Winter Adventures in Grand Teton

Most visitors to Grand Teton National Park arrive in the summer and early fall when clear trails draw hikers into deep canyons, and up to colorful wildflower meadows and high passes for close-up views of  craggy peaks. Lakes beckon sweaty hikers to cool off in their sparkling waters. And there is always the possibility of encountering wildlife, from large animals such as bears and moose to adorable and charismatic pica and marmots.

Winter offers a completely different kind of magic: snow everywhere, sparkling fairy tale scenes, and an enveloping quiet.

This year we appreciated winter in the Tetons more than ever by making cross country ski excursions throughout the park. Views of this iconic mountain range never get old!

At the northern end of the park Mount Moran dominates. 

If you are interested in your own trip, the park road from Taggart Lake Trailhead is a good starting point. Grand Teton National Park Foundation generously funds regular grooming of this road for classic and skate skiers all the way up to Signal Mountain. Here is a view from just north of the parking area.

More advanced skiers may want to venture beyond the groomed tracks. Make sure you are well prepared and good at route finding though!

Keep in mind that while bears are hibernating, you may still encounter other wildlife.

You might also come across old cabins, most of which pre-date establishment of the park. As far as I know, they are all closed in the winter, and like wildlife, they should be respected and left undisturbed.

My fascination with log cabins clearly extends to quilting. Log cabin quilts are among my favorites and my most recent quilt top finish is a log cabin.

Making it out of what happened to be available - in this case lots of scraps - seems very appropriate since real log cabins were made the same way - using the wood that was available nearby. In this case the scraps came from other quilts I've made over the years and from bits and pieces in a seemingly bottomless box of vintage fabrics that I acquired years ago at the Austin Area Quilt Guild Show. 

I started out randomly picking fabrics for each block but eventually switched to working with one color family per block so it ended up being a crazy mash up of color. At least the pattern is clear due to consistency in color values. The idea for the peaks and valleys border came from Rachel Hauser at Stitched in Color.

It was very satisfying to use up so many disparate scraps. Now to get it quilted.

Further Adventures in the Tetons, Part II

When last you heard from this intrepid hiker and knitter, I was with a group of geologists in the upper part of Teton Canyon. After two nights at beautiful Basin Lakes, we packed up camp and moved on, heading north on the Teton Crest Trail. After a short climb, we rested at Sunset Lake,

before continuing on through magnificent flower filled meadows

towards Hurricane Pass. Here the Grand Teton is just coming into view.

From Hurricane Pass we took in stunning views of South Cascade Canyon and the Grand, Middle, and South Tetons. On the righthand side of the photo you can see Schoolroom glacier and its moraines and stream outlet. I'm not sure it is actually even still a glacier, but may simply be a permanent snow field.

We continued on,

down into lush Cascade Canyon, heading for Avalanche Divide, the rightmost saddle in this image.

I stopped countless times to snap photos, running afterwards to catch up with the group.

From Avalanche Divide we looked down at Kit Lake,

in which a few of our party cooled off after a hot day of hiking, 

and adjacent to which we set up camp.

In the morning we had time for a geology lesson in front of "The Wall",

admiring more wildflowers,

and a last look at Kit Lake,

before climbing back over Avalanche Divide.

The windswept beauty of the divide

quickly gave way to the gurgling streams and green meadows of South Cascade Canyon.

As we continued down, those in turn gave way to dense stands of evergreens. Avalanche debris from this past winter meant a bit of scrambling around and over logs and branches. In the process we nearly ran into this bull moose.

We ended our hike at the Jenny Lake west boat dock and took the fast and comfortable way across the lake.

Though one could do this hike in two or three days, I'm glad I had four days to savor the beauty of the high country, visit some new places, and to truly be away from it all.

Travelers tips:

Here is a map, courtesy of Steve, showing our route.

Be sure to get a permit if you will be camping within Grand Teton National Park. It gives you an extra measure of security because park rangers will know your intended route and destination. Also, they do check permits and can fine you if you don't have one.

In my last post I promised to show progress on my sweater, which I thought was almost finished. Turns out I made a mistake in shaping the front pieces and have had a lot of un-knitting to do. And nobody needs to see pictures of that! But the fact that I haven't just abandoned the whole project makes me feel like an intrepid knitter indeed. Maybe next time it will be far enough along for me not to be embarrassed to show photos.

Westering Women: Reaching the End of the Trail

I have finally completed my Westering Women quilt!

This was a 2016 block of the month project put together by Barbara Brackman, celebrating women who traveled west on the overland trails in the 19th century. You can find Barbara's introduction to it here. I stuck with fabrics that were either 19th century reproductions or in the 19th century style, all of which I pulled from my stash.

I pieced all of the blocks by hand, but assembled the sashing and borders by machine,

and custom quilted it on my longarm machine.

I have given this quilt to a good friend, who, as a female research geologist, I consider a pioneer of her generation. Years ago she traveled westward a very great distance from her native England to live in central Texas, so it seemed an appropriate gift.

