Tetons

So, I'm going to start from the summer of '07. Sure, this is a little back dated, but I've got some good stories (you all know the ones.... mainly where I get screwed or get myself in to some sort of trouble). So here we go......
At the end of June I made my way just a couple hours south to the wonderful world of the Tetons. I've spent many summers trying to get to the top of these peaks and this summer was nothing out of the ordinary. I initially spent the first week with the parentals. We got ourselves a good room (way too spendy) and wandered around the area constantly. For those of you who know, I enjoy living in the 'ol suby. Luckily I had that to look forward to and a hotel for the time being.
My pops and I set up a little date to do some white water rafting. Pretty freakin sweet. It was both of our first times down the river, and let me say, an awesome introduction. The river wasn't too wild, but it had a few awesome areas and we saw some great wildlife! After that we managed to find ourselves at a brewery, lounging at restaurants, wandering around town, and even seeing some moose and bears! We couldn't have asked for a more eventful time.
When my parents left, I went to my favorite area right outside of town, parked, and made myself a little nook in the back of the suby where I would be living for the next few weeks. To most people the suby sounds like a crappy place to live. Sure it's tight quarters in there, but cozy is a good thing.
The next day a couple friends (Tom, Jason, and Slama) showed up to get in on the fun. We were going to be trying for the summit of the Grand via the Exum Ridge. It's true, I had tried a couple times before and had been stormed off, but the third times a charm right? That's exactly what I thought. So we all sat outside our cars in my favorite spot and talked about the climb and all the gear we'd need. The next day we were going for the lower saddle...
The hike up was very uneventful. Jason kicked all our asses while the rest of us walked at a normal human pace. When we met up with him at the meadows, he had already been there for an hour! Apparently we're really slow. Once we all gathered again, we made our way up to the lower saddle and set up camp. We spent the rest of the night in a hail storm. Enough hail so the entire area looked like it had snowed. It was so noisy in the tent we were yelling at each other in the same tent!
Well, we made our way up to the base of the Exum ridge and I led the first pitch. Slama and I were on one rope team and Tom and Jason were on the other. We were so hell bent on making it to the top that we never took any pictures. It was a pretty straightforward route and we made the summit in the early afternoon. The next day we were supposed to go down to the meadows and stay a night there, but.....
Well, the next morning came and we packed up our things from the lower saddle and started hiking for the meadows. A big sidebar must be made now, but it'll make sense. Well up in the lower saddle, people pack their shit out. So we poop in these big ziploc bags that have some chemicals in them to make the shit not smell and to gel it up. Enough of the sidebar, on to the good stuff. Well, the first time I was in the Tetons, I put my shit bag on the outside of my pack in case it broke. Well, it never did. So this time I had more faith in it and actually put it in one of the pockets. The trail up there is pretty rocky and bouldery, so there's a lot of jostling. So there I am jumping from rock to rock and I start to notice a not so good smell. So I get a little nervous, but we could just be going by an area where the marmots pee a lot. So I quit thinking about it, but as we keep going, the smell stays with me the entire time. As we get to the meadows, I finally take my pack off and sure enough, my shit bag broke. Urine and (thankfully) just a little crap in my bag. All of the good stuff happens to me. So I end up hiking all the way out and washing my stuff off from a spigot in the tourist building in the park. Glorious stuff! I'm pretty sure I've never had that many tourists wondering what the hobo was doing before. Sure, I stunk and all my stuff stunk, but I was outside at least.
Luckily I got everything pretty clean and spent the night not smelling urine.