What goes up must come down

Early Monday morning we decided to ride the tram up to the top of the Jackson Hole Resort and hike down.  Sounds easy, right?  7.4 miles of downhill trekking can't be all that bad, can it?

It was cool at the bottom of the mountain, but at the top it was freezing.  The wind was blowing and it was about 35 degrees with a thin layer of snow on the ground.  We weren't quite prepared for the weather.  Yes, we were those people who buy hats and gloves from the little store at the top of the tram and yes, we paid a small fortune for them.  It was money well spent.

Right away we were greeted by a small group of deer.  This is going to be great.

Beautiful snow-capped tree.

Amazing view of the valley.

You'll notice in all of my hiking posts that Irv is always 20 feet in front of me.  That happens for two reasons:  1) I'm slow and 2) I stop to smell the roses along the way.

We had these dark, ominous clouds hanging over our head most of the day.

Another wildlife sighting.

Soon we passed underneath the tram.  At this point I was kind of wishing I were on my way down in that tram.

I love rock formations.

Yep, we're still on the right path.

We started way up there.  We've descended quite a bit, but there's still a long way to go.

I've always heard that long descents are hard on the body and I was beginning to believe it.  The slipped disc in my back was screaming at me.

But then another surprise--can you see it?  What is it?  Irv said it was a pheasant, but I think it's a sage hen.

Another view of the valley.

Then we started encountering some strange things.

 Is this some kind of skiing obstacles or...

is this some kind of ski run art display?

Whatever it is, it's pretty cool.

After a while the trail turned into a narrow path and we had not seen another human in a couple hours.  Apparently most tourists don't think a 7.4 mile hike is fun.  Then we found this pile of feathers that was spread out several feet along the trail.  Then we found a big pile of scat that most definitely came from some large, furry mammal that has long claws.  Sorry no pictures.

Then another surprise...a good surprise.  Do you see them?

Two adults and two little fawns.

Don't worry sweeties, we're just passing by.

Such a treat.

At the end of this section of the trail we passed this sign.  Wouldn't you think they would have warned us from above too?  I guess it wouldn't have mattered because we had to go through that section to get down.

When we made it back down to Teton Village we decided to hop on the gondola and go eat lunch up at the deck.  The deck is about 2.3 miles down from the top.  We passed by it on the way down and thought "wouldn't it be fun to eat lunch there".  So we rode it to the top and then...

we got right back on and went down..  We didn't feel like eating lunch on the deck when it was 39 degrees and snow was starting to come down.

We went back to Jackson and grabbed a chicken sandwich.  Then we jumped in the hot tub, took a shower and a couple naps.  I'm not sure either of us will be able to walk tomorrow.  Downhill was hard on the feet, knees, thighs, and my back.  We must be getting old.  Oh well, at least we're getting old on the trails and not in a comfy recliner watching TV.