Today was our day to drop the heavy packs and dayhike in the vicinity of Alaska Basin. We decided on a nice relaxing jaunt up past Buck Mountain and to Static Peak Divide to start the day off right! Remember those bear tracks from yesterday? We followed his tracks for a good way up the trail. Buck Pass was stark and barren, with great views back over Alaska Basin into Targhee NF. From Static Peak Divide, we could see for miles into the Jackson Hole - everything was so tiny from up there! On the way back down, we spotted an unmaintained trail up to a notch, where we figured the views would be fantastic down into a bowl containing a couple of mountain lakes. The trail wasn't good, was snowy, and was non-existent in spots, and so after a fair amount of effort, we reached the notch and were supremely uninspired. The views were not as magnificent as we had hoped. We picked our way back down the slope and met back up with the main trail. The skies to this point had been clear, but in the distance we could see some ominously low clouds moving in. Tomorrow morning we would be climbing up to Hurricane Pass, but would the weather hold long enough for us to see the in-your-face views of the Tetons? We decided not to take the chance and hustled up to the Pass to take it all in. It was very windy at Hurricane Pass - go figure. And the views were well worth the effort - the Grand was so close, you could practically reach out and touch it. Finally reaching our campsite after a nice relaxing 11 mile day, Steve spotted "the bear" nonchalantly strolling down the slope not far away. Of course, the camera was stashed away by then, so no photographic evidence exists. But it was a thrilling end to a beautiful day! Miles covered today - 11, with 2300' elev gain and loss.