Falling into Fall

It's time, ladies and gentlemen, to take the plunge. Change is here. It's not only obvious in the extremely dry air quality, but the visually stimulating display of the leaves here in Jackson Hole. Yesterday my wonderful friend Laura and I took the 11.5 mile trek up Granite Canyon to the top of the tram. We were treated with everything beautiful that this time of year has to offer. Hope the season is magical for you as well.

Loving this...

Nature's artwork...in the form of Aspens.

Granite Canyon.

Victory photo at the top of the tram. 11.5 miles!

Being a Tourist for a Week

Yellowstone is like one of those uber-touristy places that you never go to if you live in Wyoming. It's like when I lived in Phoenix, I went to the Grand Canyon maybe three times in my whole 18 years of upbringing. Nevertheless, we should all try to take advantage of these beautiful places nearby while we have the chance. Last weekend I had a good excuse -- my parents were in town! I took some time off of work to show them the ins and outs of Jackson Hole. We hiked around Phelps Lake, rode the tram at JHMR, and then spent about 12 hours in the car exploring Yellowstone. I feel like everybody needs to be a tourist every once in a while :)

Beaches of Phelps Lake.

Butterfly Love.

Mom & Dad at the top of Rendezvous Mountain.

Bison herd near Old Faithful.

Sunrise in the Tetons

Yesterday morning I finally got up early enough to get out and take some photos of the beautiful sunrise. I love it here...

Cunningham Cabin.

The famous barn on Mormon Row with the Grand Teton.

Mormon Row & the Tetons.

One of the many bison I encountered that morning.

Cliff jumping, fire twirling, and red hills.

I had kind of a killer work schedule this past week so I had to try and squeeze in the fun before work, in between shifts, etc. Last Friday we went out to the Kelly cliffs to do a little jumping. The river comes at the cliffs in a near 90-degree angle, digging away at the river bottom, making it thankfully deep enough for some sweet cliff drops. Too far to the left or right though, and you'll be eating washed stones...

Robin taking the plunge.

David getting crazy.

David, climbing up the 5.8 pitch rock to jump again!

On Monday evening, David and I continued to drive down the crazy dirt track that is the Gros Ventre Road, and met up with some spectacular red hills, Sedona style.

Gros Ventre Red Hills.


Sedona's red rocks...so beautiful!

Looking back towards the road entrance, the Tetons loomed in the mist over the farms in the valley.

Magical Tetons.

We picked a campsite next to Crystal Creek and set up shop around sunset. It was a beautiful evening.

Not a bad room for the evening.

Sunset on Crystal Creek.

The full moon greeted us early in the evening, providing magical light through the trees.

These next few images are the product of getting creative with fire. For any that know me but don't know this, I used to be a baton twirler in college and I twirled fire on a regular basis...well Monday night seemed like a good time to pick it up again :)

David's fire explosion!

Well that's all for adventures for now. I am in the start of a three day weekend and ECSTATIC about it! Backpacking for the rest of the weekend. Much love ♥

A Beautiful Weekend, Inside and Out

Honestly, I don't have any photos from this past weekend, but it was one of the best I've had all summer. I first participated in a three-day-long workshop at Akasha Yoga , my wonderful place of yoga practice here in Jackson. I honestly wasn't much into yoga until I moved here, but after I found out how much it benefits my snowboarding, hiking, biking, and all mental parts of my life, I became hooked. The workshop was taught by Akasha studio owner Neesha Zollinger & her good friend from Barbados, Christy Punnett . We covered a wide variety of poses throughout the weekend, from hip openers to handstands. I even got myself into this pose for the first time:

Full One-Legged King Pigeon, aka Eka Pada Rajakapotasana
Photo by Barry Stone

Crazy I know. Anyway, I came away from the workshop feeling stretched and revitalized. Ready to take on the world. On Sunday, I tried mountain biking again. I had a mountain bike for a while during my senior year of college and spent a lot of time up in the Washington mountains on it. Sadly, I got scared of it after I saw David tear an 8 inch gash in his arm while biking one day and had to get double-layered stitches to get it back together. Yuck. Needless to say, I got back on a friend's bike and rode the new trails at JHMR. Lift access biking, hooray! My first two runs were hideously awful but after that I started getting a lot more comfortable and started to go fast!

Moving on to my final activity of the weekend, rock climbing! I've been wanting to try for a while and I finally had a Monday off to check out the free Intro to Rock Climbing class at our local climbing gym, Enclosure. It was a ton of fun, a great workout, and I can't wait to go again. I guess the only Jackson Hole activity I have left to try is kayaking...hmm...I'll have to work on that one.

As for now, I'm in the middle of another gloriously busy work week at the Amangani. Enjoy the sun while it lasts, it's already starting to feel like fall here :)

Targhee Downhill Series: Race 2

Last Sunday was the second race in the three-part Targhee Downhill Series. This time the expert category went over the challenging Buffalo Drop. Lots of big air, crashes, speed and good times. Congrats to all who entered the race. Stay tuned for race #3 taking place on September 12...

Mike Polhamus

David Duffy

Sean Gollub

Andrew Whiteford, winner of expert 19-29 and fastest time all day at 6:46:8. Impressive!

Off Trail Sightseeing

Honestly, I don't really want to say much about where this precious area of the Tetons is, but I need to post some photos just so everyone can see where I spent my morning today. I ♥ this place.

Our final destination. I'm down in the left corner.

Fun scrambling.

The Grand Teton!!

Looking back towards the valley.

Cairns lead the way...

Blue skies and fluffy clouds.

Taggart & Bradley Lakes.