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Awesome! A beautiful time to be up there. Glad you found it helpful!

Nearly every time I've done it's been solo. I'd say I've seen bears on it about half the time. I've never seen a grizzly on the trail though - too crowded for their tastes. It's always been black bears. In either case, give them the respect they deserve and you won't have any trouble. And yes, if you only have one night to backpack in the Tetons, this is the trip to do.

My pleasure and glad you found them helpful!

Sounds like you live in an exciting part of the world! But yes, knowing the weather, especially if you're in an area that's harder to predict, is vital. Great tip!

All good points! However since this was aimed at beginners I was shooting to keep it on the simple side. In terms of backpacks, that's a whole other video! But I agree, always chocolate.

Sorry! I goofed in editing and forgot to change it.

Nice! I'll have to look into those socks. Thanks for recommending! And I started each day on the trail with a Nuun tablet. Totally agree about them.

Thank you and glad you enjoyed it!

Thank you and glad you enjoyed it!

The Teton Park Road does close on November 1, however, considering how warm and dry the season has been so far, it will likely still be open for bikes if that's an option for you. That being said, there are a number of trailheads that won't be accessible by car due to them being along that road. Some trails will still be very accessible though since the weather will likely still be mild. Taggart Lake is a popular one and can be as short as 3 miles or as long as 7 miles, depending on routes you take. Using that, you can access the Valley Trail, which will bring you over to the Amphitheater Lake Trail, where you can ascend up to Garnet Canyon, Amphitheater Lake, or Delta Lake, any of which will be a lengthier hike, roughly 10-14 miles depending on which you choose to do. The Moose-Wilson Road will also close down at the Death Canyon Trailhead turnoff, but given that there likely won't be much snow at the time, you'll likely be able to walk the road to Phelps Lake, if desired. There's a nice 5 mile loop that includes the road, or if you're looking for more, you can do the Phelps Lake Loop or even ascend into Death Canyon for another lengthy day-hike. Farther north, there's also the Signal Mountain Summit Trail, as well as the Colter Bay trails. Signal Mountain is a 3 mile one way hike, while Colter Bay has a few shorter hikes and one longer one at 10 miles. Given the closures, those are probably your best bets. If you're staying in the town of Jackson, there's also numerous trails all over Snow King Mountain which offer lots of great opportunity as well. Let me know if you want any more clarification on anything! Happy to help more if you'd like!

My pleasure and hope you have a great time out there!

Completely agree! It's disrespectful and in bear country, can be quite dangerous.

Same experience for me. But yeah, mother with cubs is always good to avoid.

It's definitely a great little park!

There aren't very many steep dropoffs at all. One or two steep hillsides you might pass along, but for the most part it's very mild in terms of that.

Thank you! Couldn't agree more.

That's up above Lake Solitude. If you're able to take the shuttle each way across Jenny Lake, it's still close to 20 miles round trip. The alternative would be to backpack the Paintbrush-Cascade Loop. That's also 20 miles but offers lots of places to camp along the way if you're not comfortable with that kind of mileage in a day. Even if you are, since the mileage is the roughly the same, might as well get another canyon in there!

It took me seven weeks, but it should have taken eight. I had miscalculated how much my metabolism would spike so I didn't pre-ship myself enough food, which left me rushing from one town to the next.

Not usually. Negative bear encounters are incredibly rare, so during that time the park will do a reroute to avoid the densest bear area, but to my knowledge, there's never been a conflict along the trail. The bears just want to be left alone, so as long as people do that, the bears focus more on finding food. To answer your other question, once kids are back in school, the traffic drops off quite a bit. That's also a really good time because it's a narrow window between the end of the peak summer season and Labor Day weekend. So there will be other people, but it won't be peak summer busy.

My pleasure and glad you found it helpful!

Great point. This was one of my earliest videos so I was still experimenting with formats and wasn't doing much pre-planning, unfortunately.

