Fossil Mountain

Teton Mountain Range, Wyoming – 10/12/2024

Trip Stats (Click here)

Summit Elevation: 10,921 ft.

Trip Distance: 12.42 miles 

Total Vert: 4,455 ft.

Travel Type: Trail Running

Having patience is not something I’m very good at. I often want what I want, when I want it. I hate waiting for Amazon packages, waiting for the work day to end, and waiting for good food to cook. Living in the moment and being happy with what we have can be hard. I also struggle with summits for the same reason. There are summits I want to climb but sometimes I have to wait for the right weather, the right gear, or the right climbing partner. I actually spent about 5 or 6 years waiting to climb Fossil Mountain. I have been up the canyon and even right at its feet multiple times, but circumstances asked me to wait. It was a long delay, but when the moment did come, everything went off without a hitch.

We started our adventure late in the morning , which isn’t something I typically like to do in the Tetons because the random afternoon storms like to ruin my days. But a big high pressure system had been covering Idaho for weeks and 70 degree temps in mid October signaled things were kosher. 

At about 11 am, we parked at the Darby canyon parking lot and started our run up the trail, and for the first time in a few weeks I was feeling pretty fresh. The trail toward fossil mountain climbs relatively slowly compared to other Teton hikes, but has quite a few rocks and roots which come together to make for an exceptionally fun trail run. 

I took a gamble before the hike, opting to only keep 500ml of water on my vest with my liter-size, portable filter remaining empty in my bag. There is a pretty hefty creek that usually flows down out of Darby canyon (South Fork of Darby Creek) and I was betting that we could fill up out water even with a trickle this late in the year. As we passed the first south fork crossing it was dry as a bone. Luckily, I realized that it might be a thirsty day without more water so we backtracked a little over a half mile to the North Fork of Darby Creek where liquid was still abundant. Nothing like adding miles to an already reasonable summit day. 

After filling the canteen, we hopped back on the trail and worked toward finding a rhythm. This isn’t the first time I’ve been in Darby canyon, and so, just as expected, we climbed a few short switchbacks, passed a handful of happy cave-goers, and zipped up the climb toward the Darby Wind Cave, which can be seen as one climbs higher into the canyon. It’s a large gash that can be seen across the valley on the hiker’s right. This is a popular local hike where a beautiful waterfall flows out of the mouth of the cave in the summer. 

According to people more brave than me, there is a cave higher up the ridge called “Darby Ice Cave” that connects to the lower Wind Cave. With some spelunking gear and skill the tunnel can be traversed. I will probably never truly know the way as I have not stolen a magical ring from a dark lord and thus steer clear of places under the earth. I do know that timing has to be right because the cave blocks with ice if it’s too early in the year, so if you venture in, be careful. Groups have required rescue from inside the cave. 

As the trail gets closer to the cave it makes a hard turn right across a stone table (usually creek bed) and heads southwest toward the cave. I opted not to venture to the cave because of time, and also because I wanted to try a path/bushwhack that trails off to hikers left just as you approach the bend toward the cave. While I didn’t know how this would go, the faint trail worked wonders and shaved quite a bit of distance off our trek. While the trail does not connect to the upper Darby canyon on a map, we took a gamble and it paid off. The last time I trail ran into the upper canyon, my buddy and I stayed in the bottom of the canyon and followed the wandering trail upward, which proved to have steep obstacles as you try to gain the saddle below Fossil Mountain. 

This time the route was much more direct and felt a lot less circuitous. The faint left wing trail we chose climbs steeply for a few hundred yards and disappears but if you continue southward the terrain levels out and reconnects with the upper part of the normal trail. All the trails in the upper part of the canyon are faint. The best and most direct route I have found is to continue aiming straight toward Fossil, following under its cliff bands before curling southwest toward the saddle when it seems obvious to do so. This route short circuits a lot of meandering trail and steep ledges that guard the saddle. 

