A Wyoming dude ranch adventure...: Casper Ridge Loop and wildflowers galore!

This year, the Jackson Hole Mountain Resort opened a new trail for hiking. It involves taking an 8 person gondola car to the top of Rendezvous Mountain, elevation over 9,000 feet. The gondola is free and opens daily at 4:30pm, so I had to time my hike just right to get back to the ranch in time for dinner (not to be missed... it was duck!) At the tip of the pen is the trail, a horizontal line in blue. It's pretty much the highest hike on the mountain... short and sweet after the initial climb. Look how close it got me to the mountains behind... almost eye level!

It was a beautiful day, and a quick bike ride into Teton Village to catch the gondola. I hopped off at the summit around 4:45 and had to find the trailhead across the patio from the happy hour view-seeking revelers and diners. I was tempted to just stay and join them.

Once I found the trail, I had to make a steep vertical scramble up a wildflower covered hillside to get to the ridge. It took 10-15 minutes, and there were switchbacks to make it more bearable. I hiked straight up to the pine covered ridge in the photo below...yikes! It was a little unnerving to see the explosives warning signs. They detonate them in the winter to help avoid "unplanned" avalanches. Nice to know there might be some live ones still lurking in the underbrush. And I thought bears were my biggest concern here!

The Casper Ridge Loop is known for its wildflowers and still has some now that the ones in the valley have peaked. The hillside was covered with them! Below is the patio that I hiked up from..wow! Look at the view of the valley.

The trail was narrow, meandering and dusty...

The wildflowers were almost knee high.

Another view of my starting point below as it grew smaller and smaller....

This little rodent is a Pika. They live at very high altitudes are are in the rabbit family... big ears!

And of course there are endless varieties of chipmunks and ground squirrels here... adorable!

Here's my view as I headed to the tree line at the top of the ridge. Once there, it was a nice 1.5 mile loop out and back along the horizon and peaks.

Pretty amazing, and I had the whole trail to myself for a full hour once I left the base!

I passed a gnarled dead tree, and then the path started to level out a bit as I headed north along the Teton mountains. The terrain changed quickly to rocky. I was glad I had my bear spray with me because this IS their territory. Allegedly, some of the white bark pines on this ridge are thousands of years old!

There was a slight incline as I headed toward the turnaround point.

The valley below got smaller and smaller but I could see for miles! Once again, a danger sign... this time for falling rocks and a ledge at the ranger lookout point. Of course, I chose this precarious vantage point to take a selfie ;)

A quick detour from the hike to share the many wildflowers I saw. This is only a sampling, (10) believe it or not! I don't have a clue what they all are... just enjoy.

The flower above was my favorite.

Back to the hike, the trail went through a pine forest, along the ridge line and through more jagged rocks. At least it was fairly level and the views were to die for.

It was impossible not to wonder about the geological events that occurred billions of years ago to create this jagged landscape and these mountains and glaciers around Jackson. Below is the view looking back along the pine covered ridge I had just come from...

At last I reached the end of the path out. There was a switchback that rose before looping back around the way I had come. I couldn't wait to see the view off the back of the mountain into Granite Canyon.

Here are some bright, lichen-covered rocks along the path....

And now for the best part of the hike... the views off the back of Rendezvous Mountain... and look at the rocks in the foreground! I literally felt like I was at the top of the world.

And to think, this is covered in snow all winter, providing very vertical, challenging and off-trail skiing. Below is Granite Canyon and the distant peak is Grand Teton, the tallest peak in the park at 13,776 feet. It's a major mountaineering destination, and a guide fell to his death there just last month... I felt like I was at eye level with it instead of viewing it from the valley like I normally do!

This is my favorite photo of the hike (below). It reminds me of a Frederic Church painting and almost looks surreal. I would love to have lingered, but had to get back.

I passed this cut tree on my way back and again saw the valley on the front side of the mountain.

Wyoming is definitely full of wide open spaces and vistas that just go on forever.

As I doubled back and headed south along the mountain ridge line, back towards my starting point, I was about 100 feet higher up on the ridge, looking down on the trail I came out on. The sun was dropping behind the mountain too.