Grand Teton National Park

Grand Teton is just south of Yellowstone so obviously, we headed there next. It was pretty much a “love at first sight” kind of experience. The Tetons are one of the youngest mountain ranges in the world, with jagged peaks and no foothills to obstruct the view from the Jackson Hole Valley. Add in the meandering Snake River and you have Ansel Adams material…

Our campground, Gros Ventre (pronounced grow vont), was at the southern end of the park, just 15 miles from the town of Jackson, WY.

If you asked us what was most memorable about our week here, we’d both say moose! We’ve been on the lookout for moose since last summer when Vermont and New Hampshire teased us with moose crossing signs everywhere. But there were none!

In the Tetons, we saw 3 sets of moms and babies as well as 2 bulls. We watched this pair hanging out at the Gros Ventre River multiple times throughout the week. This spot was about a mile from our campground so we just stopped here every time we came and went. We saw them almost every time.

We went to the cute ultra-touristy town of Jackson several times, for errands and for fun. I really wanted to go to the Million Dollar Cowboy Bar, but Michael reasoned with me that the Snake River Brewery was more our scene.

We also went to Mormon Row to take the obligatory photos of the barns.

Glacial melt carried debris down and formed natural dams called moraines along the base of the Tetons, which resulted in some very beautiful lakes. We hiked around some of these lakes during the week. The most popular and beloved is Jenny Lake.

The following weekend was Labor Day. You have to start hiking very early (or very late) in the Tetons because there are so many people and parking lots fill up fast. At least the early start gave us a chance to see rosy alpenglow on the mountains as the sun started to rise.

We did the Cascade Canyon trail, without taking the hiker shuttle boat across Jenny Lake, which made for a long 14+ mile day through a canyon without any real destination. Just hiking through mostly forest, with occasional open views of the canyon. The redeeming factor of this long hike was the wildlife. We saw river otters and a pika for the first time. We also saw 2 mom and baby moose, one was very close.

Next time, we’d take the shuttle, cutting off 4 miles of hiking, so that we could hike all the way to Lake Solitude, an additional 6 miles round trip beyond where we had turned around for the day.

After the hike, we had a beer and soaked our feet at Jenny Lake.

Our hike the following day was interesting. We decided to do the second most popular trail in the national park on the Alltrails app that we use. We arrived at the trailhead before 7 am and still had to park far away because it is so popular.

The last 1/2 mile of the hike was an unofficial and unmaintained trail to Delta Lake. Delta Lake is an amazing color from glacial water and is surrounded by the Cathedral Group of peaks. We sat on a rock staring at these peaks for 2 hours, way longer than we’d ever stayed somewhere on a hike before. I wish the park would make this an official trail because there are a lot of inexperienced hikers doing this which seems dangerous.

We will eventually have to return to the Tetons in the Fall to see the aspens turn yellow and the peaks covered in snow.

For now, we’re going back to Utah to see some sights that we missed in 2021.