Bears use the area from time to time, but since moving here in 2008, I've never heard of a negative bear encounter along this trail. I've also hiked it dozens of times and very rarely see bears. It's also highly likely that if you did actually see a bear, it'd be a black bear, and around here they pretty much all have the attitude, "Don't bother me and I won't bother you."

Thank you and glad it helped! The best audio to deter a bear is a natural human voice. That's plenty to make them aware of your presence.

My pleasure!

Thank you and congrats on completing it!

That sounds awesome! Haven't heard of that before but thanks for mentioning it.

Exactly what a normal wild bear does. I've had the same experience.

Great question! There's definitely wildlife along the trail. Some of it is exciting to see, some of it scary. In terms of the scary, obviously rattlesnakes are up there. I had a few encounters with them, but staying completely still as soon as you hear the rattle gives them a chance to move off peacefully. Another one was hearing a mountain lion in heat just up a hill from camp. Fortunately she wanted nothing to do with us, but the sound kept me up a little later than usual, even long after she had moved off. Similarly, I was about to setup camp in another spot another evening, and heard loud roaring up the hill. I continued hiking another couple of miles and slept peacefully. It really all boils down to instincts and knowledge. Learn about rattlesnakes and gila monsters because you will encounter them, but the knowledge will keep you safe. Likewise, if you have a bad feeling about a certain spot, tread cautiously. Most wildlife wants to avoid spending the energy on a fight. That's why even though I probably heard bears and mountain lions, I never actually saw them. The closest I got to a jaguar in the Santa Ritas was seeing a paw print. Truth is, encounters with them along the AZT are incredibly rare at best. So while the possibility is there, it's highly unlikely you'll have a bad experience with anything. In terms of other wildlife, I saw a few small elk herds, coatimundi, mule deer, and lots of unique birds. So while there are dangerous animals on the trail, trust yourself to act accordingly when/if you do encounter one so that it doesn't take away from the excitement that the rest of the trail provides.

@@FreeRoamingHiker Holy cow. I absolutely love your response. Thank you for taking the time. I consider myself an adept outdoorsman, and as I do further research on the AZT, I haven’t been able to stumble upon the kinds of wildlife that one could face, see, and/or hear on or from the trail itself. I’m aware of the wildlife that’s out there, all around the state since I hunt. I do really trust my instincts, and love that you pointed it out. It has saved me more times than I can count now. My primary reason for asking those questions is because I WANT to encounter wildlife, but not mess with it. The last thing I’d want is to become someone else’s diner or to go out on a rattlesnake bite! Yikes! I love Arizona because of its diverse terrains and wildlife. As the last male in my family, I’d like to be well aware of what I’m getting into, to hopefully make it home in one piece haha, with some minor bruises or scratches, (from the fun on the adventure)!

@@WildVinny Fortunately, you're definitely a lot more likely to get some bruises and scratches than have a negative wildlife encounter. I certainly had my share, as do many others. Of course a little common sense goes a long way in making sure it doesn't get much worse, as I'm sure you're already well aware and prepared for. I was also hoping for some great wildlife opportunities, but didn't see quite as much as I was hoping for. I was really wanting to get a look at a jaguar or ocelot, but the only real chance for those is in the Huachucas or Santa Ritas, both of which come and go quicker than you're expecting, unfortunately. And of course, most other things larger than birds are just sporadic encounters every few days or so, whether it's a rattlesnake, deer, elk, or something else. That being said, I think I only saw rattlesnakes 2-3 times on the entire trail, which includes a black rattlesnake in the Mazatzals that I nearly stepped on, but someone just ahead of me missed. Sounds like you'll be in good shape either way though. You obviously know how to behave in the outdoors, so you'll be fine. The best advice someone gave me though for seeing some rarer creatures (which I didn't take as much as I should have) is to hike pre-sunrise and post-sunset. That's when a bit more wildlife comes out along the trail. But anyway, I also love that state. It's been a few years since I've been back down there and that's a few too many. Would love to get back down there soon and relive some of the trail for a bit!

