Hi,

Thirty five years ago i spent one night in Gran Teton Wilderness and thought i'd come back some day... Now at 63 it is high time to make that dream come true.

The idea is to have a crosscountry hiking trip through the wilderness to Yellowstone with a party of 4 to 6 people.
Trained in hiking and backcountry hiking /skying in the alps (high elevation, rough climate but performing as elderly people. Yes we performed better 30 years ago)
Autonomous for 6 days. Would expect to progress 10 to 15 miles a day depending on terrain.

Being French, we are not very knowledgeable of the US outdoor information resources. I have found the USGS 1/24 000 maps but cannot find any more specific guides showing routes and giving advice on local difficulties or pleasant routes. Are there such things (we call them "topo guides").

Looking at the map, I figured out a possible route :
Starting from Pacific Creek Trailhead( East of Jackson lake and two ocean lake)
North East to Enos lake
Crossing Two Ocean pass
Then down to Hawks rest and the Thorofare trail.

Still there are many questions.
Are these trails really visible and useable or is it more GPS and compass in the wild ? How do they cross creeks ?
Is there a way to get a boat transfer on Yellowstone Lake in order to spare one day of food and effort ?
Etc.

Any advice on information resources, experiences, alternative routes, will be highly appreciated.

Thank you for reading (if you got that far !) and for any help.

Hello,
Sounds like quite a trip! While I have not been on the trails you're looking at, I do have some overall familiarity with the area. If I'm understanding your plan, it seems that you'll be starting in the Teton Wilderness and hiking into Yellowstone National Park. Don't think you'll find any boat transfer from the south end of Yellowstone Lake unless you can have someone meet you in a canoe. No motors allowed in the southern end of the lake.

I would suggest, contacting the Ranger office in Jackson for details on the Wilderness. You could call or possibly e-mail mail to inquire about the specifics of your trip http://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/btnf/rec ... ecid=77359

You should also contact the Yellowstone backcountry office for info on that portion of your trip. http://www.nps.gov/yell/planyourvisit/b ... hiking.htm

There is at least one guidebook on the Wilderness. "Beyond the Tetons: A backpacking guide to Wyoming's Teton Wilderness"

One additional note-This area is a very wild and very remote, especially the Thorofare country.

Good luck and hope this information helps.

Bill

I don't know the area you're looking at, but I can see some trails around Enos Lake that are clearly visible via aerial photography:

http://caltopo.com/map.html#ll=43.97584 ... z=17&b=sat
(Use the control at upper right to switch to a topo map: I like the US Forest Service map, it's visually cleaner than the USGS map.)

In fact there are more footpaths than are shown on the topo map. I don't know whether these trails have signs or color-coded blazes, but I wouldn't count on trail markers alone.

No bridges visible; ford the streams.

What Bill said.

You won't find bridges out there in the Teton Wilderness. If you can, go in August or September when fords will be much easier.

The trails probably don't receive much maintenance until you get closer to Yellowstone Lake. Expect blowdowns and brush, though I don't imagine it will be true bushwhacking.

There are more grizzlies out there than there were 30 years ago. They won't bother a group your size except perhaps at night if your food is not stored properly, but you all should still carry pepper spray and know bear etiquette.

Ralph Maughn and Lee Mercer put together a great guide for the Teton and Washakie Wildernesses.

Personally I wouldn't think about the Thorofare without 8 days but I am heavy and slow. You've got about a 75 mile hike unless you get a ride on Yellowstone Lake. If you want to fish and take time to observe wildlife I'd scale back your plans significantly and think about the Ferry Lake Loop or Big Game Ridge Loop. Going later in August is a good suggestion; in addition to water crossing issues mosquitoes on some of your route can make the Wind Rivers seem like a picnic. The worst mosquitoes I ever experienced were on Two Ocean Plateau in July 1976; we could hit the side of our horses and despite using repellex come up with a 100 or so bloody buggers.

The notation of the significantly increased grizzly population should be taken very seriously. Unless you are all going to hike all together all the time you should not be thinking you can really move out all over the place, and even if you do stick together you're going to run into a lot of short sight distance areas requiring you to slow down quite a bit. I would have one canister of bearspray for each two hikers, no less. Some hikers make a mistake and think of Gizzlies like Black Bears. Greater Yellowstone's Apex Predators have thrived with the largest mammalian habitat of the Temperate Zone as their smorgasboard, human-bear encounters have increased exponentially.

Enos Lake is the largest in the Wilderness and pretty nice, but be prepared for the tiny flying vampires to say the least. Mariposa Lake is lovely and has decent fishing if you were to pass on Enos and go through Fox Park past the headwaters of the Snake.

Remember that a large portion of your route burned in '88 and other years. Could be hot at times. Also remember you will need 15 degree F bags at least IMO. Was 8 degrees for me end of the first week of August '76 at Fox Park. Water bucket [which you don't leave out anymore with more bears] had an inch and a half of ice in it after it was in the mid 70s the day before. Your route has also received a foot of snow on August First.

It's a wonderful plan but make sure you cut absolutely no corners whatsoever with safety protocols for stream crossings, temperature variance, and Grizzlies. Any of you folks know Claude Poulet? He's taken some awesome pics in the Absaroka of late.

I have a couple ideas for you. One is to think about going into higher country around Ferry Lake and that area, very nice hiking. Also if you like wildlife schedule some time to watch wolves in Yellowstone.

Another idea is renting a packraft, these are like inflatable kayaks that you can put in a backpack. You can rent them from this website http://jhpackraft.com/. If you hike past Younts and Thorofare Peak you can go to the Thorofare River and float down it to the edge of Yellowstone. Boating is banned on rivers in Yellowstone Park. However you can us your raft to cross the arms of Yellowstone Lake. If you decide to try this send me an email and I'll help you plan it.

Have a fun trip.