Summer Adrift Episode 15: Anniversary Climb
Welcome to episode 15 of A Summer Adrift!
We started this episode with a bang. We were waiting for enough snow to melt off of Teewinot so we could climb it. This mountain is why we were going in and out of Jackson countless times over the summer. For those who are not familiar Teewinot is the peak that stands just to the right of the Grand when viewing the Tetons from Jackson. When we arrived after the Winds we were warmed up and ready and so was the mountain!
Owen and MAK on the summit of Teewinot by Chase
It was a tough mountain that required a lot of free climbing. We even had to come prepared with ice axes for the lingering sections of steep snow. We were joined by Chase, Aimee, and Micah. Peter and Shruthi were pooped from the winds and decided to sit this one out.
Ultimately, just Chase, Owen, and I made it to the summit. This is the only photo that we have from that day on the mountain as we were trying to pack light for the hard climb. It was a rewarding way to spend our five-year wedding anniversary.
After Teewinot we put Jackson in the rearview mirror for the last time. We headed towards Dubois where we enjoyed a few days that didn’t even show up in the video. We were pretty exhausted after all the backpacking we’d been doing so we found a quiet place outside of town by a lake to spend a few days recovering. During that time we eat burgers and pie at the diner in town, we tubed down the stream near our camp spot, and we found a bunch of petroglyphs.
Mustache crew part 1
Mustache crew part 2
I decided it was time to properly document the ridiculous mustaches the guys all decided to sport. I know this is a gratuitous number of pictures of these guys and the mustaches… but I just get such a kick out of these pictures that I couldn’t leave them out. Alright, back to Dubois!
Peter - The Alpine Smoocher
Chase - The Angler Dangler
Owen - The Street Sweeper
View of the mountains from camp
Sunset in the valley
Eventually we made our way back into the backcountry for a few days of fishing. Before coming to the area Chase had done some research and knew that there were some spots that he wanted to check out. Us not knowing anything about what the area had to offer followed them to this beautiful spot.
Shuthi settling in for sunset
Aimee fishing from camp
The views were amazing here. If we weren’t fishing we had our chairs pulled out by the stream where we could see the valley in all directions so we could sit back and take it all in.
Like many places, we made sure that we were present for all sunsets and sunrises. Owen and Chase started a gang/group/brotherhood that they’ve lovingly dubbed the Lapse Bros. The Lapse Bros have one purpose, and that is to time-lapse EVERYTHING. That meant that we needed to be up early for every sunrise because each is different and unique. For those who are curious, they’re still lapsin’ together to this day.
Sunrise the day the smoke settled in
While we were here a heavy haze moved into the area. We didn’t have service all the way out here and had no way of figuring out where it was coming from. The smoke was building quickly, and we feared that the fires were close. We made plans to leave the next morning in case the fires were nearby.
When we got back into service we discovered that the smoke was coming from fires that had broken out all over the west, the spoke we were seeing was specifically coming all the way from California and Colorado on strong winds.
We relocated to yet another fishing spot that had a fun water crossing on the way to camp. It was so much fun that we all took turns switching drivers to go through it.
Shruthi fording the river
Shruthi fording the river part 2
MAK and Roxanne
Peter, clipping his toe nails, at least that is what he said he was doing
The Angler Dangler ready for action
Aimee and Bullwinkle
Owen and Luna
Once we settled into camp, we quickly got out on the water for a few hours of fishing before we lost day light.
Owen and his beautiful catch
MAK with her fish
Owen about to release his fish back to which it came
We took turns casting and Shruthi even got a lesson of fly fishing from Aimee. That night we fished until we couldn’t see our fly on the water anymore and returned to camp to watch the moon set over camp.
The following day we woke up, luxuriated around camp and went out for a full day of fishing. The entire time we were out here we only saw one other car pass.
Camp during a beautiful moon set
That’s it for this episode! Thank you all for stopping by to watch and read. Sadly, next week will be our final episode of A Summer Adrift. It’s hard to believe. This series has been an absolute joy to put together for you all, but I will say more on that in the next blog post. See you then!
Love,
MAK
THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS
Our work life is powered by Battle Born! They make the best lithium batteries on the market and are a crucial part of our power and solar system that makes working from the road possible! It took an incredible amount of power to create Summer Adrift, and we have Battle Born to thank for making it possible.
We’ve now been living our of our flat-bed Four Wheel Camper for 2 years now. FWC builds comfortable and durable campers that can fit on any truck. We can confidently say that a FWC is the most comfortable and livable rig we’ve had in all of our years on the road!
Maps are your best friend when you’re on the road. On X makes it easy to find open routes and trails near you no matter where we are or the time of year. On X allows us to access saved maps to locate ourselves in the wild. The GPS works perfectly offline, even when service is nonexistent.
MAK’s favorite underwear (or shall I say innerwear) company anywhere! After a long search to find, comfortable, technical and sustainable underwear the search is finally over! Made of ethically sourced Marino Wool, Branwyn underwear are ready for anything you could through at them. Use code BFN15 for 15% off your next order!
Main Line Overland is the shop that built our incredible rig, Roxanne. They are incredibly knowledgable of everything overlanding. We chose to work with them because they build thoughtful, reliable and durable vehicles that can get you to anywhere you ant to be!
Tires can be some of the best insurance when you are out in remote places. We love and trust our Toyo ATIII’s to get us in and get us out safely no matter the terrain. They’re amazing in mud, moon dust, loose rocks, slick rock, you name it!
