The Unexpected

Delta Lake GTNP

Time is always limited it seems.

In the moments I take to write this Sunday morning, when I should be writing my curriculum ideas for Grand Teton National Park, I want to talk about this phenomenal hike I went on this week to Delta Lake.

It is kind of a sacred hike to Park Rangers here - partially marked on the topographical map and partially unmarked.  I would not have been able to find it on my own - but with the help of another ranger and the cairns (mounds of rough stones piled as a landmark) we were able to get there.

Delta Lake is about a 10 mile hike with an elevation increase of over 3000 feet.  It starts at the Lupine Trail Head and has over a dozen switchbacks.

It was truly amazing - sub-alpine setting, turquoise blue water under the Grand Teton Glacier - with a water temperature cold enough to make my calves ache within about 5 seconds.  To submerge the rest of my body was unfathomable, though others have done it.

Most interesting to me was the pretty extreme turn of morning mountain weather we experienced by 11:30 am at the Lake.  We had arrived by 11:00 am, in almost full sun, but quickly winds turned and a churning dark cloud bank came from behind and the South of the mountain along with a humidity level that talked of change.  By 11:30 we were in a pretty decent lightning storm.

Our choices were to hunker at fairly high altitude, just under 10,000 feet, in clusters of pines or to descend and scramble over boulder fields.  We opted to descend and to get over the rock fields before they became slippery from rain.

Ultimately, it was a good decision - and a lesson on powerful mountain weather and preparation needed for the unexpected.