Her
She needed a break from the madness that had become her life. The demands against her time had become excessive, the stresses that plagued her from the time she arose in the morning until the time she finally willed herself to sleep in the evening had taken their toll. She could hear the mountains calling to her and her need to go spend some time trying to rejuvenate her spirit was exponentially growing.
It was a Tuesday and she made the decision that the time had arrived to fulfil her need to be one with nature. She made the decision that hiking in the Tetons was exactly what she needed and it was only October so while it would be chilly up there, it was unlikely she would have to deal with snow.
Plans then came together quickly and she decided that she would take-off Thursday right after lunch and make camp in the Tetons to enable her to be on the trail by 7:00am on Friday. Excitement filled her as she thought about being in the mountains and come Thursday she was ready to leave at noon as planned.
As it always does, work struck and it was discovered that someone in the office had made a mistake, and while recoverable, it would take the better part of the day to get everything updated, engage with their client and get everything resigned. She was beyond pissed but understood that this was her responsibility to make it right and so she set out to do so, hoping beyond hope that she could still pull off her hiking adventure.
It was almost 6:00 PM when she finally left the office and her day had been exactly as she expected it to be. She was frustrated to the point of shutting off and she decided that she would just head home and take off as soon as she awoke in the morning. She was mentally exhausted and had a small dinner and laid on her bed to just close her eyes for a brief minute and let it all go.
When she awoke, she was still in her work clothes lying on top of her bed, but she had slept wonderfully and wondered how late of a start she was going to get as she had not intended to fall asleep at 7:00 pm. She sat up, rubbing her eyes of their weariness and finally took a look at her alarm clock, that was telling her it was 5:14 A.M. "Fuck it" she thought to herself, lets get going and washed her face, brushed her teeth and quickly put on her hiking attire. Everything else was already packed in the truck and so she locked up her house and set out for the Teton Forrest!
She made good time and was just entering the Teton Valley as the sun was almost ready to rise up over the mountains. While she intended to have her camp setup prior to starting her hike, she had decided that to make use of the daylight she would just park her truck at the base of the North Fork of Teton Canyon and figured she could make the 13 mile round trip effort, climbing up almost 4200 feet and then back down the same 4200 feet, in 8 hours max. She was both excited and determined as she put the car into park, grabbed her gear and set-out on this latest adventure.
Him
Work had been brutal since taking the job back in Idaho. He had been putting in 50-60 hour weeks again and that was all ok as his family was still in Washington finishing out the school year. He really loved being back in Idaho but his living situation was less than desirable as he had ultimately rented a small home in the city, for the few months until his family joined him in Idaho.
He was also glad that he could help take some of the load off his aging parents and found that when he was not working he was either hanging out with his brother in law or his oldest son. Earlier that week he had dinner with his folks and his father was focused on the grass at the cabin as it had not been cut in 10 days and it was in dire need. He had found that as his father aged, he would focus on little details and they would become huge issues if they were not solved immediately and so he had told his dad that he would be absolutely willing to go up to the cabin that weekend to cut the lawn.
It was supposed to be a Friday off and while he was in his office pouring over the latest monthly reporting he looked out his window and thought to himself, "I need a break and it's time to get the hell out of here." He turned off his computer and put it in his back, not sure if he would want it again that weekend or not. He stopped off at his house, changed clothes and wondered if he was going to stay the night up at the cabin or just mow and come home. He figured he would just come back tonight, but grabbed a change of clothes just in case, and as after-thought, grabbed a 1/2 consumed bottle of crown.
He made quick work of the drive up to the valley, it was a lovely afternoon, but as he looked to the north he could see what looked like a pretty aggressive storm brewing on the horizon. He parked the truck and opened the garage, firing up the old zero turn that he had completely overhauled for his father going on 10 years ago at this point. He put in his earbuds, sat down, engaged the blades and went to work! The mower ran great, and it took a few hours to cut the grass, fill the mower with fuel and put away.
It was almost six when he completed with his efforts and as he looked up to the sky he felt the first drops of rain hit his face. He grabbed his bag from the truck and by the time he had gotten up the stairs to the cabin the heavens had opened and unleashed their fury in the Teton valley. The water was pouring down in buckets and he figured he would wait it out and then head home.
Her.
The hike started out so beautiful. The sun was up, the trees had all turned colors and the scenery was absolutely breathtaking. She set a pace for herself that would allow her to get up and back and still have plenty of time daylight to setup her tent. She was cranking through the miles, feeling much better about life when she got to the 5-mile point. This is where she knew she should take a look at the weather and turn around if it looked to turn.
She looked north and saw a stormfront brewing, but she decided to risk it as she really needed this. She felt alive again out in nature and determined that she was going to keep going. She picked up her pace and her body was feeling pretty good, all things considered. At 6 mile she hit the Talus slopes and the never-ending series of switchbacks that seem to climb into heaven. Her pace had slowed some, as the pitch increased, and the terrain became more and more rugged. She was careful about her footing, assuring she had good feet placement before taking the next step, as she knew that spraining an ankle in this terrain could be lethal. As she crested the summit (11,106 ft) of Tablerock she sat to enjoy the most amazing views of the valley. It was beautiful and she was content.
She looked at her watch and was a little surprised to see that it had taken her about 6.5 hours to reach the summit. This was more than she expected, and she chalked it up to a few stops she had made to really enjoy what was around her as she climbed. It was all good, after all the only thing she had left to do was to get back down to the truck and setup camp. She pulled her lunch from her backpack as she enjoyed everything about her current situation, she heard a rumbling from the north, and looked over to see the mother of storms rolling in. She quickly packed her back and began her descent, taking care of her footfalls as she navigated the burly terrain.
She had made it through the steepest parts of the descent when she felt the first raindrop hit her face. She picked up her pace, only to stop under a large set of trees as the rain really started to come down. She pulled her raincoat from her back and put it on, waiting briefly to see if was going to let up. After about 20 minutes, she felt a shiver run through her as the temperature had dropped significantly as the storm came in and she knew that she had to get back to her truck, which was still at least a 3-hour hike. She set off in the storm and while her footfalls were true, her core temp was dropping as her leggings were soaking wet.
Her pace had been decreased out of necessity, but with every squelching step she was closer to the car. At least she arrived in the parking lot and as she took off her pack, she took inventory of her situation. She was bone-tired, getting cold and everything was soaked. She had little interest in sleeping in her tent in this rain and her body needed to stretch out and recover, something that sleeping in the truck would not allow. She decided to head into Driggs to first get some food, and then to see about finding a hotel for the night. She pulled into the local grocery store still soaking wet and headed into to pick-up something to tide her over for the night.