Hiking in Grand Teton National Park

The last place we stopped before leaving Colorado was right outside of Frisco. We needed a place to spend a couple of nights and we found the perfect little campground. It was right on the lake and not far from the cutest little mountain town. We didn’t realize we had visited before, until we walked past their laundromat.  There were some well designed hike and bike trails right near our campground which was a nice way to spend the evenings.

We decided it was time to move on so we hitched up and headed north. We stopped for the night in Rawlins, WY at a RV park with more Texas plates than any other state, including Wyoming. We couldn’t really figure out what was going on. Oil rig workers maybe? There isn’t much to say about Rawlins, expect for at this point I was feeling awful and kind of ready to turn our ship south to get out of the altitude. I am sure Brandon was ready for that too because I was being a cranky franky.

Good news though, we hit the road the next morning for Moose, WY to visit our FAVORITE boondock spot to date and I was already feeling better and couldn’t wait to visit the Tetons. We arrived around noon, in the pouring rain, so decided that we should park the truck and Airstream at the bottom of the mountain then walk up to scout out the camping situation.

As we reached the top of the mountain, we quickly realized our little secret was out. There were campers EVERYWHERE and crammed in like an RV park. We decided that we would just stay down below in the “Lower Tetons” to avoid getting stuck and to have fewer neighbors. Another thing that was a huge bummer was the lack of service, which means we couldn’t access the internet, so we had to commute into Jackson Hole each morning to work. I mean, there are definitely worse commutes, like the one I do down I-35 every week.

After work, we laced up our hiking boots and headed out on a quick 5 mile hike on the Bradley Lake Trail. Since it was later in the afternoon there weren’t as many hikers out as normal, but there were still plenty to make us feel comfortable. It was neat to hike this trail again because we were able to see the river raging and the flowers blooming. This is something that we hadn’t experienced last time we hiked to Taggart Lake (they are on the same path). When we are hiking in the park known to have bears, we always bring bear spray and ensure we make enough noise to not sneak up on any of the big ol’ guys. But one creepy creature that I haven’t really thought I’d have to worry about were SNAKES. I did have an older gentleman tell me to never worry about snakes at these higher altitudes and lower temperature locations. He said there weren’t any snakes. Well, he was wrong. We crossed paths with a snake, and not just one snake, we have seen THREE snakes since we have left Texas. I’d much prefer see a bear, or moose, or serial killer.

I was searching for a longer, more difficult hike for us to venture out on the next day and ran across the Cascade Canyon Trail which was accessible by boat ride. We’d hiked to the other trails surrounding the area last time, but didn’t ride the boat or embark on this epic hike so now was the time!

The boat ride was a lot of fun and great way to see Jenny Lake up close. Once we got to the boat dock, we hung a quick right and immediately began our ascent up the trail. It was quite the elevation gain in the beginning, which is what I prefer. Not only do you get in a pretty good workout, you don’t have to worry about that type of elevation gain once you are nearing the end of your hike.

The hike was unique in that the ground cover changed quite often. At times we’d be hiking on packed dirt then in mud then in a stream from snow runoff then in snow! You have to be somewhat coordinated to make it through this trail since the ground changed rapidly. There were moments when I was caught nearly falling over because the snow was slippery.

Of the hikes we’ve been on in the Teton National Park, I’d say this one takes the cake! It was gorgeous and the scenery changed often enough to keep us wondering what we were going to see next. We did pass some folks who kept saying that they saw a moose, which was exciting because we really wanted to see a moose! I did spot some moose tracks in the snow, but we never saw a moose. We were kind of disappointed in the lack of wildlife we came across until we were on the boat ride back to the truck. That is when we spotted a BIG OL’ BEAR! Fortunately, we were in the middle of the lake so we were in no immediate danger, but it was sure was neat. Unfortunately, we were too amped up to capture any good pictures or video of his friendly face. But in case you forgot, you can see some Grizzlies playing that we came across in Glacier.

We are going to have to move on soon because we need to have more reliable internet connectivity for work. Our time in the Tetons is never long enough!