The travel through the southern section  of Upper Darby Canyon was relatively easy. The grass and brush are often short and there are many flat rocky sections that make travel fast and light. Before long we arrived at the saddle. At this point we were definitely feeling a little elevation so we took a breather. 

At this point, it was all over but the crying. And much crying was to be had as we climbed the 1,000 feet of talus slope heading toward the summit. The ridge to the top is not exposed and is much less scary than it looks from other angles, but it is steep and the rock is loose. I had not ventured much into the Tetons this summer because of triathlon training, and I was definitely feeling the altitude and burning quads as we passed 10k feet. After a longer than hoped for rock slipping crawl we made out way onto the flat, wide summit of Fossil Mountain. 

I tell people that the interior of the Tetons are the most beautiful part and require some work to explore. The view from the summit really put this idea on display. To the northeast of us, the cathedral group of the Tetons stood in majesty on a perfect windless fall afternoon. Buck Mountain, Spearhead Peak, Mount Bannon, and so many others were easy to pick out from this angle. Fossil Mountain summit is an exceptional vantage point for this south central section of the range. 

Although the mountains are always gorgeous, the most prominent and noticeable detail of our summit was the Park Trail Fire to the east, sending an ashen, grey plume thousands of feet into the air.  The day of our hike it was reported to have burned over 72,000 acres. While I know wildfire saddens many, there was something I found eerily still about the inverted cloud hanging over Mount Hunt. I had a hard time looking away; transfixed upon how something could be chaotic, but from a distance show peace. (There’s probably a good metaphor about stepping back from our chaotic lives in there somewhere.)

Speaking of peace, we decided to spend a few minutes on the summit meditating. This is something I’ve wanted to do for a long time but have never been in the right company or place to do so. Fossil Mountain and the present party proved to be the right fit and after a shared summit Snickers, we spent a few short minutes finding serenity in the warm sunlight and light breeze. I must say, it is absolutely delightful to finish a short beautiful meditation before opening your eyes to expansive, distant rows of gunmetal blue peaks shadowed in the fall sun. For an instant, the reality of the current moment stumped the serenity of my imagination.

“For an instant, the reality of the current moment stumped the serenity of my imagination.”

Before becoming too enamored by the summit we realized it was high time to turn and head back down the mountain. As we walked off the top we looked for fossils that give the peak its title. We didn’t find a single one on the summit, saw a few small shells down the ridge, and some fossilized corral in the valley but we were mostly disappointed. A young solo hiker did tell us that the north end of the peak was said to contain more, but the kid paleontologist inside me is still disgusted at the lack of fossilized remains. 

The talus slope is not much fun coming up and is even less so on the descent. We slipped and burned out quads for what seemed like an eternity before laughing happily the moment we set our legs back on rockless dirt. At this point I had the wise intuition to call in a pre-order for a pizza down in Victor; one of my finer mountaineering moments. After the call was made, we began to retrace our steps down the valley the exactly way we came.

On tired legs we enjoyed our way back down the meadows in the growing evening shadows. We stopped, laughed, shouted, and even had a nice moment to sit together on a rock enjoying the last rays of gold warming the valley. I must warn you though, if you sit on the sharp rocks in Darby, make sure you’re wearing durable athletic gear or else you may be jogging home with a humorous hole in the back of your trousers. 

Eventually, we made it back to the main Darby trail and began to zoom, enjoying a fun and flowy technical run back to the parking lot. Even on tired legs we enjoyed hopping from rock to root, carefully placing our feet as gravity took us the last few sections. Just a few minutes before sundown we crossed the finish line into the parking lot, ready for some pizza and plenty of water. 

The trail run up Fossil Mountain was a pretty special one for me. While it was physically taxing the climb was interesting, the weather was exceptional, the views were gorgeous, and the company was heartfelt and meaningful. All of these things might not have happened had I forced a summit attempt on a previous adventure. Waiting for the right moment to obtain the best parts of life is often hard, but if we practice a little intentional mindfulness and try to live in this beautiful moment, the right moment will often come for the things we want. Sometimes the goods will come if we are just a little patient.