RoadTrip: The Grand Tetons

Mountains, oh glorious mountains.  We have obviously seen our fair share of mountains for the past 4 weeks but in my head we were building up to the grandest of them all.  Growing up, my family took many a roadtrip out to Jackson Hole and the Grand Tetons, probably 5 or 6 trips between the age of 10 and 21.  But that means I hadn't been back out to maybe my favorite place in the world (so far) in almost 5 years.

We were planning on waking up early so we could secure a camping spot at Jenny Lake, which all the websites said fill up in the summer quite early.  Well we had had a long day yesterday and were completely fine sleeping in and staying at the Jackson Hole Campground an extra night.  Also, Megan conveniently set the alarm for P.M.  No complaints from either one of us.



String Lake

We took hot showers to warm our toes back up and drove a couple miles towards Grand Teton National Park.  We stopped off at the Visitor Center and talked with a ranger about possible trails to hike.  We decided on the Bear Paw trail as we would hike along Leigh Lake and String Lake which have incredible views of the Tetons.  There was hardly anyone around which was wonderful to feel the peacefulness of the wild.  I had been to String Lake and Leigh Lake before but the views are top notch and the mountains feel as if they are towering over you and reflecting below you on the cold, calm, blue lake water.



Leigh Lake



Grand Teton National Park

Mountain Reflections



Cool View Through the Trees



Grand Teton Poking Through the Trees



We hiked back and with stomachs' growling ate some tuna sandwiches and Spicy Doritos at the Jenny Lake visitors area.  We decided to rent a kayak to see Jenny Lake and the Tetons from the water.  We had to wait a few minutes before a kayak or canoe was available but we decided that we were going to do a horseback trip at Togwotee, the resort where we were staying the next night.  We were out on the water in our kayak for only an hour but had a great time paddling over to the far shore.  We also commented how amazing our trip was and that it was pretty neat that we had been floating through Yosemite just 48 hours earlier.

Kayaking on Jenny Lake



Even the Views Looking Away from the Mountains is Beautiful



Every Picture of Grand Teton is Amazing



The Most Mountainy Mountain I have Ever Seen

We found our way back to town without a plan for the rest of the afternoon or evening.  We wandered around a few shops to buy some souvenirs.  Megan found a cowboy hat and I found a sweet picture of Doc Holliday (Val Kilmer) with the saying "I'll be your huckleberry."  We also snagged a prime seat on the second story deck at Town Square Tavern and people watched as we enjoyed a cold beer.  We also watched the wagon take little kids on rides around the square and Megan commented that if the roads were made of dirt it would be even cooler.

As we walked out of the tavern Megan noticed the Old Time Photographer and dragged me in.  We found some amazing outfits and had our picture taken as Westerners.  There was a family that came in after us and the little boy upon seeing Megan said, "Mom, she looks like a princess."  Megan said that her trip was complete and she didn't think she'd ever be happier.

After our short stint as old time characters, we found Mountain High Pizza which we split a pizza and a pitcher of beer while sitting out on the deck.  We went back to our camp and had a fire to stay warm as we played cards while the sun went down.  I kicked Megan's butt in Gin or Rummy or Gin Rummy or whatever and she got mad at how I was playing but then we played another game and she kicked my butt.

We woke the next morning feeling warmer than the previous night after sleeping in wool socks, pants, long sleeves, and all of our blankets.  We left camp early at 7:15 as we had to be at Togwotee by 8:30 for our horseback trip.

Grand Teton National Park is the Best

Togwotee is a 'resort' in the middle of nowhere Wyoming.  It is 35 miles from Jackson Hole and is directly East of Grand Teton.  My family would always stay here when we came to the area and I have many memories of spending time with my sisters and parents in one of the cabins out in the back of the property.  There is a restaurant, a bar, a gas station with a convenience store, and a front porch that is great for sitting and watch all the crazy people that come passing by.  Growing up, we always stayed in a cabin but they were all booked up for us so we had to settle for a room in the lodge.

We ended up having a private horseback tour as the other groups during our tour were split pretty evenly.  Megan was riding the donkey named Carl and I was on a horse named Dewey.  Our guide was a little off but we enjoyed our ride around the forest and got some great views of the Tetons spread across the wide open "flat" land that separates the mountains from Togwotee.



Our Horseback View



Megan Wearing Her New Purchase

We returned back to the lodge and found that our room would be ready in a few minutes so we decided to wait around the lodge so we could shower.  We checked out the bar but didn't like the lunch selection so we snacked on some chips while we sat in the Adirondack chairs on the front porch.  After cleaning the horse smell off of ourselves, we decided to go to Brooks Lake to go on an afternoon hike.

Brooks Lake Trail



Snow at Jade Lake

We hiked up to Jade Lake but the snow was just starting to melt and the trail was really wet so we didn't complete the hike.  It was a great day to be outside plus since we were in the middle of nowhere there was nobody around.  Brooks Lake is a cool place to be when nobody else is there because the the valley is really wide open and you can see for miles across the lake.  As we were returning to our car we heard a giant crash and snapped our heads around to see a big cloud of rubble from where a piece of the cliff had broken away.  I wonder if it would have made the same noise had we not been there to hear it ...

Brooks Lake

After the "short cut" of my way back out to the main road, we both felt lucky to be alive and decided a hot tub session was in order.  With our muscles feeling relaxed after a rough day of horseback riding and hiking we showered and found our way to the restaurant.  We had a filling meal of salads, pasta and a burger to go along with a pitcher of beer.  We bought a few souvenirs from the gift shop before sitting down on the front porch again to finish our beers.  We were getting eaten by some bugs so we moved inside to look at some magazines of what to do in Yellowstone.  I asked the front desk lady what she thought and we got to talking about how we wanted a cabin.  Well it was our lucky day because someone had just cancelled and she gave it to us. We high-fived and packed up our stuff from our stupid lodge room and drove down to our spacious cabin!

Excited About Our Cabin

We were pumped now that Megan got to experience Togwotee as I had hoped she would, just like my family has done many times in the past.  We listened to some music and played some cards on the little front porch as we drank some beers.  We also got to witness a spectacular display of a sunset over the Grand Tetons which was just another perk of being in the cabins versus staying in the lodge.

Dusk Over the Tetons from Togwotee

We were in no hurry the next morning and wanted to enjoy our cabin for as long as possible so we lounged around in bed, watching TV and reading before showering and packing up the car.  We were driving the short distance to Yellowstone where we luckily had a campsite reserved.  Before we reached Yellowstone we stopped off at Jackson Lake Lodge which has a ridiculous view of Mount Moran, one of the Grand Tetons and we took a bunch of pictures of the Grand Tetons as we were driving straight at them before turning and heading towards Yellowstone.



Looking Across Jackson Lake



From Jackson Lake Lodge