In Nebraska while fueling up, topping off hay bags, and watering our boys on the way home
throughout. We were soon climbing
on a sidehill out of the basin to what
would be our best view of the Tetons
yet and an awesome photo backdrop! After the final pictures were
taken it was three miles back to the
trailer. It was somewhat sad leaving
the grand vistas of those magnificent peaks behind.
For our last ride our local friend
again joined us and we chose to explore the Alaska Basin. We arrived
at the Teton Canyon Trailhead and
were on our way by ten. Just a mile
or so after again entering the Jedediah Smith Wilderness we were
fortunate the see a moose cow and
calf pair browsing the willows on
32 • Walking On
the hillside above us. We took photos and watched her until she appeared to become uncomfortable
and quickly moved on down the
trail. About a mile later there was
a ruckus in the brush just off the
trail in front of us. Low and behold
it was another moose cow and calf.
She was much closer to the trail so
we went on so we didn’t rouse her.
We had lunch beside a small waterfall then continued on towards the
basin. This trail was extremely rocky
and at times went across solid slabs
of granite. In that case there were
cairns, manmade rock piles, to mark
the trail. Upon entering Alaska basin small lakes dotted the landscape
with huge granite crags rising above
them. Most were not large enough
to sustain fish except the largest
which was Mirror Lake and it was
very deep. We had a wonderful view
of a flat top mountain named Buck
Mountain. We explored the basin
for an hour or so taking pictures
and seeing what is just over the rise,
but with only a few hours til dark we
had to head back. Upon leaving the
trail head we went to an authentic
Mexican restaurant in Driggs to talk
about our adventures and say our
goodbyes to our Idaho friends. The
next morning reality hit. Time to get
everything packed away and hit the
road for “them thar hills of Tennessee were calling us home!”
–Amanda Wright