Grand Tetons National Park

September 6-7 , 2021

Overview:

Distance: 21.5 miles

Elevation Gain: 3656 ft.

Time: 2 days, 1 night

Difficulty: Strenuous 

 Camping overnight in the backcountry of GTNP requires permits from the NPS. This includes Backpacking Paintbrush Canyon.

The Tetons are a special place. Driving into the park, it was fairly flat until we were met with some massive jagged mountains that came out of nowhere. There’s a bunch of iconic views along Route 191, but to really experience the Teets, I think you have to get up into the backcountry.

Backpacking Paintbrush Canyon + Cascade Canyon Loop

Every year, a group of my close friends and I do a 1-2 week outdoor adventure trip somewhere in the USA to get away from our jobs, reconnect with each other and get into nature. This year we explored the national parks in Wyoming as well as some cool spots in Idaho. The past few years we’ve been pretty good about planning out our itinerary and reserving permits for the backpacking trips we want to do, but this trip had pretty much no planning at all. 

We really wanted to backpack in the Tetons, but we missed the permit deadline earlier in the year. It was also Labor Day weekend, so we were a little nervous about acquiring walk-up permits for our top choices.  From my pre-trip research, Backpacking Paintbrush Canyon and the Cascade Pass loop popped up a lot so we wanted to try for that as our first choice, and succeeded!  

GTNP allows walk-up permits the day before starting a backcountry trip. I’m not a big fan of this. I think it should be the day-of, but alas.

We arrived at the Jenny Lake Visitor center at 6:30am after a 2 hour drive from Yellowstone. We were told by a friend that the doors opened at 7am; turns out they opened at 8am, whoops.  It was pretty chilly outside so no one really wanted to wait outside for an hour and half, which in hindsight we should have done. Once we left our warm car to wait in line for permits, a decent line had already formed.  We didn’t succeed in getting the Paintbrush Canyon permits the day we got there, but we got them for the following day for North Fork Campground.

Now onto the trail deets!

This loop starts at String Lake, just north of Jenny Lake. By the lake, there are 3 parking lots; we chose the South lot since we were taking the loop counter-clockwise. 

After missing our very first trail junction less than a mile in and having to backtrack, we were finally on our way into one of the most scenic areas of the GTNP backcountry. About 2 miles in, we were greeted by a mama and baby moose walking down the trail!! Shoutout to Dillon for these epic telephoto shots.

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We also later saw a black bear cub, but I didn’t get any good pics of it.  

Lower paintbrush canyon reveals the first beautiful views of the Grand Teton backcountry. Even in Early September there were some hints of fall colors.

There are several streams to fill water throughout the paintbrush canyon ascent,which we took advantage of a few times. I think the lower and upper camping areas in Paintbrush Canyon would make great one day backpacking trips going counter clockwise, or a second day campsite coming from the other direction. 

After filling up our water bottles, we pushed forward to Holly Lake for lunch. At 6 miles, Holly Lake was approximately the halfway point for Day 1. So far, we knocked out ~2500 ft. of elevation gain. The next section of climbing was a lot tougher for us because the altitude started hitting.

In the panoramic photo below, the break in the mountains on the right side of the photos is the continental divide and the last bit of climbing, around a mile to go. 

I’ve seen photos of this section covered in snow and ice and I much prefer the scree. Walking on the scree was still pretty sketchy though; the rocks moved a lot. So close yet so far and we were struggling.

Eventually, the four of us arrived at the high point of the loop – 10,700 feet! 

There were some pretty great 360 views from the top.  But descending into the canyon on the other side of the continental divide made the views look even better.  Unfortunately, there were some visibility issues due to Canadian wildfires in 2021, but the Tetons still looked majestic nonetheless.

The descent from the Paintbrush Divide to Lake Solitude was about 2 miles and 1600 feet of elevation loss. It was also scree on almost the entire way down to the lake. Because of this steep scree section, we were all really glad we decided to take the Loop CCW instead of CW; I think it’d be more strenuous going the other way around.

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As a reward for making it past the crux of the hike, we took a frigid polar plunge in Lake Solitude. And then walked to our campsite in our underwear.  Little did we know, that was another 2 mile walk… ha!

We all thought the North Fork Campsites would be just down the trail aways, however the backcountry sites span over a mile.  (Make sure to grab a map of the camping area from the ranger for whichever campground you get permits for! It was very helpful finding the hidden campsites tucked away off trail.)  Since we arrived at sunset, all of the campsites closer to Lake solitude were taken and we got one of the very last ones further down the mountain.

