Back to Front Country

The season in the West is just ramping up, with fresh snow flurries the valley rushes into the mountains. The people who inhabit the Hole, that is Jackson, are not your usual breed of human being. The majority of us choose to live our lives in the wilderness that is our backyard and dwell in the grandeur that no multi million dollar home could provide. Yes there are those that come in private jets, stay in their perfectly furnished mountain home and have a personal chef to grill up the most delectable buffalo steaks this side of anywhere; but the majority of us here live to get out of the walls that confine us.

As beautiful as the summers are here in Jackson Hole, the town buzzes with a certain excitement as fall draws to a close and winter fast approaches. People start wearing their boots, bundling up against the cold and fine tuning their equipment in preparation for the coming of Old Man Winter.

We began this season by venturing out into the open to get fresh tracks as well as fresh air on Teton pass. We see all the usual suspects that have reconvened for another Jackson winter. Each one hiking, skinning and trekking to the fresh lines that await us for the year. Those of us that have congregated in the mountains know and appreciate the magnificence found here.

As you hike up you feel your lungs and legs burn as you ascend Glory... and it is... glorious I mean. The beauty of this valley still takes my breath away and I am left contemplating how one could ever go back to a life that most consider "normal." At this point, I wouldn't want to consider anything less than what I do as "normal." I will watch the sunrise from 10,450 ft. as I drink my coffee and start my day of work. I will behold the beauty of the wilderness as part of my daily life. And I will never take for granted what an amazing place this valley truly is.