Day 12: Jenny Lake is in my ears and in my eyes

Today we had the pleasure of meeting up with Dr. Ann Mattson, of the Jenny Lake visitors center. She spoke woth us about the geology and ecology of the Tetons and the Greater Yellowstone region in general. She lead us on a mile-ish long hike to sit on one of the spots where the Teton fault manifests itself above ground in thenform of a fault scarp. The fault scarp runs at depth below the Grand Tetons and in many places manifest right along the base of the mountains. After lunch we began a hike through the very snowy upper level of the hidden falls trail. For much of the trail, the path was covered with snow and ice, and so we relied on the footprints of previous hikers to lead us to the end of the trail. This is the point where I realized that I really enjoy hiking in the snow. Its kind of a puzzle like...."hmm where can I step without fall through or slipping and falling down the side of the mountain". By the time we had gotten half way to Hidden Falls I had a method figured out: dig in your heels (because its better to sink too far in and fall on your butt than to slip and fall without any kind of control), and avoid the icy patches and spots where other hikes had slipped (evident in the footprints).

The view of the falls was definately worth the hike. Hidden falls is quite possible the most awe-inspiring waterfall I have ever had the pleasure to gaze upon. Across from the falls was a snow-covered slope which looked very much like a ski-slope. We took advantage of this location and the wonderful texture of the snow, to have another snowball fight.

We took the lower trail on the way out, amd the hike was fairly uneventful aside from 2 events. For one, we came across a group of recent graduates from a school in Georgia who decided to jump of an outcrop and into the lake. Just to give you an idea of how cold the water in Jenny Lake was, the entire lake was frozen over until the end of last week. So needless to say, the guys were kinda crazy. The second interesting event was getting to come face to face with a yellow-bellied marmot, who posed for us on a rock right along the edge of the trail.

Back at the campsite, we ate dinner and then a few of us went into Jackson with the professors to search for a relaxing coffee shop where we could read/work on our blogs (think Cool Beans in Columbia). To our dismay, we realized that no coffee shops were open in Jackson Hole past 7pm and we didn't get dropped off until about 9. So we spend about an hour wandering around, and finally settled for a cup of joe from the Loaf N' Jug, the local gas station/convience store.

I'm a little worried about what tomorrow brings because it is already past 11pm. For comparison, I usually go to bed between 9:30 and 10pm. So we will see how tomorrow goes, and I'll be sure to pass along the information to you all.

Wildlife notice: saw a female and a baby moose on the Jenny Lake hike today by some avalanche debris that we hiked over.

Pictures to come once I can get WiFi :)

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Day 4: Heads and Tails

Today life was fairly simple. In the morning we met up with Dr. Alvis Lisenbee of the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology. He gave us a quick lecture regarding the history and formation of the Black Hills and some information about the presence of gold and other mineral resources within the region. Dr. Alvis then led us on a 5ish mile hike up a canyon in the Black Hills to show us the layering of different rock types and how they related to the orogeny (mountain building) of the American central northwest. The hike we took is also a popular dog-walking path so we got to see some adorable puppies :) Half way through our hike we got a chance to rest on Precambrian rocks that are 2.5 billion years old. For comparison, the oldest formations within the Appalachian mountains date to between 1.1 and 1.6 billion years old. The unconformities I mentioned last post were present again today, however in this case the amount of time missing is 1.5 billion years old, or incomparison to the book analogy earlier the equivalent of 1/4 of the book missing.

My "Tom Sawyer" moment on the Precambrian gneiss

After our lovely hike, we went to Mount Rushmore to see "the heads". There was a storm approaching and it was later in the day, so there weren't many people at the monument. Overall, it was a very pleasant day :)

Mount Rushmore National Monument

Extra-ordinary Observation
1. Sometimes the simplest days are the most refreshing

Silly face with the heads

Really cool globular cloud formations

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Day 3: Griefs and Reliefs

Griefs

Do you know that feeling of being on a trip and something goes terribly wrong? Like going through customs in a foreign country only to realize that you have lost your passport, or going on a road trip to an event and on your arrival remember that you left the tickets taped to your front door (a spot where you thought you'd never forget them). I am well aware of this feeling after today. First of all, mummy bags are not meant for fat people unless you get it custom fit. I had this rude awakening last night as I spent my first night in my sleeping bag. I woke up no more than an hour after getting in my bag, struggling and feeling claustrophobic. My bag was so tight around my hips that I couldn't move at all, and I freaked out. In the below freezing prairie conditions I compromised on warmth by unzipping my bag halfway and throwing my thick winter coat and down vest over the empty holes. I was a bit cold through the night, but it was better than being completely immobilized. Knowing that we would be in colder conditions as the trip goes on, I decided that it would be wise to just go ahead and get another sleeping bag on our way to our new campsite. Reviews of said sleeping bag will be addressed in tomorrow's post.
The second thing to go wrong was likely one of the worst things that could happen at the beginning of a three week camping trip. After wearing my hiking boots on several occasions, I have come to the conclusion that the pain in my feet is not from breaking in my shoes but due to my shoes being a half size too small. After hiking Saddle Pass trail (a short 1/4 mile nearly verticle connector trail that involves climbing up the wall which seperates the upper and lower prairie) and a 1 3/4 mile segment of the Castle trail, my feet were dead and I wanted nothing more than to get out of my boots. This problem is not as easily solved as my previous issue. For now, I'm just going to wear my Chacos as much as possible, until I can figure out a way to loosen the toe box of my boots. Maybe I'll just stuff them with rocks overnight or something.

Reliefs

After breaking camp and our morning hike, we had some lunch and made a stop at the Yellow Mounds to look at a very well defined normal fault. I won't go into an extensive explanation of the origin of the mounds and how normal faults work, but the mounds were the shale beds below the Badland formations that were heavily modified by jungle vegetation, thereby giving the soil (which underwent lithification to become rock) a rich yellow hue. The area we looked at also showed an angular unconformity, a gap in the geologic record. This is basically the equivalent of taking a history book and ripping two chaptes from the middle of it. It's kind of tragic, but it looks really cool.

Yellow Mounds

Wildlife tally: Badlands - various birds, mule deer, cows, maybe some pronghorns from a distance, rattlesnakes (heard but did not see).

The best part of the day was the discovery of our new campsite. The group campsite at Stockade Lake campground within Custer State Park is phenomenal. With pit toilets, a large fire pit, placement right by the lake, hot showers a short walk away, and a covered area with some electric outlets, we are living the life of luxury. And the best part is, we will be at this site for the next four days! After setting up we even had sometime to relax and enjoy the scenery before dark. I chose to spend my leisure time reading in my hammock overlooking the lake and a large rock outcrop. I don't know if it can get much better than this.

View of Stockade Lake and Outcrop from my hammock spot

Extra-ordinary Observations
1. Geology is a vastly underappreciated science
2. Good shoes can make or break your experience on a hike
3. The urge to see wildlife can spur people to do really idiotic things, like wanting to use really long sticks to comb through tall prairie grass to find rattlers.
4. A serene environment can fix even the sorest of feet.
5. We have a pet at our new campsite, he/she is a groundhog that we have dubbed Herb.

Prime location of my tent :)