Mesquite Divide. Macey, Katy and Quinn. The Grand is in the far background
I've always wondered why the Coal Creek trailhead was never very busy compared to other trails in the Grand Teton area. I drive by it every day while going to work in Jackson and finally decided I wanted to go see what was up there. I had bought the girls backpacks and sleeping pads for Christmas this last year which was pretty much all we needed to complete our gear for a backpack trip. Quinn had gotten a backpack and pad the year before. We decided to go for the week of the 4th of July and left the day after on the 5th.
Video
We dropped Macey's car off at the Moose Creek Trailhead to be waiting for us, as that is where we would end up the last day. Moose Creek is just outside of Victor, a little to the South and East of the town. You drive a mile or two off the highway past Moose Creek Ranch to the trailhead. We then all piled in the pickup and parked it at the Coal Creek Meadows parking lot where we would start our hike. When we finished we would drive ourselves back to the truck to pick it up. This is the Jedediah Smith Wilderness area. In the video I goofed and said "Jedediah Smith National Park" but its not a national park. Only Wilderness and Forest Service.
We had all our things loaded and ready to go by around 2:30 pm. In hind-site I wish we would have started sooner as it took me a lot longer to get up over Mesquite Divide than I thought it would. I am just getting older and a lot slower. After climbing up for a few hours and then down for about an hour, we were able to find a campsite, although not ideal, before it was dark and set up tents and eat dinner. Most of the story is told in the video that I posted a link to above as well as the photos I am posting down below.
For cameras I brought my Osmo Action, which is like a GoPro, on a tripod-selfie stick. It videos in 4k. I also brought my Canon G7x Mark II for photos and backup video, along with my Iphone. I was able to carry the Osmo on my left shoulder so I could get to it quick and video. I also slung my Canon over my shoulder so I could get to it reasonably fast in case I needed a photo. I was wishing I could take a bigger DSLR but this little G7x does not do too shabby.
This was a great trip. It was somewhat adventurous as we had to handle some really steep areas and there were lots of river crossings. Going over Mesquite Divide we had to cross a huge snow field and it was slippery. Finding a campsite was tough but we were able to do it before it got dark. Crossing the streams was more challenging than on normal hikes. It was fun, however, and I hope that it is a good memory that me and my kids can share for a long time. In short, I don't know why this is a less popular trail. My best guess is when you get to the top you don't see so much of the big Tetons. But the views and scenery is still spectacular. I posted lots of photos down below.
A stream and Wildflowers in Coal Creek Canyon
More wildflowers we kept seeing
Bluebells
Quinn and the girls during a break. I think they were getting a little bored from waiting for me to catch my breath
Taylor Mountain I believe
The trail is steep. We are almost to Coal Creek Meadows. Two women and two dogs passed us here. Later on the smaller dog would take off chasing ground squirrels and the ladies had a really hard time getting him to go down the trail.
A stream coming right out of the mountain in Coal Creek Meadows. In the video you see us crossing it down lower.
The trail is quite worn as it is muddy from the snow melt
Looking down through Coal Creek Meadows. You can see the ladies who's little dog kept running off.
Looking up and Mesquite divide is just through those trees
Almost to Mesquite Divide. this is the fork where you can go over Taylor mountain if you desire. It will also get to the Moose Creek Trailhead
The trail up Taylor Mountain
1st View over Mesquite Divide
Macey, Katy and Quinn the conquerors
Zoomed in on the Grand the bet I could with my little camera. This is still at Mesquite Divide. We are around 9100 feet in elevation
Looking down at the pink snow from Mesquite Divide
Pink snow and the Grand looking down from Mesquite Divide
Me and Quinn on Mesquite Divide
Proof that I made it this high with a backpack
Looks like you could easily slide down the pink snow
Going down Mesquite canyon
After the Mesquite divide a mile or so we found this sign. If you want to go to Ski lake you could take this trail. We kept on to Moose Meadows
Probably took this sometime after Mesquite Divide
A marker I found at our campsite
We found our campsite and are starting to figure out where to put our tents
Beautiful evening at our campsite
Quinn, Macey in back and Katy at our campsite
My dinner. It was pretty good
Campfire at night
Our tents in the morning before sunrise
Quinn's tent on the left, mine in the middle and Macey and Katy's on the right
Just a cool scene at the crossing where I am glad we didn't try to cross
The crossing of Moose Creek. Fortunately we found a big log across the creek
Morning and Quinn is awake
Not sure what these purple flowers are but they are in a lot of places here and i don't think I have seen them before
We just crossed the big log over Moose Creek and Macey is the last one
On Moose Creek Trail and getting ready to head home
This was probably the altitude where we started from our campsite
Altitude down the trail aways. I also think this is where the double waterfalls were
Views going down Moose Creek Canyon
Looks fishable
Quinn, Katy and Macey heading down Moose Creek
Must have goofed getting this photo but you can see how I hang the Osmo Action
The double waterfall. This is around 4 miles up Moose Creek Canyon
