Teton Crest Trail, GTNP - 09/2016 *Pic Heavy!*

[blueeyes]

Great trip report and pics. Thanks for posting.

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[AKay09]

Great pics. Was really interested in seeing all these shots and "living" the hike, as I've always wanted to do this but probably won't get a chance as have young kids so I took the chance to "cheat" and fly it last year. Thought you might like my favourite 3 shots from the plane. Do you have any more from the Death Valley Shelf? Would love to walk along that it looks such a big wall cliff with views beyond down the valley (unless the Death Canyon shot is from the top of the shelf in which case it isn't quite as steep as I'd imagined)

Wow those shots from the air are really cool! Would definitely like to experience it from above someday. Those few shots around Death Shelf and looking down the canyon are really the best ones I had. The others are all slight variations of those. It is very steep but I don't think I remember seeing any areas that were straight down. As we hiked we had large vertical cliffs on our left and the valley down below on the right. The pictures really don't do the valley justice. If I'm not mistaken in your 3rd picture the cliffs in the bottom left would have been to our left and above us as we hiked along the valley. If we would have kept walking off trail I think we could have moved to a point that along the valley that would have had a more vertical drop below us.

 

[AKay09]

I love Colorado, but rocky Mt. is *NOT* a great backpacking destination. Nearby the Never Summer or Comanche Peaks Wildernesses are *FAR* better but I believe the absolute best of Colorado is south of HWY 50.

Venchka mentioned the Absaroka, "mountains SE of Yellowstone." The Southern Abaroka Wall is my favorite place on earth. If you'd like to consider this spectacular place where the CDT leaves the crest of the Divide where the spine goes into the remotest wilderness of the 48 please let me know and we'll talk after you get your National forest maps.

That does look pretty amazing and I will definitely consider it for a future trip as well! The main reason I am considering Rocky Mountain NP is because of it's distance to me in Chicago and I am considering making it my first solo trip. I can make it there in a long days drive and I think I would feel a tad safer and more comfortable should things go wrong in a more populated area. Also I have to stick with at least one National Park per year for 2017 and 2018 to complete the little five year goal I set for myself, so as long as I get a new park in for sure I will be willing to look to other locations. May seem a little silly to not consider some amazing areas but it's just something I want to do.

 

[Ross]

[QUOTE="AKay09, post: If I'm not mistaken in your 3rd picture the cliffs in the bottom left would have been to our left and above us as we hiked along the valley. If we would have kept walking off trail I think we could have moved to a point that along the valley that would have had a more vertical drop below us.[/QUOTE]

Ah, that explains it. I've not examined the trail too precisely on a topo and so I always thought the trail went along the top of the highest flat terrace. In my pic there's like a wall at the top, then a 45 degree-ish slope, then a smaller broken wall, then it's less steep again, so I guess from what you say the trail traverses somewhere along those slopes but not along the very top, (which would probably be hard to get back down off).