Yet another exhausting week. We had two new professors, and this week's focus was on rivers. So basically we spent most of our time in rivers (Pacific creek, Cliff creek, Granite Creek and Hoback river) doing various surveying and measuring.
Among the measurements we made are the longitudanal profile, cross-sectional profile, bankfull level, water level, discharge, pebble count and bug examination. Got a chance to get real close (even to touch) to the ugly squirmy bugs. The overall pace was slower than those hiking days, and it wasn't as taxing as the past two weeks. In fact, sometimes we just chilled out on the riverside, or took a dip in the nice cool water.
Free time was about the same as usual. There was an entertaining talent night, some days playing kick ball (which we lost the first time to other classes), some pingpong and pool night, and movie night (The River Runs Throught it and Napolean Dynomite).
For the last free day, we decided to climb the Middle Teton, the third tallest peak (12000+ft) on the Teton Range. In hindsight, it was the craziest thing that I had ever done in my life. The difficulty reaches class 4 (a classification which according my friend, requires ice pick at class 3).
We set off on Saturday at about 5.00pm, grabbed some dinner in Jackson Hole town, and started hiking up with all our camping equipments, since we planned to camp overnight before attempting the peak. The hike up (about 4+ miles up hill) proofed extremely strenous for me, but 4 of my other frens seemed to have done it in relative ease. I could hardly walk with the big backpack on my back. It's only with sheer determinance, and tolerance from patient friends (to stop and rest) that I made it to the campground (9060 ft) on Garnett Canyon. We set up tents, refilled our water (from a nearby glacier stream), and cooked some instance fried rice. That was a clear starry night, and I saw the milky way and two shooting stars when I was stargazing.
We woke up the next day at about 5.30am. After eating some breakfast, four of us (other one staying at the valley) started the hike up to the Middle Teton at 7am. Since it was the first time, we had no idea about the route (there's no trail), except for it being a southwest route. Still tired from the previous day hike, I had to hike through all those crazy ice fields, and climbed over big rocks and boulders before finally decided that I wasn't fit enough to conquer to peak. It was at about 10600 ft (according to my friend's GPS) when I decided to stop while my friends continued.
The hike down back to the campground was unforgettable for me. I was practically all alone surronded by those insanely high and cold peaks and those dreaded icefields. The view was such majestic and scary at the same time. The winds howling in the valley added to the emptiness, and the echoey voice of the occasional small rocks falling into the seemingly bottomless cracks as a result of my clumsiness exacerbated my fear. At some point I started having weird thoughts. I made it though, and it was already 2pm when I reached the campground. I was so exhausted that I just lied down and took an almost 3-hour nap there.
My other three friends reached the peak though, and they were not back until 5pm. From the campground, we hiked down for another 4 miles before reaching the parking lot at about 8pm. Exhausted and hungry, we went to the Snake River Brewery to have some beer (I didn't drink though) and dinner. We were back in Camp Davis at about 11.30pm.
Although I didn't make it to the top, as I have said, it was the most insane thing that I have ever done in my life. I have definitely went way over my physical limit, and I'm glad that I'm back without a scratch. That was certainly an unforgettable experience, and it had certainly started a whole new category in my list of possible nightmares.
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