dear steve and clair: thank you very much for getting hitched in wyoming!

aaron and i managed to make a long weekend out of it

bopping around grand teton natl park (2 oceans lake loop)

the marmot was sometimes cooperative about posing for photo ops

but not always….

better to catch her when she’s not looking

then we picked up our buddy jack!

jack had some crazy idea about running some teton crest trail and carrying all our snacks with us.  i wasn’t sure jack realized how many snacks a marmot ate.

but we followed our fearless leader nonetheless

and posed for his pictures

and really posed for his pictures

even when we didn’t know he was taking them

man we’re good! notice the synchronized running posing

because it was such a beautiful run

and we were so very content, running with eagles overhead and wildflowers afoot

and looking for fluffies

found one! (we tallied 28 yellow-bellied marmots, including the rare melanistic black marmots found only in the tetons)

and did i mention the wildflowers?

and the views!

that i didn’t even grumble when we made a wrong turn and ended up having to climb 3000 ft up to a freezing cold 11,000′ peak that looked like mordor (aaron didn’t think he’d done a climb like that since hope’s pass at leadville)

but at the top we actually got to look down on the other mountains

and then we got to run downhill!

and finally got back on track

jack was very happy about this

apparently so was God

that when we got to sunset lake, after 6pm with hardly any water left and another sizable climb and 10+ miles to go, polish-canadian water fairies filled our bladders with filtered water.  for the first time all day we could stop rationing water.  dear little water fairies, we will never forget your kindness!

the race against the approaching darkness begins!

but didn’t stop us from taking more pictures

we are totally going to regret taking these pictures an hour from now when we’re running in the pitch black in grizzly country. but the cascades were so pretty

as dusk fell the critters started coming out (like this exceedingly friendly little red fox who began ambling towards us after this photo was snapped)

by the time we got to jenny lake it was so dark you couldn’t see your hand. fortunately aaron brought a light. 3 people, 1 light.  the light didn’t keep my left thigh and reproductive organs from being gauged by a dead pine tree that had fallen into the trail, directly into the headlamp’s blind spot.  but it finally got us to the jenny lake parking lot. best adventure ever!