Packsaddle Lake... Without Packed Saddles

The weather in Southeastern Idaho has finally turned. And by turned, I think it turned straight from Summer to Winter! Last weekend it was in the 70's, but a front moved in mid-week bringing rain and snow! Now, I love snow, but just not yet as there's still summer adventures to be completed. One hike I've been anxious to repeat is Packsaddle Lake. I did this hike in mid-May with temperatures in the 80's, but much of the snow on the trail hadn't melted yet. Oh, and the lake at the end was still frozen. But ever since, I have been yearning to try out the "diving board" and rope swing, so this weekend it was.
Wait - snow? I guess it's a little colder in the mountains.
An awesome view of the Teton Range from the top.
Zooming in on the Tetons - there will be more pictures later (is it obvious that they're my favorite mountain range?)
And there's Packsaddle Lake - at least this time it isn't frozen.
Chris tries out the rope swing, but somehow appears to be defying the laws of physics by standing straight up...
...or is that upside down...
...and he better work on his dismount.
Meanwhile, I was trying to avoid total system shock and slowly acclimating my body to some surprisingly cold water (although the snow should have been a clue along with temperatures hovering around 50). "Why am I doing this?" I asked. "I don't know." Self replied. "Hey, if Navy SEALS can do this in the middle of the night and people survived the Titanic, I can do this!" I said. "But the SEALS use wetsuits and only one Titanic passenger survived after being pulled from the water." Self replied. "Remind me again, why in the world am I doing this?" "I don't know" I repeated.
After much violent shaking and cold feet (pun intended)... I jumped off the "diving board", scurried to shore, got a picture and quickly changed into some dry clothes that were cooling on the snow.
Unfortunately, I didn't get to jump off the rope swing because the water level was too low and you'd land in about 2 feet of water - assuming you let go at just the right moment. That just seemed a little too dangerous, so, I resorted to simply swinging.
This brings back memories of getting kicked out of gym class for waving to the crowd when we were swinging on the ropes.
On our way out, we had to stop for a few more pictures of the Tetons.
If you follow Grand (the tallest peak, 2nd from the left) down towards the base, you can see Table Mountain freshly covered in snow. (A hike I completed 3 weeks ago.)
Synchronized handstands...
...unsynchronized...
...and out of sync (I suppose that's the same thing, except different)...
...synchronized without heads...
...and synchronized with heads (except my handstand was a little late).
On the way back there were a number of farms harvesting and sorting potatoes while these combines are poised and ready to cut some more grain. Once again... only in Idaho will you see 4 on one farm!

Check back next week for pictures from Subway... (but probably not the Subway you're thinking about).

"...but the greatest of these is..."

In 1 Corinthians, Paul has much to say about Charity...
"Follow after charity..." (1 Corinthians 14:1)
"Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;" (1 Corinthians 13:4,5)
"Charity never faileth..." (1 Corinthians 13:8)
"And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity." (1 Corinthians 13:13)
My only question - was Paul right? (Of course he was, but let's see what the pictures have to say this week!)
There's Charity! While planning for her trip, she listed the things she wanted to do:
1) Overnight backpacking
2) See some interesting landscapes
3) Relax
So here we are at the start of our overnight backpacking!
I found a tree with leaves in Idaho, but not for long.
Lower Palisades Lake where we would set up camp for the night.
Arriving at Upper Palisades Lake.
Contemplating why I took Paul's advice to "Follow after Charity"! It is fall after all, and when that sun goes down, it's none too warm. Oh, and I might mention that we are a good 4 miles from anybody, except...
...a few female moose...
..and the bull moose.
There was a nice place to set-up the tent that Charity didn't realize she had carried all the way there. (Charity suffereth long.)
Who needs 4 walls when you've got 2? Of course, Charity believed me when I told her there was a flush toilet in the middle of the woods (Charity is not easily provoked).
Sleeping under a clear sky, red moon and an awesome show of stars. But who wants to hang out watching stars when it's 30-something degrees? But, we both survived the cold and our bear canister didn't attract any attention so I'd say it was successful! (Of course I slept with the bear spray just in case.)
The creek running down the canyon to the lakes.
"Charity doth not behave itself unseemly" (but all the borrowed gear was much appreciated!)
Looking through the morning haze on our way to Grand Teton National Park.
Typically I overload you with pictures of the Tetons. But due to some managed and unmanaged wildfires in the park, you can see a smoky haze at the foot of the mountains obscuring any great pictures.
Mount Moran through the haze with a few trees changing colors.
As we headed into Yellowstone, there's an uncontained wildfire that was really roaring. Fortunately, we were able to get through before they closed the road.
Smoke rising over Yellowstone Lake.
We didn't have much time to drive around, but we were sure to hit the Canyon area as the sun set.
Looking right at Artist Point...
...and looking left towards the Lower Water Falls.
There you have it (at Lower Falls)!
After another night in the cold, we got up early to avoid road closures due to the wildfire. Here you can see the sunrise through the smoky haze.
An elk enjoying breakfast.
Some of my favorite pictures from the trip as the mist rises off the river before sunrise.
In sepia...
...and in color.
The smoke is creating a beautiful sunrise.
Another view along the river.
The sunrise over Yellowstone Lake...
...through all the smoke.
Mist and smoke combining in front of the geysers.
We checked on Old Faithful, and sure enough, it's still going.
From Yellowstone, we headed to Craters of the Moon so Charity could see some interesting landscapes. On the way, this plane was spraying the fields and nearly our car!
Only in Idaho will you see a guy at the pump with his tractor AND 4-wheeler - how efficient.
On top of inferno cone at Craters.
A good view of the bleak, desolate, moon-like landscape.
Recreating one of my first upside-down pictures, although the last one included skies and poles.
Charity goes for the cartwheel. (Hmmm.... "Charity envieth not... seeketh not her own"???)
More views of lava in the middle of the desert...
...fields of it.
Just a hole in the ceiling of a cave - nothing to be concerned about...
...like the mass of rock that fell down.
Rather then wait until her eyes adjusted to the darkness, Charity was keeping her hands out... grasping for air since it's a wide open room.
Proof that we survived a week together, and even got in some relaxing!