Idaho and headed east on Ashton – Flagg Ranch Road. This long, occasionally rough dirt road runs
through a stretch of mostly public property in between Yellowstone National
Park and Grand Teton National Park. Our
plan was to camp somewhere along it, as the trail to Terraced Falls on the
Falls River starts on that road. The
hike to that waterfall was my top priority for the next day. I had attempted to reach that waterfall twice
before. In July, 2003, during an 8-day
backpacking trip in Yellowstone, I tried to bushwhack to it from the Mountain
Ash Creek Trail. That trail is high up
in the hills north of the river. I made
it down to the river, but didn’t reach the waterfall. In August, 2011 I hiked the official trail to
the top of the falls. Unfortunately,
that trail ends on a cliff that doesn’t provide a great view of the falls. I had originally intended to wade across the
river upstream from the falls to get a better view from the cliffs on the
opposite side, but the water was too high to cross safely. I was determined to go back and get the best
views on this trip.
Unfortunately,
the camping didn’t work out. We passed a
few spots along Ashton – Flagg Ranch Road where we could’ve slummed it for a
night, but continued on. At the east end
of the road are some established campsites.
They used to be free, but now they cost $2 and require a permit from
Grand Teton National Park in Colter Bay.
Getting a permit wasn’t feasible, but it didn’t matter, as all of the
campsites were taken. When we passed
through here in August, 2011 all of these sites were available. Since then, someone created a website that is
essentially a database for free campsites throughout the country. Thanks to that website, these campsites are
now quite popular.
We
continued east to Flagg Ranch. There is
a fancy campground here, but we wanted a free or cheap site. We turned south on highway 89, crossed a
bridge over the Snake River, and pulled into the Sheffield Campground. We were driving through the campground, looking
for a vacant site, when a field mouse suddenly appeared on our windshield. Where did that come from?! He ran around on the hood briefly before
disappearing under it. Sigh. Apparently we had a
hitchhiker.
Our
search for a campsite was futile there.
We decided to continue down 89 into the Tetons. We stopped at Lizard Creek and the giant
campground at Colter Bay, but both were full.
We were getting tired and frustrated, so I got creative. We drove up a dirt road into the Gros Ventre Mountains.
There are designated campsites along this road, but we still had to
drive a couple of miles before we found a vacant spot. It wasn’t a particularly nice site, but we weren’t
feeling picky. We set up camp and went
straight to bed after a long, tiring day.
We
got up at first light the next morning.
It was cold! It was probably not much
above freezing. This was a shock after
the relatively warm overnight temperatures in Yellowstone. We packed up quickly and drove to a picnic
area on Jackson Lake. I was making
breakfast there when a coyote trotted across the parking lot. I’m not sure what was more entertaining, the
coyote, or the reaction of a French (or French Canadian) family to it.
After
breakfast we drove back to Colter Bay and claimed an overpriced campsite. After setting up camp we completely emptied
the car. We had a field mouse to search
for. In the process, we discovered that
the drain valve on the cooler wasn’t tight, and the back seat was wet. I positioned the car so that the back seat was
in direct sunlight to dry it. Meanwhile,
Christy was inspecting our food. Sure
enough, several things had been chewed on.
The giant bag of gorp had a big hole in
it. More concerning was that some of the
backpacking meals Christy had made and dehydrated had been chewed on. Those were irreplaceable! Fortunately we had
brought several extras, and only a couple of them had been violated.
We
didn’t see any sign of the mouse in the engine compartment. Next, I opened up the spare tire
compartment. When I opened it, I found
two mice blinking at me in surprised confusion. For a moment I thought “gosh,
they are cute little fuckers”. Then I
tried to kill them. My hesitation was my
undoing. They bolted before I could
wring their necks. There was no sign of
where they’d gone, but they left behind an impressive nest. There was a bunch of fluffy material, which
was alarming. At first
we feared that they had ripped out some upholstery, but there was no damage to
our seats. There were quite a few pages
from one of the paperback books I’d brought though. Also, there was quite a bit of food,
including about a ˝ pound of GORP. We
cleaned everything up and repacked the car.
Finally we were ready to go hiking!
We
drove back to Flagg Ranch and out to the Terraced Falls Trailhead. We made quick work of the trail to the cliffs
above the falls. Along the way we passed
several waterfalls on Cascade Creek, as well as the expansive rapids at Cascade
Acres on the Falls River. Beyond those
cascades I began scoping out a good place to wade across the river. Water levels were moderately low, and I was
pretty confident I’d be able to cross safely.
Christy and I continued on to the end of the trail. There, we passed directly above the upper
section of falls. Here, the river roars
into a sheer rock wall gorge. There are
good views of the upper part of the falls and the surrounding cliffs, but you
can’t view the entire waterfall. I had a
plan for that.
First,
we had a late lunch. Then Christy set up
the hammock so she could relax while I explored. My initial goal was to view Terraced Falls
from the opposite side of the gorge, and from the base. If that went well, I would consider
bushwhacking downstream to the remote and elusive Rainbow Falls on the Falls
River. I wasn’t completely committed to
that add-on, but thought it might be a fun extension to the hike.
Originally,
I’d planned to backtrack from the end of the trail and wade across the river to
access the cliffs on the other side. However,
I noticed a gully at the far end of the cliff, beyond Christy’s hammock. It looked like a possible descent route, so I
decided to investigate.
