Wanderings on Wyoming Whitewater
July 21-25, 2014
by Natalie Wiest

Donna Grimes kindly coordinated a paddling trip to the Grand Teton area of Wyoming, and 8 of us joined her (and Bill) there July 21-25 to get a taste of some mighty fine whitewater. Weather was darn near perfect, and water levels too, as we base camped at the Gros Ventre campground of Grand Teton National Park and did day trips to the Gros Ventre, Hoback, Snake, and Grays Rivers. HCC members Joe Coker and Christy Long were with our group, Cliff Peery, Jim Barton, former HCCers Anne and John Olden, and Joanna Wolfe from Utah. Here’s the gang getting ready to set out on the Hoback:





As you can see, the scenery was spectacular on those legs where you were willing to take your eyes off the water. The Hoback was a nice warm-up, but a reminder to me also of the fact that short folks sitting in kayaks can get REALLY wet without even turning over and even get water forced UP their noses on good-sized drops.

Here’s Bill with the good-hearted Molly going along for a ride although not entirely enthused about the cold water.



Here’s the group pushing off from lunch. We note that Cliff often paddles a different path than the others but in his defense, I believe he was just peeling out here, or like many of the rest of us just spinning around to get a better view of the action.



One of these days I forgot my camera so my sequencing may be a bit off; somewhere in here we paddled Granite Creek but had such intense afternoon winds we took off early. However, we certainly paddled the Gros Ventre river (since I ran shuttle on day 4, I’m quite sure I recognize the red cliffs of the takeout area) and here are some shots from it:

Anne Olden, fit and trim and now living in Boise, Idaho:



… and husband John, ditto for being in great shape and loving the life in Boise, and on the river whenever they can get there:



Our fearless leader, obviously having a good time and Molly now riding with her:



Here the group approaches aforementioned red cliffs just before the takeout, and with a herd of mountain goats providing entertainment as we came around the bend, sorry you can’t see them on this photo.



How’s this for a beautiful panorama, one of many, to be enjoyed from the shuttle road:



You can just barely see the Tetons in the distance.

Of course, this paddling army travels on its belly too, and we found the Snake River Brewery in Jackson much to our liking.



The group paddled the Gros Ventre a second day, and then the Gray’s on Friday, but I left early so missed the Gray’s, you’ll have to ask one of the others how it went. If this hasn’t bored you entirely to tears and you would like to see some more photos, I’ve posted mine to Flickr here or you can see Joe’s on the Houston Canoe Club website here.

Natalie Wiest

The author, Natalie Wiest