Grand Teton National Park
August 29
Mornings in Yellowstone are chilly. The first order of business is always to build a fire, so that you can thaw your hands while attending to other tasks, such as making breakfast and packing up the tent. Accordingly, once we had a toasty blaze in our fire ring, Aaron went to work over our MSR camp stove to cook up some bacon and eggs. Yum... Good fuel for a new park and a new hike.
Grand Teton National Park is conveniently situated just south of Yellowstone. Within an hour, we were dwarfed by jagged, enormous mountains. The cool thing about this stretch of mountains is that there is no mistaking the summit. There are lumpy mountains that look like someone has taken a nail file to their peaks, so you can never be quite sure where the highest point is. I find this ambiguity unsettling. The Grand Tetons, on the other hand, are a “young” mountain range that has not yet been smoothed by weather and time. I admire their boldness and definitiveness.
I am not the first to admire their pointed peaks. Some lonely, exploring Frenchmen stumbled upon the mountains generations ago and, whether from crass joking or sheer desperation, they pointed and called out, “Ah, les trois tetons!.” Looking at each other with knowing smiles and that irritating French chuckle, they said, “Hah, those stupid Americans will love this romantic sounding name and keep it for all time, not knowing what it means.”
I don’t know whether to be more frustrated with the Frenchman for their disrespect of women’s bodies (I’ve a sneaking suspicion they weren’t speaking out of reverence for female beauty) or with the Americans for keeping the stupid name. The point is, I found it entirely distracting while trying to admire and enjoy the grandeur of these mountains.
In any case, we made our ritual stop at the first visitor center we saw, bought a few postcards, acquired a map, and lined up the day’s hiking itinerary. Our first destination was a random pull-off renowned for its wildlife sightings. We were not disappointed. There, moseying around Oxbow Bend, was a huge, true-to-life moose. We were quite pleased. Only a bear remained on our “must see” wildlife list.
[no really, there is a moose in this picture]A quick drive up Signal Mountain gave us a decent view of the Grand Tetons and an excellent view of the cell tower positioned right in front of them. Talk about deflating. But hey, we had great Verizon service. (they don't call it signal mt. for nothing)
Next stop: Jenny Lake for the day’s hike. I always feel intimidated and overwhelmed by a new national park, until I get my feet on a trail and start getting personally acquainted. So it was a relief to get some “feet on” experience in the park instead of staring through a car window.
A relatively level trail along the edge of the lake was a welcome reprieve after the previous day’s trek up Mt. Washburn. It was beautiful, diverse and refreshing. A much greater variety of flora was represented along Jenny Lake than we’d seen in Yellowstone, and the cool breeze off the lake combined with the gentle scent of pine needles made for ideal hiking conditions.
[this guy brandished his bark and threatened to detrail us. chipmunks were everywere]
We wound our way to Hidden Falls, where we ran into a large crowd of tourists just off the high tech pontoon boat that had ferried them over from our trailhead. I confess that I thought they were cheaters. Or maybe we’re just cheap, preferring to walk 3 miles instead of paying for a boat ride.
Regardless, the falls were picturesque, and from there we put some serious elevation under our feet in the short hike up to Inspiration Point. The view was, well, inspiring. While Grand Teton towered behind us, Jenny Lake spread out before us in pristine glory. A handful of sunflower seeds later (thanks Mom!), we were on our way back, wishing we’d brought along more water.
Our visit to Grand Teton was brief. We were urged onward by the anticipation of glacial overlooks ahead. But first, an anticlimactic campground in Idaho and a very long drive across Montana...
- Alyssa
and i think you should use those EXACT words! ha!
