a hike and a place to live

Thumb's still stiff so it was a regular old boot hike today.  I went to cache creek, which has become my stomping grounds until I work up my fitness and snow smarts.

While previously I hiked up and over what I call the snow king ridge, today I hiked the relatively flat ski trail.  I wanted to get an idea of what the terrain looked like further up the creek to try to plan a longer snowshoe/ski/ride/something.  I hiked five or six miles in before I turned around, and took some spurs along the way, so I think it ended up being close to 12 miles total.  Fast, too, the hike took no longer than four hours.  

here are some pictures from the hike

this is a southern aspect, more bare spots are developing as it's been a week and half without significant snow...

the tetons

the gros ventre get a little more interesting up this way...

the ski trail
At one point I was cruising along when a trotting moose rounded the bend a hundred feet ahead of me.  I saw him first and wasn't sure what to do, but fortunately as soon as he  spotted me he split and ran through the deep snow...I felt bad for ruining his easy travel...

With some skate skis I could get 40 some miles back...

Gosh now with the prospect of a job I'm living high on the town.  I booked a week at the hostel ($140) which will get me coffee and a muffin or two in the morning and dinner most nights, as well as somewhere to stash some stuff and a warm place to hang out.  Finding a warm place to hang is key, sleeping in the truck isn't bad, changing is a pain, but knowing what to do with myself is tough sometimes.

Here are some chutes/trees off the side of snow king that I want to ride.  I've hiked just above them, but I think you can traverse from the summit of the king.  I haven't met anyone I'd trust to ride them with me...hopefully I'll find folks when i start hitting the village more.