Idaho Adventures 2021. Part 2. Alaska Basin Trail and Darby Wind Caves.
When 2021 started, I had visions of the pandemic ending, life getting back to normal, and new hiking destinations. It is now September 2021. The pandemic is still raging. Life is not back to normal. And, instead of new hiking destinations, Leti and I tried out tried and true hiking destinations with new hiking buddies. This proved to be a great idea. :)
Before starting this blog, please note that a majority of the pictures are from Rob. Letizia donated pictures as well. And, I took two.
🥾🥾🥾🥾
Alaska Basin Trail. Length: 15 miles. Elevation Gain: 3,100 feet. Date Hiked: September 2, 2021
The Alaska Basin Trail is a lollipop trail. I gave it four boots out of five boots because it was a tad smokey and the trail at the end was a little too long for my liking. The trail, however, was really beautiful especially after we (Leti, Rob, and I) ascended the staircase. The views of the Tetons and Table Rock were practically perfect. And, because we hiked along a high mountain plateau, we could see these views for miles.
We decided to go up Devil's Staircase and down Alaska Basin. This was a very good choice. We did most of the climbing on Devil's Staircase and then gradually climbed toward the basin.
Rob and Leti on the plateau after the staircase.
A geologist dream here at the top of Devil's Staircase. The layers of rock along with the erosion make the rock structure so, so interesting.
As we walked along the plateau at the top, we enjoyed so many spectacular mountain views. It was just beautiful. We also discussed Rob's questions for his Sunday School class, which centered around light, truth, and intelligence. It seemed like a fitting conversation for the vast setting.
We gradually climbed until we met up with more trail signs. We decided to take a small detour and check out any views that might be at the Meek Mountain Pass. And, we didn't stay long or take any pictures. It wasn't quite what we were hoping for. We hiked for approximately three minutes in Grand Teton National Park. So, that was exciting. We then headed toward the Alaska Basin and found a great lunch spot.
Leti and Rob at our lunch spot, I think.
After lunch, we kept hiking, if you can imagine that. We still had about 6 or 7 miles to go. And, we still had not fully seen the Alaska Basin. It was so beautiful! We rounded a corner and there it was. Miles and miles of basin! We kept hiking and going what seemed to me to be the wrong direction. We were hiking toward Static Peak and not the trail head. Strange. We eventually wound back around, passed Basin Lakes, a backpacking destination, and headed for home. Along the way, we enjoyed views of Wedge Mountain.
We hiked by Wedge Mountain early on. And, it didn't look like that. Given a little distance and a new angle, it was quite impressive.
Leti's new dream captured in one picture - hiking to Buck Mountain Pass and down the Static Peak trail.
From here, we lost a lot of elevation and most of our views. We hiked in the very wooded forest again. We hiked and hiked and hiked and hiked. We came across a waterfall and we crossed a few streams.
This is apparently how Leti crosses streams: Karate Kid style.
This is a waterfall we passed by. Mesmerizing.
After all of these stream crossings and waterfalls, we finally completed the loop, leaving us with 2.7 miles to go, which we did. Another successful hike in the books!
Darby Wing Caves.
🥾🥾🥾🥾
Darby Wind Caves. Length: 6.3 miles. Elevation Gain: 1,811 feet. Date Hiked: September 3, 2021. PC: Rob.
Shelly, Steve, and Sasha accompanied us on this hike. This is a hike they have done several times, but never this late in the year. The wind caves generally have water gushing out of them. This was not the case when we hiked it. A small little stream meandered down the mountain. In most places the stream beds were dry and the waterfalls non-existent. So, I gave it four boots out of five for lack of water. However, the company was great!
This was a lovely hike. It was nice and green even though it was really dry. And, the rock walls added great texture to the scenery. All six of us started up the mountain, chatting it up. I was going to say we chatted up a storm, but no storm came. I digress. We chatted and chatted and chatted and before we knew it, we were to our first view of the wind caves.
You see that hole in the mountain? Middle of the picture? That's the wind caves.
As we hiked along, we got the low down on Sasha's life. So many interesting topics there! We covered future blog ideas, future pet wishes, hot tub wishes, rock climbing wishes, school teachers and subjects, outing ideas with Spike and Megan. The list was so entertaining!
We eventually made it to the falls. Shelly recounted a girls camp story that ended well! Shelly explained that she brought several girls up to Darby for their camp hike. Some hiked above the falls. From up above the falls, they heard a scream. Then they saw a backpack come over the falls. The rest of the story is a little more sketchy. The girl who lost her backpack was going to go after it. Luckily, her quick thinking mother caught her by the belt loop right as she went after the backpack! The girl did not go over the falls. Happy day! And this is why young women are no longer allowed to go up above the falls.
We decided to hike up to the upper area of the falls. Many of us went into the caves. This was a first for Sasha and Shelly. Most of the time, the caves are inaccessible.
Letizia, me, Sasha, and Shelly in the wind caves.
Shelly and me thinking about how we don't like heights.
Sasha and me thinking about not falling!
You can go to the very back of the cave if you have a lamp. Apparently, you can exit the cave through a small tunnel. I am just not that adventurous.
We had lunch at the lower waterfall. We enjoyed various and sundry snacks. Sasha snacked on EL Fudge cookies, which was part of the draw for getting her to hike with us! We also discussed Rob entering a demolition derby in a wood paneled station wagon sponsored by Ancestry! Clearly, we needed to keep hiking. There are some bad ideas in the world. So, we hiked on.
Here's a great picture of the small waterfall.
It was a great walk down the mountain. We were passed by horses. Several horses (and riders). After we passed the horses, there was a little guy hiking with his family. They had just passed some fresh horse poop. He asked his dad to just lift him up over the next pile of poop! Ha! This is a smart child.
The hike ended where it began. We had a lovely time, and then we headed our different directions. Hopefully this is a vision of hikes to come!
Comments
Post a Comment