PLAYING ON MOUNTAIN TOPS

The following morning we took advantage that the sun didn't come over the mountain range until after 9. The air was crisp and the valley was dark with shadow. It was a wonderful few hours of continually returning to the world of slumber. Once up we greeted good morning to our neighboring marmots and scrambled back on top of the big rock to watch to light come over the range and fill the valley. Somewhere around 10 (we didn't have a time piece other than the sun) we loaded up our day pack full of food and warm clothes and took off for Lake Solitude. This time the lake was not so secluded. To our surprise there are a lot a endurance driven day hikers that venture out to the lake. So we decided to press on up the range on the adjacent side and get a higher view. We had originally hoped to hike this range with all of our gear and camp on the other side at Lake Holly. Though plans changed when we were told by rangers that the pass was iced over. So today we hiked up to see how far we could make it before the ice got too bad. The trail took us on a gradual incline along the range with sweeping views of Lake Solitude, the valley we were camped at and above to hidden lakes still frozen in the cleavage of the surrounding mountains. At about 10,000 feet the hike got harder. It began to switch back even higher into snowy and windy terrain. But the views were more than worth our efforts. As we climbed on we reached peaks where we were looking down on several of the Teton mountains. The Grand Teton raised up to appear that it's peak was right beside us. Once on top of the Paint Brush Divide (11,000 feet) we looked down upon the rocky mounds and valleys, snow and ice, lakes and glaciers, and we felt larger than life. It was at the peak that we could go no more. The trial continued on to cross a section that was entirely too dangerous for us to attempt without the proper gear. Instead we decided to sit down and take in the experience. There was an out cropping of rock that we sat on that protected us from the wind and provided an amazing panoramic view. We ate a wonderful lunch while sitting there, then slowly began our climb down. It was as we retraced our steps that the truly picturesque moments happened. The sun was now at mid afternoon height and the shadows had returned and were playing to our advantage. Once back at Lake Solitude the day hikers were all gone and we again had the place to ourselves. Hot after a long hike we dipped ourselves into the freezing water and then sunbathed on a rock along the shore. At some point we noticed that there were several marmots coyly attempting to steal our socks. We got dressed and followed the crashing sound of water to the falls that poured out on the lake and down into the valley we camped in. Once back at the campsite we made ourselves a dinner of quinoa, cheese and seaweed. We tried to watch the sunset on the large rock again but were both too tired. It was to bed early that night. What a day.