The next day was pretty much all downhill, for 7 miles.  We had beautiful views of Cascade Canyon for the first several miles. 

Then the last 2 miles, the end really seemed to be running away from us.  Walking around the edge of Jenny Lake, back to the parking lot, seemed longer than it should be. Part of that was probably because the sun was beating down on us, without much shade for relief. But we all made it eventually, injury free! 

Overall this was a very strenuous 2-day backpacking trek, that provided incredible views of the heart of the Tetons. If I were to do this hike again, however, I’d probably make it a 3-dayer to enjoy my time in the mountains more instead of just 2 days of a brutal workout. I’d still take it CCW and  camp at Upper Paintbrush or Holly lake the first day, North Fork or South Fork the second day, and then hike out the third day. 

I hope you enjoyed this recap, and feel free to leave any questions or comments below! I always love hearing your feedback!

Overview:

Distance: 3.4 miles

Time: 2 days, 1 night

Difficulty: Easy

Backpacking to Hole in the Wall is a fun easy overnighter (or day hike) that provides some beautiful views of the Oregon Coast.  There’s towering rock formations in the shallows, dense forest touching the beach, and lots of driftwood (and driftwood forts!). This backcountry campsite is within the Olympic National Park boundaries, so permits are required and can be reserved up to 6 months ahead of time. 

Parking is available at Rialto Beach,  another popular Oregon beach that’s worth exploring, but typically very crowded.  Hole in the Rock is then 1.5 miles down the beach, heading North. When we went, we were blessed with 2 sunny days in a row.  The most important thing to note about this hike is that the hole in the wall can only be passed during low tide. Make sure to check the tide charts, because backcountry camping is on the other side of the formation.

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You can also go above/around the Hole in the Rock instead of through.  This section of the trail is worth checking out either way because it has sweeping views of the Olympic Coast from a higher vantage point.

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Once past the wall, we were free to pick a spot to set up camp for the night.  We also partook in making our own driftwood fort like many other campers on the beach.  Seeing everyone’s forts was one of my favorite parts of this trip.  I posted some photos of our driftwood fort in a National Parks Facebook group and was met with the wrath of several people (boomers) saying that we vandalized a National Park.  I don’t agree with the sentiment since the driftwood was already there and we made our fort in place, and high tide breaks the forts down if you build them low enough.  So your call if you want to participate in fort building or not!

To finish off the night, we let the campfire die out and then laid our sleeping bags in the sand without a tent and stargazed until we fell asleep.  Let me know if you have any questions about this hike; I hope you have a good time out there!

Overview:

Region: Mount Baker Wilderness, Washington, USA
Date: August 11-12, 2020
Difficulty: Moderate
Elevation Gain: 1300 ft.
Permit Required: Northwest Forest Pass (No reservation required)

This short hike has such a massive reward.  It was a major highlight of our 10 day outdoor adventure tour of Washington.  The 360 views at the top are incredible.

The road to the top is pretty rough, and got more inclined the higher we went. I’d definitely recommend a high clearance vehicle; we made it in our Nissan Pathfinder.  There’s several nice campsites at the base of the trail too scattered around Twin lakes.  The trail to the top is a constant elevation gain over about 1.7 miles, but since it’s short, it’s not too bad!

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There is one sketchy section hiking to Winchester Mountain Lookout where there was a rock slide on the trail, so definitely use caution here.

Looking down at Twin Lakes from the trail

Hiking to Winchester Mountain Lookout, like all fire towers in the PNW,  is first come first serve.  We arrived at the top around 3PM and were the only ones there, so we got first dibs in sleeping in the fire lookout for the night. More people trickled in as the day went on but no one asked us to stay inside.  I’m not sure if this is an unspoken rule with sleeping in the fire lookouts or what, but we weren’t complaining, especially the next morning when it got down into the 20’s.

We experienced a wide range of weather conditions while we were up there,  starting with stormy skies.

But the sun poked out for dinner!

Mount Baker Sunrise

If you ever get the chance to some hiking to Winchester Mountain Lookout​,  just remember: Leave no Trace and leave the Fire Lookout better than you found it.

Cheers!

Backpacking Sahale Glacier requires backcountry camping permits issued by the US National Parks Service.

After this trip to the Pacific Northwest and visiting Washington’s 3 National Parks, I’m now excited to say I’ve visited half of the U.S. National Parks. And the North Cascades have definitely made my top 5 list. I don’t hear people talk about the North Cascades too much, which is probably because it’s inaccessible most of the year. Most of the backcountry backpacking trails are only open in August and September due to snow, unless you’re doing legit mountaineering. 

