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One of the early discussion points with the ranger when Whitey was getting us the Wilderness Permit, was the possibility of snow on Paintbrush Divide. In mid to late July, it is not uncommon to still have a good snow pack at the divide that would require some special tools in your kit; namely an ice axe.
The idea of the ice axe was to self arrest your fall by jamming the axe into the snowpack/ice as you start to slide - to your death!! It was steep and a long, long way down to the hard rocky bottom below. So since there are not a lot of places to practice the self arrest with an ice axe in VA, a quick call to the Teton Ranger station in July told us we should be good this time - the pass is melting off and we will only have a few covered area to contend with. I think Whitey was looking forward to researching and buying one to go with his pile of gear; maybe next time.
The hike up from Lake Solitude over Paintbrush Divide (10,720 ft) was going to be tough. We would gain 1,685 feet vertical over about 2 miles - this calculated to roughly a 15% grade. This would indeed be a tough push. If you look at the next picture you can just make out the trail running up at a diagonal along the face of the Paintbrush Divide.
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Dotted line shows the trail up from the lake. Huge gains over very short distance. |
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Profile for the day - Camp 3 South Fork to Camp 4 Holly Lake. - Garmin GPS |
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| Hard to see - but the trail is just visible as a thin line running diagonally up the mountain. |
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| Off we go - Sugar, Whitey - and me - always tagging behind. |
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| Lake Solitude (9,035 ft) |
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| The perfectly arced valley floor just screams - Glacier track! |
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| Sugar pulling out a good lead. |
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| Looking back at Tetons -almost in the center is the cascading stream by our Camp |
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| Camp 3 - bottom of stream - long ways away now. |
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| Plugging along up the hill. |
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| Whitey enjoying the view |
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| The vision below took on a frosted painting-like quality |
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| Lake Solitude getting smaller |
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| Mica Lake is just starting to show above Lake Solitude |
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| Almost over |
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| The scree purgatory - warm, sunny, and unyielding. This was a switchback near the top |
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| The money shot!!! Jagman almost over the top - he hears Angels singing. |
Sugar got into a nice rhythm and proceeded to crank his way to the top. He knew where we were heading so he just motored on to Holly Lake. I think he was doping with the special mixtures he carried for his "sugar." Whitey and I struggled. Whitey's cold/congestion was acting up badly and he was sucking wind. I was sucking even more wind - I really had no excuse, it was just a hard push.
Spirituality is obviously a personal thing, and so is religion - what you believe or don't believe - what rocks your world and what doesn't. Faith by its very definition is a strong belief in God or in the doctrines of a religion; generally a belief without proof - Gods and Monsters. Today, at close to 11,000 feet of elevation, where the air is thin and my spirit was weak, I found religion - for a time anyhow.
As Whitey and I looked up from the dusty rock scree trail on Paintbrush Divide - we saw two angels appear; outlined by the blue heavens above. I forgot their names, but that is not important, and since there are no female angels in the bible (no Mom I have not been reading the bible - just good research), I am just going to suggest these two were left out on purpose to keep men folk in line - it would have been worse than biting an apple in Eden.
Angel 1 and Angel 2 that appeared before us on the trail were two absolutely gorgeous women from Jackson, WY - toned tan legs, shorts, tight tank tops, sweaters tied around their waists, and wonderful flowing hair framing their endless perfect smiles; heavenly. After being with a bunch of smelly guys for the past week it was beyond refreshing.
Here is where the story gets even better and we are challenged with the complexity of the English language. After some great trail chat and admiration - us of them, not them of us - Angel 1 suggested that when we get back down to Jackson, that, and these are her exact words - "You should come to tie me up."
I know Whitey always carries plenty of supplies in his pack - he had plenty of rope in there for stringing up clothes or "tying" things up. As my mind went off on this unfortunate tangent of bondage and what type of knot to use that would be easy to untie and not leave marks on wrists and ankles, Angel 1 clarified that they make excellent Chicken Pad Thai there.
Thai Me Up is a charming little micro-brewery and Thai restaurant in town where they work. Enough said, my short-lived religious zeal expired. We pushed over the divide and discussed going to Thai Me Up when we got back to town.
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| Schoolroom Glacier visible way in the distance |
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| Schoolroom Glacier and the wall visible from Paintbrush divide |
The day prior when we were heading over Hurricane Pass - I did not know it at the time - but I took a picture from Schoolroom Glacier toward the north and captured the view of where I was standing now on Paintbrush Divide.
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| Picture from day prior showing Paintbrush Divide - red dot location looking back |
Go here next - Teton Crest Trail -Part 15
or back to beginning - Teton Crest Trail - Part 1
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