It
looked promising, so I headed down slowly.
It was very steep and there wasn’t much to hold onto. I wasn’t sure if it was going to work, but
decided to stick with it. It was wet and
slick, and some butt sliding was necessary, but I made it all the way down to
the river. The falls were roaring, but
they were still blocked from view by an adjacent cliff. I waded across the river right at the base of
the falls. The rocks were slippery, but
it was a pretty safe and fairly easy crossing.
Once I reached the middle of the river I was
rewarded with a breathtaking view of the waterfall I’d been chasing for 15
years! Most of the waterfall is visible
from the base, though the upper section is still out of sight. Once on the far side I scrambled upstream on
slick rock to get a better view. I
tiptoed along the edge of the river, right at the base of the 100’ cliff that
appears to be formed by a series of rock tower columns. Before long I reached a point where I
couldn’t go further without risking being swept off of my feet. I retreated until I was beyond the base of
the cliffs. At that point I found myself
at the base of a steep, grassy hillside.
It
was very steep, but I was able to scramble up using scattered trees for
handholds. I was about 1/3 of the way up
when I reached an ideal vantage point for photos. Setting up the tripod there
was tricky, but it was worth it. Then I
climbed the rest of the way up to the top of the cliffs. This was the view I had been craving! I found a cliff with a spectacular view of
the entire waterfall and the sheer rock gorge on both sides of the river. I let out a whoop of joy! It was a very satisfying moment.
I
enjoyed it a bit before hiking downstream.
I followed the ridgeline gradually down to the river. There was no hint of a trail, but it was
mostly open forest and the terrain was fairly gentle. I continued downstream until a bend in the
river signaled the approach to Rainbow Falls and its canyon. The bushwhacking got nasty here. I stayed on the hillside on River Right to
avoid the more difficult terrain along the river. This worked, but it was slow going. Eventually I found myself on the rim of the
canyon, high above Rainbow Falls. I was
able to work my way down a steep, mostly open hillside to a marginal viewpoint
of the falls. It may have been possible
to get down to the base of the falls there with a rope. Unfortunately I’d
accidentally left it back at the campground.
Getting down looked sketchy without it, so I stopped there. Although the view was poor, I was satisfied
that I’d gotten to see a waterfall that is visited by very few people.
I
hiked back quickly and enjoyed more views of Terraced Falls from the
cliffs. I followed the cliff line
upstream beyond the falls and bushwhacked to the river. Although I was only a short distance upstream
from the brink of the falls, it looked like a good spot to cross. I waded across carefully, as being just
upstream from the brink of a giant waterfall was nerve wracking. The water was less than knee deep though, and
the current was mild. I reached the far
side without any trouble and hiked back down to the overlook where Christy was
waiting.
We
hiked out quickly and drove back to the campground. We stopped at an overlook on Jackson Lake
along the way to enjoy a killer sunset.
It was one of the strangest sunsets I’ve seen. Smoke from a forest fire northwest of
Yellowstone turned the sun, sky, and lake surreal shades of red and orange.
When
we left the overlook, the low tire pressure light came on our dashboard. We stopped at a service station at the
entrance to Colter Bay and bought a tire gauge.
Sure enough, the rear left tire was very low. Yikes!
This was a major concern. In two days we’d be starting an 8-day backpacking trip from a very
remote trailhead. If we returned to the
car after the trip and found the tire flat we’d be
screwed. I filled the tire and bought a
can of fix a flat. We needed an oil
change anyway, so we decided to take care of both things the next day while we
were running errands. We also needed a
solution to our rodent infestation. I
suggested rat poison, but Christy was concerned that the mice would die in an
inaccessible area and stink up the car.
We ended up getting a couple of traps.
We would’ve gotten the humane traps, but that isn’t how they roll in
Wyoming. So we
got inhumane traps. Sorry, fuckers!
Back
at camp Christy made elk meatloaf over the campfire. We enjoyed some celebratory beers around the
campfire, and really enjoyed the evening.
We didn’t enjoy the evening as much as our neighbors though. The couple in the next campsite really
enjoyed their evening, in a very vocal way.
In fact, I’d say it is safe to assume that everyone camped in loop L of
the Colter Bay Campground knew just how much they were enjoying their evening!
The
next day was dedicated to errands. We
had laundry, car service, and groceries on the agenda. That meant braving the tourist hordes in
Jackson. We survived the drive into town
and found a nice, new laundromat. We got
the laundry started, and then I drove to a local auto repair shop to get the
oil changed and have the tire looked at.
Unfortunately they were booked solid for the
next week. I called several other places
in town, but none of them had an opening, either.
I
drove back to the laundromat and helped Christy with the laundry. We debated our best course of action about
the tire over lunch. While we were
picking up some final groceries I had an idea. We would be driving through Pinedale, Wyoming
late that afternoon. Pinedale is off the
tourist beaten path and would be quieter than Jackson. I looked up some shops there and called one
that looked promising. They could get us
in right before they closed! We hurried
out of Jackson and drove straight to Performance Tech in Pindedale. They didn’t have time to change our oil, but
that wasn’t urgent. The did inspect our
tire, and found a nail in it. They were
able to repair it for a small fee in 30 minutes. I’m sure they saved us some grief, because
our trailhead is over an hour beyond Pinedale on mostly dirt roads. That would’ve been a terrible place to get a
flat tire.
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