Backpacking Sahale Glacier is an offshoot trail of the popular Cascade Pass Trail which is accessed from Cascade River Road. It is not a main road into the park, but still very popular nonetheless.  Cascade River Road turns to gravel at around the halfway point and is about 18 miles long. It  took us about an hour to get to the start of the trailhead after the turnoff from SR-20. 

After we parked and finished packing our final items it was time to ascend! The first 2.5 miles of the trail has 35 (we counted) gradual switchbacks that knock out the first 1500 feet of elevation gain. There weren’t many views during this section because the the dense forest but I still enjoyed it.  Once we completed the final switchback, we started getting some epic mountain views.

From the end of the switchback section to the Sahale trail merge was a little under a mile and only about 200 feet of elevation gain. We passed a few small streams in this section and took some time to filter water. You’ll definitely want to tank up here, because we didn’t run across any more water until the bottom of the rock scramble section in the final half mile. (There was also water at the top near our campsite.)

The trail merge to hop off the Cascade Pass trail onto the Sahale Arm trail is a great stop to have lunch, overlooking the valley. Additionally if you continue another mile, there’s another awesome lunch spot overlooking Doubtful Lake.

The Sahale Arm trail is about 2.15 miles with 2200 feet of elevation gain that gradually gets steeper and steeper as you work your way up to the campsites. Luckily, the maximum elevation of this hike is 7600’, so there’s not too much of a lack of oxygen.  

On our way to the top we saw our first mountain goat! A major bucket list item on this trip for me was seeing one of these guys in the wild. And we saw a lot more as we climbed higher.

The final 0.65 miles is a rock scramble and by far the hardest section of the hike with over 1000 feet of elevation gain. The trail disappears frequently in the rock scramble but there are plenty of cairns to follow. This section is even more difficult on the way down, so take your time.

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At the end of the trail there are several rock mounds where campers can set up. They all have man made rock walls around them to protect from the wind. Another camper told us they’re referred to as ‘bivs’ but nothing popped up on Google when I searched for that?   

While we were searching around for which campsite we wanted to claim, a guy came up to us and said he forgot the SD card for his camera and was about to propose to his girlfriend and saw all of us with our camera gear. So we also shot an engagement. Congrats Jason and Angela! 

One of the best features of this campsite is the pit toilet where you can take the most epic poop of your life! All 4 of us had to get some funny photos.

We were gifted with an amazing sunset, which most day hikers don’t get a chance to see. We had some dehydrated Pad Thai with chicken from Backpackers Pantry while we watched the sun go down. For us there was a stream running near us from melting snowpack, so we didn’t even need to melt snow to eat or drink.

And after the sun finally went down, we had phenomenal Milky Way views! The Perseid meteor shower was also happening so we got lots of pics with shooting stars. This is one of my favorite photo captures of the trip.

It was surprisingly warm at our campsite, at least according to me. It was noticeably cooler at the bottom of the rock scramble. I guess we had more of a wind block? However, once we got settled into the tent for the night the winds really started picking up. We shared a 4 man tent for this trip. Ian and I faced one direction and Taylor and Wyatt faced the opposite direction. Wyatt and Taylor claimed they were freezing all night but Ian and I weren’t very cold, so that was pretty strange because none of us particularly run hot or cold. None of us slept that well, though, because the wind was so loud and thrashing the tent around. 

In the morning, we packed up and headed out on the same trails in reverse. We only had one small section of snowpack hiking to do to get from our campsite back to the main trail, so none of us used our crampons or microspikes. Definitely check with a park ranger to see if you’d need them or not. 

The descent was much faster. We did it in about 2.5 hours vs. around 6 hours for the hike up. The rock scramble wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be while I was hiking up it. To me the worst part of the descent was the switchback section. This section was fine starting the trail because we were all so excited, but on the way down with no views, I just wanted the hike to be over and the 35 switchbacks never seemed to end. 

Overall, this backpacking trip was awesome and I’d definitely do it again someday.  Although it’s strenuous, the reward definitely pays off.  It’s very cool to start off seeing the towering mountains from the trailhead and then climb high enough to see endless peaks from the top. 

Some additional photos included this blog were from my friends Ian and Taylor.  Please leave a comment below if you have any questions or comments, love hearing from you!

