GRAND TETON
If you want to explore Grand Teton National Park, get ready for a lot of elevation gain. After hiking in both Glacier this is something that we thought we were prepared for, and for the most part we were correct, but our legs definitely still got a very healthy workout.
After exploring the wild alien world of Yellowstone National Park, we made our way south to Grand Teton. The parks are incredibly close to one another and it would be silly to do one and not the other, plus they both are amazing in their own different ways. Aside from a stop at the visitor center in our first afternoon in the Grand Teton Area, we really didn’t explore much. We were staying on the other side of the Teton Pass and were planning on a restful afternoon before heading into the park early the next morning.
When we were in Glacier, so many people had told us to hike Paintbrush Canyon and to do a giant loop through Cascade Canyon. When we spoke with the ranger at the visitors center he agreed that this would be a great hike, but there was a lot of grunt work toward the top and that it would have been a 20 mile round trip trek. We weighed our options once we got to the park that morning but ultimately decided we would like to also hike a little around Jenny Lake and up to Inspiration Point as well in this first day. Adding that all together seemed unfeasible, so we stuck to our original plan of just hiking up and down Paintbrush Canyon.
This was not a mistake. The views the entire way were spectacular, but the elevation gain did take a toll on our tired legs (we had been hiking for two straight weeks at this point). When we got to the top we had a lovely lunch at Holly Lake before turning back around. On the way down we saw a moose across the river, which would not be our only moose sighting in Grand Teton. When we reached the juncture point in the trail, we headed toward Jenny Lake and up to inspiration point. This was not without some drama, as there was some bear activity on the trail. Hiking inspiration point was lovely and a nice way to end our afternoon. Reaching the car we felt the exhaustion but were ready for another day.
On our second day we planned an even more grunt-worthy hike up to Amphitheater Lake. This involved 18 switchbacks and most of the spans between them were very long and with a steady and sisyphean-like incline. This trail was much more popular and more crowded than when we hiked paintbrush canyon, a big reason for that being that the hike to Delta Lake junctured off this trail and everyone seemed to be going there. Sticking with our original plan, we continued to grunt our way up, eventually reaching smaller and smaller spans between switchbacks and finally getting to enjoy both Amphitheater and Surprise Lakes at the top.
After a long respite, we began our descent, flowing against a steady stream of folks still coming up the switchbacks, many of whom were headed to Delta Lake. Our final afternoon and evening were spent exploring the Laurence S. Rockefeller Preserve and enjoying dinner in Teton Village with friends who also happened to be in town.
Grand Teton National Park is on the traditional and stolen land of the Eastern Shoshone, Shoshone-Bannock, and Cheyenne People.
Listen while you look! This buttons will link you to the podcast episode for this park and gallery.
