So...today is the day!!! We woke up around 5:30 a.m. to head out for our 2 night 3 day backpacking trip through the Tetons. We arrived at the trail head around 8:00, secured the car and put on our packs for the journey ahead. About 2 miles in, there was a beautiful overlook at Phelps Lake.
Phelps Lake Overlook
We stopped, admired the beauty and then continued on.
I (Steph) have been having a hard time trying to relax and enjoy the trail because of my fear of running into a bear. Well...as we left the overlook...not too far down the trail, there it was...a fresh pile of bear scat!!! NOOOOOO... Not a good sign, but we continued on hoping Mr. Bear had done his morning business in the trail and gone elsewhere. Nope......not a quarter mile down the trail I immediately froze with fear as Brett stopped and suddenly called out "Hey Bear!!!", having heard some rustling in the thicket. There it was, my worst fear about 20 feet away. Brett told me to pull out my bear spray, and I did, but I had no clue what I was going to do because I couldn't see past the tears and wouldn't be able to use the spray because my body was PARALYZED with fear. Heck, I probably would have done more damage to myself than the bear.
In the end, the bear moved on up the hill (because it saw Brett bow up and it didn't want a piece(whatever...)) and just continued doing what it was doing...eating berries. I, however, could not stop crying and told Brett, "I can't do this." The thought of having to sleep out in the back country after seeing my biggest fear of this trip....SERIOUSLY.
I continued on however, but I was a "hot mess" for the rest of the day crying on an off. At one point, the thickets were well, so thick, that we started singing "99 bottles of bear...I mean beer...on the wall." Singing and clapping is a good way to alert bears of your presence so that you can avoid surprising them (the real danger).
After the bear scare, we got on up the hill and stopped for water.
And then about 3 more miles of thicket....
THE THICKET!!!!
After a LOT of hiking we finally arrived at Death Canyon Campground and snagged an awesome campsite. It was an open, green meadow in the upper canyon with tons of wildflowers and instantly made me feel better(since it was not in the thicket). We set up camp and fixed supper. Surprisingly, mountain house chili mac...not too bad.
We settled into bed fairly early, but not before a shot or two of whiskey went down the hatch!!!!
Me holding on for dear life.