August 12th, 2019

August 14, 2019

August 12th, 2019

We woke up, had breakfast broke camp and hit the road at 9:00. Our plan was to find some first come first serve camping in Grand Teton and then do some sport climbing and or hiking. We passed through Grand Teton entrance and didn't have to pay, yippee! We later found out the Yellowstone pass also gets you in to Grand Teton, oh well.

The information center told us our best bet was to try the campground at Signal Mountain as the one at Jenny Lake was already full, they said best be quick as it usually fills up by noon so we quickly headed over there. Good thing we did because when we arrived there was only 1 electric spot left. We didn't need electric but Sam didn't want to go looking around at other places so we just decided to cough up the dough and head to Jenny Lake for some hiking. En route to Jenny Lake we made a stop at an oxbow pullout in the Snake River to take some pictures of Mt. Moran from a famously scenic vantage point. It was worth it and some of the photos below are from there.

Grand Teton isn't a huge park so it didn't take long to get to Jenny Lake which is the most popular spot as it is directly in front of the Teton's (pronounced TEE-TAWN) so we drove around a bit before finding some nice parking. Sam wanted to hike up Cascade Canyon but looking at the time (12) and the roundtrip distance (~12 miles) I didn't think it was a good idea. Looking back we would've been fine and totally should have done it.

Most people take a boat from the rangers station to the start of the Canyon but we decided to hike around. This was a good idea as we ended up seeing a moose and a black bear which was exciting. The trip around the lake to the boat landing was about 3 miles and took us an hour and a half. We were treated to beautiful views of Jenny Lake and the plains beyond stretching towards the East. The most exciting part of this leg was definitely seeing the black bear which was maybe 100 feet ahead of us when the family in front of us stopped and pointed it out. We made some noise and the bear headed off in to the bush but I was definitely surprised because I didn't think we would see any bears with how busy the trail was. After that I kept my bear bangers on my chest loaded.

At the boat landing we headed up to Inspiration Point with all the boat travelers which is the end point for most people and took a few photos and soaked in the view. We had planned on turning around there and returning to the parking lot but we both felt fresh and Sam wanted to see the canyon. Based on the info the ranger had given us I didn't think sport climbing in the evening would be feasible based on time / distances so we decided to trek the additional 3 miles to where the Canyon forks. This would put our total distance at ~12 miles but very little elevation. We both agreed it was a wise idea based on wanting to hike Longs Peak at the end of our trip.

The canyon was beautiful and offered close up views of the surrounding mountains including Grand Teton itself. We saw another moose (that makes 2!) on the way, laying in the grass and lots of wildflowers. We made it to the forks at 4:00 and had a quick snack of trail mix and headed back. I estimated we would be back at the parking lot by 7:00 however when we got to the landing we opted to pay the $10 each and take the boat back. We were pretty tired. We made it back to the boat at 6:00 and back to the parking lot by 6:30. We stopped at the store desperate for some protein for our pasta that evening and got a little creative. Sam didn't want to eat sausage again and the store had very little selection, I saw a burrito we could cut up and add to the pasta and we bought it. Sometimes you have to be creative....

We got back to the campsite, quickly made dinner and ate it and indulged in a hot shower, our first since Saturday morning. After that we headed to bed, we knew it would be a long day of driving the next day to cover the nearly 500 miles to Denver.