Three Teton Objectives in Six Days

Three objectives in six days with basically no sleep.

I've loved Jackson since a family vacation back in 2006. It's where I did my first backpacking trip, my first backcountry ski tour, and most years since, my excuse to disappear into the Tetons for a week. This year my girlfriend Abby joined me, and in an effort to finally earn Truckee local status, we decided to stack three big objectives into one ambitious week: Mount Moran, the Grand Teton, and the Teton Crest Trail.

What The Hell is Drizzlepuss

First up was Mount Moran: a canoe crossing over String and Leigh Lakes, a brutal 3,000-foot climbers' trail up, a camp below Drizzlepuss (the name of the pitch you rappel to start the day), then five pitches of climbing toward the summit.

A pitch and a half from the top, a rogue storm forecast made good on its threat. Thunder and hail chased us into the notch where we had to wait it out before we could climb back up Drizzlepuss and hike down to camp. Somewhere in there I also unlocked a personal bucket list item: using a wag bag several hundred feet above a glacier, with Jackson Lake sprawled out below me.

The Grand

Two days later, we teamed up with our roommate Claire to climb the Grand Teton via the Owen-Spalding route. 3am alarms, headlamps streaming up Garnet Canyon in the dark, and for once, every single forecast agreeing on a clear, storm-free day. We took our time, soaked in a long break on the summit, and made it back to the car nineteen hours later, dark to dark, with a black bear sighting on the way out for good measure. We spent our one rest day mostly horizontal, capping it off with a $15 day pass to the Jackson Rec Center for a hot tub, sauna, and the first real shower either of us had seen in five days.

Then it was time for what I'd been looking forward to most…

Objective Three: The Teton Crest Trail

I love climbing, but trail running is my thing! So this was the part of the week I was most excited for.

The Teton Crest Trail usually runs point to point somewhere between 34 and 40 miles. We cut out about 4 miles by exiting through Cascade Canyon instead of finishing over Paintbrush. We were on trail by 6am (which felt like sleeping in at this point).

The first few miles are hilly, and we powerhiked most of them, watching a good sunrise and waiting to find our groove. We passed wildflowers, backpackers, and CDT thru-hikers on the way to Marion Lake, a gorgeous alpine lake sitting under a beefy rock tower.

About 30 minutes past Marion Lake, you get your first look at the Tetons: the Cathedral Group, named for its jagged, dramatic skyline. Running with that as a backdrop for more than half the trip was something else.

Then you get into Death Canyon for a while, and this is where the heat started to get to me. It was a hot August, and while the temps were just in the 80s, the sun beat down on us. This is where I was most thankful for my sun hoodie and my ice bandana, dunking everything I could into the streams we passed as we ran. Though this area is sandier and drier than the rest of the trail, there were still plenty of small streams.

Next you descend into Basin Lakes, a beautiful slabby, wooded group of lakes perfect for taking a snack break. After leaving the lakes you come up on my favorite stretch, the climb toward Hurricane Pass. It had the most wildflowers I've ever seen in one place.

The trail climbs steadily past Sunset Lake, a striking turquoise pool where groups of backpackers had posted up to relax. The payoff for 1,000 feet of vert is the best view of the day: an up-close look at the Grand Teton, close enough that people had set up camp chairs just to stare at it. From that angle you can trace the Owen-Spalding route we'd climbed two days earlier. Abby and I took a pause there, pretty proud of ourselves.

Descending from the pass is rocky and volcanic, and it feels like Mordor. But this doesn't last long before you arrive alongside Cascade Creek. Once in the canyon, it felt like we were home in the Sierra! The trees, the waterfalls, the granite all felt like the trails we see every day. And with only about 10 miles to go, that was a really nice surprise.

After the pass it was all downhill and we got into a great rhythm. I was happy that our stomachs were feeling good and that we hadn't bonked yet, so I focused on continued calorie intake and careful foot placement. This section had our fastest splits so far.

That was until about 3 miles out from the finish, when we entered the pain cave. This was the point we started passing day hikers, who looked at us like we'd lost our minds (they were correct). We laughed that spotting our first couple felt like sailors seeing birds before land: if they're here, we must be close.

We hobbled into the String Lake parking lot, the same one we'd left from to canoe out to Moran, and that was the day.

The trail is beautiful, runnable, and exploding with water- truly a dream.

The Nuts and Bolts

Nutrition: every hour I wanted to ingest some gels or chews along with mixing in some real food (shooting for 60ish grams of carbs per hour). On top of that, every ten miles I was taking a serving of liquid carbs. I used almost every type of nutrition sold at TMS. For real food I had chips, cheese its, gummy bears, Nerds clusters, and pretzels, all of which I worked in alongside my nutrition. This strategy worked well and I felt strong at the end of the day with minimal stomach discomfort.

Water: the trail has a ton of it. I brought a BeFree filter with a one-liter bag plus three 500 mL flasks, which was honestly more than I needed. I expected the creeks to have run dry thanks to the low snow year, so I planned to rely only on lakes every ten miles to fill up. What ended up happening was the creeks were still full and we could fill up much quicker at these streams. If I were to do it again, I'd carry one less flask and rely on topping off at the creeks instead of longer breaks at the lakes.

Kit: NNormal Cadi shoes, Injinji toe socks (while filling up water I accidentally dunked a foot in the river. Within 1 mile my sock went from soaked to dry. I love them), Black Diamond sun hoodie and TMS Tahoe Mountain Trail Experience hat, Ombraz sunglasses, Black Dimaond Distance 22 vest with Black Diamond Distance Z poles, and a size 7 Naked belt. In the belt I kept bear spray, the filter, and my flask with Tailwind. I also carried a Garmin inReach Mini and a Black Diamond headlamp. My bag was considerably lighter at the end thanks to all the food I ended up carrying and consuming. 

Everything worked great. The bag and the poles were vital for all three objectives. The poles pack down so small and light I end up bringing them everywhere. Finished the run with no blisters thanks to the socks and shoes. Sunglasses were comfy and I never took them off. Still amazed I ran 34 miles with a big ol’ bear spray plus holster in the back of the Naked belt and didn’t even notice it was there. BeFree filter was perfect for the job and made our stops quick and efficient. Good gear can make all the difference!

All in all, we took on each objective with a lot of heart. One bail, one summit, one completion, and somehow no injuries (a miracle). What a trip. Can’t wait for next year’s!