I’ve been spending the last week on retreat at the home of my business partner, Tracey Miner, in Teton Valley, just west of Jackson Hole. After endless months of endless days working on SocialRep and MotiveLab, not to mention our EliteRetreat in Hawaii in October, this has been a much needed opportunity both on a business and personal level. I had some structured time earlier in the week to step back and reflect on the challenges and opportunities ahead for SocialRep, preparing for a number of VC and Angel pitches in the weeks ahead, and I finished our new web site which will post next week. Now I’ve got some time to hang out with my family and do some exploring.

Yesterday, I hiked deep into Cascade Canyon in the Grand Tetons with my wife and seven-year-old son. We did about 8 or 9 miles, hiking back to near the Cascade Forks. Along the way we saw a lot of wildlife, but the highlight was an encounter with moose, a bull and a cow wallowing in the river.

After our long hike back, the safari continued on the drive home. We came across a number of traffic jams along the road, where people stopped to shoot photos and videos of elk, moose and mysterious animals for which there was no visible evidence but the crowd of cars and people looking around for something to see. It seems all you have to do to cause a traffic jam is stop by the side of the road and point a camera out the window. By the third or fourth set of cars, my wife finally said drily, “I’m only getting out if it’s a bear.”

Tomorrow we’re heading to Yellowstone for a few days. But not before I have a chance to ride the infamous Lithium trail, supposedly one of the most intense single track rides in mountain biking. It starts at the top of Teton Pass and drops through eight miles of twists, loops and jumps in a dense forest before winding up in Wilson.