@@FreeRoamingHiker I’ll definitely take into consideration hiking pre sunrise and post sunset, with extra caution. I’m sure it would’ve felt like winning the lottery, should you have seen a jaguar and/or an ocelot! I’ve heard they’re really elusive, and as far as my knowledge goes, we should only have “one” wild jaguar is this state. I’m an Arizona native, raised and born. There’s a reserve down in Sonora, Mexico where there should be a few hundred to a little over a thousand of them wandering around. Some males there, they migrate north in search of new territory or a female up north. As luck has it they only get one of the two…Why there aren’t a few more known jaguars in AZ? I have no clue, there has to be a reason for it though. And as for ocelots, there are very few reports on them. If they are here then they’ll hang in what’s called “sky islands”, basically up in peaks where the temperature is a lot cooler and different than the lowlands. I would assume they’d go up there when temps rise, and then they come down to the bottom of canyons, streams, and rivers when it’s cooler. Maybe there are a handful here, who knows. Like the male jaguars, male ocelots will migrate north into AZ from the same area, Northeastern Sonora. They do span as far as Argentina! Whatever wildlife I can see on my journey, I’ll take. Something is better than nothing! I think for myself I would settle to see bison along the way towards the end and wild horses. Magnificent animals. I hope you do get a chance to come back to AZ to relive some of that, as well as add more great memories! There’s quite a bit to do out in this state.

@@WildVinny I think if I were born and raised there, there's a pretty good chance I'd still be there too. I spent 4 years in Phoenix only to realize that I don't like big cities, so I've been in Jackson Hole since, minus the 2 months to hike the AZT in 2016. But I do still have a pretty massive AZ bucket list that's still waiting for some checks. But from the research I've done, it seems like jaguars used to be as far north as southern Colorado and the Grand Canyon. It'd be great to get them back up that way some day! Bison along the trail would be a treat too, but I didn't see any - still too early on the North Rim for them on a northbound hike. And my thinking is it might take more backpacking in the sky islands than a thru-hike allows to really see an ocelot. But what a treat that would be! Do you know when you're hiking it?

Thanks! I haven't gone over to Leigh Canyon yet, but every time I pass that view of the Grizzly Lakes I'm very tempted 😅 And glad you made it out safe! That can be a scary place to be in a storm.

@@FreeRoamingHiker Yeah. I’m tempted as well. Very remote canyon though. 🤔. I’ll probably never do it.

Yeah, definitely a higher probability of running into a grizz or two back there.

Exactly!

You bet!

My pleasure! June's a beautiful time to be out here.

@@FreeRoamingHiker Since you live around there, is there a hiking guide(s) or company you'd recommend for any of the longer more challenging trails? I'm a solo traveler and usually stick to day hikes of short to medium length -- but I would be interested in a long day hike or overnight backpacking if the price is reasonable.

Grand Teton National Park doesn't allow any commercial hiking guides in the park, so you'll need to fly solo for that. However if you're interested, I wrote a hiking guide that's got plenty of good longer and overnight hikes, which is here: Grand Teton National Park doesn't allow any commercial hiking guides in the park, so you'll need to fly solo for that. However if you're interested, I wrote a hiking guide that's got plenty of good longer and overnight hikes, which is here: Grand Teton National Park doesn't allow any commercial hiking guides in the park, so you'll need to fly solo for that. However if you're interested, I wrote an ebook hiking guide that's got plenty of good longer and overnight hikes, which is on my website at freeroaminghiker.com Also happy to help if you have any other specific questions!

Excellent! Have a blast down there and enjoy the hike!

Sorry! I must have misspoke. The hike to Lower Calf Creek Falls is 6 miles round trip, 3 miles one way.

Excellent idea!

That would certainly be effective, but only if it's used in emergency situations. It also might not buy you as much time as bear spray, but could still be an effective enough alternative.

Good point thanks

My pleasure and I'm sure you'll love the AZT! It's a remarkable trail.

Such a minor sounding lesson with such profound consequences. Great advice to change them though! Wish I had brought a second pair along. Congrats on doing the Camino!