Teton Crest Trail: Avalanche Divide

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Blissful Hiker takes a side-trip off the Teton Crest Trail to a remote lake that requires scrambling, and learns making the time to explore and open herself to surprises is breaking the spell of thru-hiking anxiety.

In this episode:

1. The smoke moves in, but it's still gorgeous down then back up Cascade Canyon on superb trail packed with other hikers.
2. At the junction, she feels trepidation heading out alone, but the trail provides a friend to accompany her into Avalanche Divide. 
3. It's a scramble down to Kit Lake, remote and windy surrounded by brooding walls, but soulfully alone with views of the entire Milky Way.
4. The adventure continues scrambling to Icefloe Lake tucked in steep cliffs of eroding rock under the Middle Teton, a glacier feeding in and a waterfall emptying out. 
5. Then it's up and over Hurricane Pass next to Schoolhouse Glacier, coming apart in deep crevasses and emptying into a "chaqua" lake. 
6. Up and over, the trail leads to the Alaska Basin, where yet another perfect campsite is found with a huge glacier-smoothed granite veranda on the banks of a lake with small islands. 
7. Smoke creates a magically magenta sunset.

MUSIC: Pastoral Calchaqui by Hector Gallac as played by Alison Young, flute and Vicki Seldon, piano

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