Email
PrintA Trail to Table Mountain
Through the years,through the wildflowers
Photo by Beth Ward
(page 1 of 2)
In his day job, Teton Valley resident Kelley Coburn works as a pharmacist. But he is also an eloquent writer and astute observer of nature, who had long dreamed of writing a guidebook of some kind.
“The desire to write about some aspect of Teton Valley had been kicking around in the back of my mind for some time,” Kelley says. “It might have remained as little more than a vague desire if I hadn’t passed through a bookstore, noticed a standard Falcon Guides display, and experienced an all-too-familiar twinge of remorse.”
Kelley explains that back in the seventies, when he and his friend, Teton Valley native Michael Whitfield, were both enrolled at Idaho State University, the pair took a few tentative steps toward producing a guide to the trails of the Teton Range. “We went so far as to put together a rough outline and bounce the idea off a few potential vendors,” Kelley says. “They were unanimous in their opinion that, even though requests for literature dealing with hiking were on the rise, there was still a very limited demand for the type of book we envisioned.”
Years later, as he thumbed through a couple of the selections from that guidebook display, Kelley says he was pleased to discover that for some reason (“probably changing interests,” he says) the thought of writing a book dedicated to hiking the Continental Divide, the trails of Alaska, or even the trails of Wyoming held little appeal for him.
“In the weeks that followed, I began thinking of topics that might muster sufficient passion to see a book project through to completion,” Kelley says. “My list was pretty esoteric; for instance, I gave serious thought to writing about the Paleozoic fossils found in Darby Canyon.”
One thought that kept returning to his mind was the trail leading to Table Mountain’s summit, and the incredible wildflower display it provides hikers. The decision to press ahead with that particular topic came on a warm June morning when Kelley was standing at the base of the granite outcrop located a couple of hundred yards from the Teton Canyon campground. The purpose of the outing was to determine if the flora bordering the trail seemed diverse enough to merit book-length treatment. “A stone’s throw from the trailhead I found myself bewildered, bedazzled, and totally invested,” he says.“The years, five I believe, that stretched out from that day at the base of the outcrop till last spring, when our book was finally ready for distribution, are remembered as some of the most enjoyable of my life. The sense of purpose that accompanies any decent goal continues to amaze me.”
The following is a passage, with accompanying illustrations, from Kelley’s book, A Trail to Table Mountain
-- Michael McCoy