Yoho National Park, BC

Yoho Valley, Iceline, Whaleback Trails Loop

August 12-14, 2017

Overview:

Distance: 30km (~19.5mi)

Time: 3 days, 2 nights

Difficulty: Moderate

Elevation Gain: 760m (~2500 ft)

I’m writing this post 1.5 years after the fact, but I have a lot of pictures from the adventure I wanted to share in a quick photo essay.  On this trip, my friends, Eric and Naomi, and I explored Yoho National Park, Jasper National Park, and Banff National Park in the Canadian Rockies.  During initial research for the trip I stumbled upon some pictures and blog posts from Yoho and it looked beautiful. It also seemed to less popular than the other parks.  In the end, this Yoho National Park backpacking loop turned out to be my favorite part of our trip.  Maybe it was because this was my first taste of the Canadian Rockies and beautiful glacier lakes, but Yoho really took my breath away and offered very different types of scenery.

Eric and I departed Calgary for Yoho National Park in the morning.  About an hour into our drive we got our first glimpse of the Canadian Rockies!

We started at the Takkakaw Falls, the tallest waterfall in Canada. There is a section of the parking lot dedicated to over-nights only and we lucked out with the last available spot. Before we began backpacking we hiked up to the base of the falls to snap some photos and feel the mist.  

We had some beautiful weather backpacking to the Twin Falls campsite on the first day.  We also had our first taste of glacial water.

Laughing Falls looked beautiful with the sun starting to set.

We arrived at the Twin Falls campground around 6:45pm.  It took us about 3 hours to hike the first 7km of the trip.  The campsite was next to a river and also had some nice picnic tables. During dinner, Eric and I went to take a quick look at the river, and when we came back to the table, a friendly Chipmunk was eating Eric’s leftover granola.

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We slept in a little bit and started Day 2 around 8am.  The next majestic landmark we came across was Twin Falls.  We took a break for a snack at the Twin Falls Chalet and chatted with some hikers staying there.  They told us it was there 3rd night and they had been exploring the surrounding areas. They also said the food the staff cooked at the Chalet was amazing. I’ll have to go back and try it sometime.   

We next merged with the Whaleback trail and started our ascent to the top of Twin Falls. It was a serious climb with a lot of switchbacks; about 500m of elevation gain in less than 3km. In hindsight, we backpacked the loop the harder direction (counter-clockwise), but either way is still strenuous. It started drizzling during our ascent and didn’t stop until we reached our campsite.

Some leftover snowpack In August!

We hiked at a higher elevation for a little bit soaking in 270 degree majestic views of Yoho Valley before heading back down to meet back up with the Iceline trail.

Pit Stop at the Stanley Mitchell Hut. The next several miles were going to be trekking into the rocky glacial region behind Eric in this photo:

Once we got above the tree line, the scenery drastically changed and it felt like we were in a completely new place.  It was extremely rocky, with minimal plant life, and glacier ponds scattered all around.  I imagine this section of the hike is how the Iceline Trail got it’s name. We filled up our water bottles in a super turquoise pond.

Before beginning our descent down to Yoho Lake we got an alternate view of Takkakaw Falls.  I had no idea the mountains kept going so high about the falls when looking from the base of the falls the previous day.  It was a great feeling looking at the Falls from here and seeing how much terrain we’d covered in a little over 24 hours.

We arrived at our campsite around 7:30PM and the clouds broke up a bit right when we arrived. This gave us an opportunity to set up our tent while keeping our gear dry.

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There were two other groups of campers there.  One group was a mom and her daughter just starting their trip. The other group consisted of a few hikers from a university (I can’t remember where) taking rock and fossil samples in the backcountry for. One of the guys we were talking to had done some geological research in our home state of Virginia as well, so we bonded over that. 

It rained all night long, but we awoke to some cool foggy views of Yoho Lake.  We also found some of the red Canada chairs!

The hike out took about an hour and then we were off to Banff to shower, rest up, and meet Naomi for the next part of our Canadian Rockies adventure!

Overall this was an amazing Yoho National Park backpacking loop and I’d recommend it to anyone.  The hike up to twin falls was strenuous, but the rest of the loop was easy to moderate. I would like to do the same loop again sometime,  hopefully when it’s less rainy and also more clear outside.  Many of our views on this trip were hindered due to smoke and haze from forest fires. Maybe in the Fall next time with the larch trees! If you choose to do this loop, make sure you reserve permits well in advance!

If you have any questions or comments, shoot me a post below!  Happy Adventuring!