Dear Grand Teton National Park,

I’m writing to alert you to a hazardous condition I encountered this past weekend while running the South Fork of Cascade Canyon trail. The excessive, spectacular nature of the scenery caused me to become distracted, which in turn caused me to kick a root with extreme force. Fortunately, I was able to recover and continue my run without need of an official evacuation or piggy-back ride from my friend, Nate. However, I suggest that, in the public interest, you consider limiting the amount of incredible mountain scenery to avoid accidents like mine in the future.
Thank you,
Steve Bohrer
It was another fantastic weekend. In fact, we’ve had so many great adventures this summer it’s not even worth worrying about which was the most fun. Early Saturday morning, Audra dropped Nate and I off at the Teton Canyon trailhead on the west side of the Tetons. While we ran the 22 miles over Hurricane Pass to String Lake, Audra and Jennie drove over with the rest of the families, inflated the rented kayak, and played in the lake. The first 15-16 miles went really well, minus the toe-smashing. With our wet and cool winter and spring there’s an incredible amount of water coming down the streams, over huge waterfalls, and still hanging around in snowfields. One highlight for me was jumping onto an “iceberg” in the lake at the base of Schoolroom Glacier, and then quickly jumping back to shore as it broke in half. After getting to String Lake, I paddled with the kids to every rock island we could see. That is, when they let me in the boat. Even though none of them had ever paddled a kayak before, they had gotten pretty good by the time Nate and I arrived. Jennie partially overcame her water-phobia and went out for a spin with me. Santa, if you’re reading this, we’d like an inflatable kayak for our family Christmas gift. Although the kids would have been perfectly happy to spend the rest of the day there, we left for Jackson and pizza.