Day 1: Surprise and Amphitheater Lakes – Grand Teton National Park

Our original plan for the day was to ascend Disappointment Peak, accessed on the other side of Amphitheater Lake. We started going up the narrow gravel path until we got to the “fun” stuff.

Aspen has done this a few times and led the way. There are a couple options: scaling a wall or climbing up the “chimney.” To me, either way looked impossible. Aspen started on the wall. After I told her that I’d be able to go up it but questioned my comfort on the descent, she returned to me on solid ground.

We tried the chimney. The first obstacle is going through the “birth canal.” This is aptly named. We removed our packs, and once Aspen got through, I handed her both bags. Of course, I’m not quite tall enough to make this easy. I had to lift my right leg up to shoulder height and squeeze the lower part of my leg into a crack, then pull myself up, using both my arms and leg.

We both made it through the birth canal, but there was more tricky stuff that I wouldn’t have felt comfortable coming down, so we called it a day. I don’t have any regrets about it because we would have had to gain an additional 2,000 feet in about a mile. We started too late for that, so we headed back the way we came.

Day 2: Lewis River Channel Trail – Yellowstone National Park

This was an easy day. We went about 3 miles (one way) and found a spot in the channel to swim. We saw a couple at the start of the hike, and they said that they saw a bear. We didn’t see anything but squirrels.

Day 3: Blacktail Butte

This was a solo hike, which I don’t recommend doing in grizzly country (shame on me). I carried bear spray in my hand – with the safety off – and listened to podcasts at a loud volume. I didn’t see another soul on the trail the entire day.