Day Sixteen | It's gonna be really cold, well not really

Loading up in the gondola

Today we woke up at around 7am to what seemed like winter. As we decided what to wear, previously hearing rumors of cold weather at the top of the Tetons from the night before, everyone decided to put on several layers of clothing. We then quickly ate breakfast, packed into the vans and rushed off to Teton Village to not miss our gondola ride up the mountain range. Arriving on time we all boarded the gondola with a few extra guests who were going to go paragliding off the top of the mountain. Ten thousand feet above sea level we stand atop amazed by the view that spanned for miles.

Riding in the gondola

10,000 ft above sea level

After looking at the beautiful mountainous landscape we started our twelve mile trek down the mountain. Realizing only five minutes into the hike that it was substantially warmer than the rumors we heard; many people stopped, dropped their backpacks, took off many of their layers, stuffed them into their backpacks, and continued to hike. Having an already heavy backpack, the clothes that everyone either shoved in or strapped onto their backpacks made the hike so much better, well not at all actually.  

Down and down the mountain we went, it felt like this hike went on forever. Exhausted and thirsty we stopped and took breaks, often by a stream where Gary thoughtfully filled up our water bottles with his handy dandy filter. Trekking on for about seven or eight miles, and after a few short breaks, we stopped for our Andy Goldsworthy project. For this we had to build some kind of display or structure that symbolized something with materials from the nature around us. After taking pictures of our projects we started back on our hike with a couple of miles to go.  

Hiking down the mountain

Shane's Andy Goldsworthy project

On and on we went seeing a lot of flora, but unfortunately no fauna. Although I do believe someone did encounter a black bear while building their Andy Goldsworthy project. Trudging along, I know all we could think about was the pizza waiting for us at Dornan’s. As we all crossed the finish line, Julie videotaped our glamorous finish, in which we were all very glad our twelve mile hike was over. Exhausted we all sat down in the dirt waiting for our rides to pick us up. Sitting there waiting, and very hungry I might add, I pulled out a box of Teddy Grahams and shared some with the people around me.

A stream where we stopped to get some water

Add thirty-nine people, twelve miles of hiking, and being in the sun all day makes for a very hungry, worn out, and thirsty group of people. Jamming into the vans we quickly took off to go eat some pizza at Dornan’s. Everyone was very excited to scarf down some food and the pizza turned out to be delicious. Dornan’s served us pizza that ranged from four cheese pesto to barbeque chicken.  The pizzas began to disappear and our stomachs were slowly filling up. The servers kept bringing out pizzas and we continued to clean the pizza pans clean.

Once we were finished eating and being quite full, we listened to a former ISU landscape architecture student named John who spoke to us about the projects he does now being the lead landscape architect for the Grand Tetons National Park. Looking at the cool drawings and plans was a great experience. Having him speak to us about what he does for a living opened our eyes towards a new possibility of what we could do with our landscape architecture degrees when we graduate.

Heading home back to our campsite “Gros Ventre”, or as Michael Martin likes to call it “Gross Venture”, mostly everybody snuggled into their sleeping bags; either going to sleep or laying outside on the picnic tables gazing at the stars and probably thinking about the adventures that lie ahead on our super-sweet savanna studio. 

-Shane and Amber-