Well, we headed north in the end, despite the snow covering the mountains around the valley of the Great Salt Lake. We hoped to see the Tetons, which had been reccommended by many fellow hikers in the other National Parks - particularly by Matthew. If we could see the Teons, we could then drive up through Yellowstone, hopefully have a walk there before heading back west to the coast, weaving our way through Redwood National Park and the beaches to the North of SF. This plan some how appeared perfectly feasible with about a week and a half to go in the US. Whoops.

We arrived in the Tetons and enjoyed a beautiful afternoon of views. It is certainly a place to go back to. There is a lot of back counrty hiking to do there, but on this occasion we could only look eagerly from the raod. The following day brought fresh snow. We learned that the roads linking the Tetons with Yellowstone had been closed on the 1st of November, but that the valley roads in the Tetons would be kept open a little longer. We set off on a short walk to a lake, to find a group of students snow shoeing on the same path, possibly doing geography field work. The views though were now less than spectacular - fog allowed visibility of less than 20 metres.

We were a little concerned about our retreat from this area, and it was now clear that we'd have to leave via Salt Lake City again, Yellowstone was not an option. The col we'd driven over the preivious day was now under 'chain law', and hire cars of course never get chains.

As we prepared to leave Jackson the snow was coming in again. The roads were covered by a couple of inches of compacted snow, and the ploughs were out. We picked the road that appeared the lowest and safest, from our rather large scale road atlas of the USA, Canda and Mexico. We were pleased as the snow lessened, and the road cleared. I fell asleep for an hour in the passenger seat as it seemed the worst was over.....

Then, quite unexpectately the road again started to steepen. With no other warning or sign there was one road sign informing us that 'chain law' was in opporation. Pulses quickened, and the snow on the ground thickened.  

To be continued...