Several months ago she and I agreed to make an attempt on the Grand Teton in 2018, so I am including a couple photos of that beautiful peak. This one, taken along Mormon Row early in the morning, shows the Grand immediately to the right of the barn.

The Grand is the peak on the far left hand side of this image, taken from the south fork of Cascade Canyon (on the west side of the big peaks). 

I just love those high, lush meadows! For scale, note the two hikers in the top right.

While I'm at it with photos from Grand Teton National Park, here are a few wildlife shots from last summer that I never managed to include in a post. This moose may look a little crazed, but really he was just tearing at branches for his meal, and seemed completely oblivious to our presence.

This mule deer, on the other hand, was totally aware of us and seemed to be posing for the camera.

Finally, here is my favorite Teton critter, the pica. Not only are they incredibly adorable, they are great fun to watch.  If you take the time to sit quietly on open, rocky slopes, you will likely see picas scampering among the boulders gathering greenery for their nests, and hear their calls, which sound to me like a squeaky toy you might give your pet.

Any day, sunny or grey, is brightened by a pica sighting. Wishing you many days of pica cuteness!

Westering Women: Reaching the End of the Road

Last January I committed to participating in Barbara Brackman's Westering Women block of the month project. I am pleased that throughout the year I managed to stay up to date and completed each of the twelve blocks not too long after Barbara posted the patterns.

I stuck with traditional prints for these blocks, hoping to use up some of the accumulation in my stash. Although it looks like I've not made even a small dent in my stash, I am happy with the resulting blocks and look forward to putting it all together. If I use generously sized sashing and wide borders it will be big enough for a twin bed.

The route many pioneers followed to the west traversed Wyoming, so here are a few photos from my holiday trip to Jackson Hole, Wyoming. We saw quite a lot of wildlife, just as our predecessors must have done over a hundred years ago.

These elk were on the National Elk Refuge just north of town, so it seems a bit like cheating to have taken photos of them.

This cow moose and her calves (there was a second just out of the frame of this photo) were noshing on branches of this tree. I am always amazed by the kinds of things moose eat and find nourishment from.

I also think they have really cute faces!

Now that I am settled back into a bit of routine after the holidays I have lots of other projects, quilting, knitting and embroidery, in the works and hope to post about them a little more frequently than I did in 2016, so please check back soon.

Apple Season

Ah, fall! Fresh apples and comforting spices like cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice.

During last Friday's huge storm - over eight inches of rain in less than six hours at my house - I whipped up a batch of apple walnut muffins for an afternoon snack. I used unpeeled apple chunks to add both flavor and texture.

Cream together

• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 stick unsalted butter

Add

• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Combine dry ingredients

• 1 cup flour
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon allspice
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Add dry ingredients, in two increments, to sugar and butter, alternating with 

• 3/4 cup milk

Add

• 1 1/2 apples, cut into 1/2 inch cubes (enough for about 2 cups)
• 1 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped

Spoon into prepared muffin tins and top with combined

• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes in pre-heated 400° oven. If you haven't used cupcake foils, let cool for half an hour before removing from tins.

Besides crispy apples and cooler weather, for us fall brings visits to our daughters in New England. This year peak colors coincided with our trip and we were treated to splendid displays of foliage. The Northfield Mount Hermon campus was positively glowing.

NMH fall colors

Sugar Maple leaves at NMH

For the long weekend break we headed to New Hampshire's White Mountains yet again for some hiking. This time we stayed at the Appalachian Mountain Club's Joe Dodge Lodge at Pinkham Notch, right at the Tuckerman Ravine trailhead. Given the White Mountains' reputation for bad weather, we were thrilled to step out into a day of blue skies, warm temperatures and moderate winds.

Getting ready to head up the trail

We pretty quickly diverted off Tuckerman's, one of the busiest trails in the White Mountains,

Fall color on the Tuckerman Ravine Trail

to Huntington Ravine, a trail that is definitely less taken. We saw only three other people, two climbers and one hiker, along the entire route. Once above tree-line the trail becomes a scramble, up and around boulders, and over bare rock slabs, requiring care to follow the trail blazes marking the route. I wouldn't want to descend this way, nor try it on a rainy or icy day, but in the warm sunshine it was great fun.

Resting along the Huntington Ravine Trail

Being up high I could fully appreciate the land's contours, ridge after ridge marching off towards the horizon.

I marveled at the effort that has gone into making and marking these trails.

Descending the Boott Spur Trail

Much as I enjoyed the exhilaration of the high, rocky terrain, as my energy waned towards the end of the day, I welcomed our return to the forest, finding comfort in its protective and colorful embrace.

Nearing the junction to Tuckerman's Ravine trail, we had one final jolt of excitement: a moose on the trail! This was a first for us in the White Mountains and therefore truly memorable.

Moose on the Boott Spur Trail

Fortunately she was intent on eating and merely looked at us and twitched her ears. We couldn't have scripted a better end to the day. I'll leave you with one parting shot of color, this from along the Dolly Copp Road as we departed the White Mountains.

The Dolly Copp Road