The Grand Tetons and Jackson Hole, WY

I love to think of nature as an unlimited broadcasting station, through which God speaks to us every hour, if we will only tune in. ~George Washington Carver

August 25th
(part 2)

Our transition to the Tetons from Yellowstone was a slow. They were doing a lot of construction and so we had to travel a lot of gravel/dirt road before we eventually made it into the Grand Teton National Park. We went ahead straight to Colter Bay Campsite to try to secure a campsite. Thankfully, there was really no need to rush as the campsite was not anywhere near full.

We were asigned a campsite and we went to go check it out and set up our tent. After we got things situated at the campsite, we headed over to the visitor's center to get some advice on places to go hiking the next day. We got there just before closing and so we didn't get to talk to the rangers quite as long as we would have liked to.


We went back to the campsite and made dinner, chicken gumbo. We both thought that it was pretty good for gumbo out of a can.


With a warm dinner in out bellies, we headed over to the amphitheater to hear a ranger led talk on Moose. It was given by a young female ranger with lots of energy and it was very informative. We both really enjoyed it and learned a lot, such as Moose antlers weigh 50 - 75 pounds and are shed yearly. The shed antlers are eaten by mice.

We left the talk and went back to our campsite to get some sleep.

August 26th

If we thought that our last night in Yellowstone had been cold, cold took on a whole new meaning after our first night in the Tetons. Zack got so cold that he could not handle it. He got up and went to the car and drove around with the heater on full blast...meanwhile, I tried to stay warm in the tent. (Zack had asked me if I wanted to go with him, but I was scared that I would get REALLY cold if I got out of my sleeping bag so I stayed where I was). Apparently, Zack made three trips around the park during the night before he FINALLY crawled back into the tent to try to get a little sleep.

So, because of our poor nights sleep, we got a little later start on the day than we had anticipated. We made some oatmeal for breakfast and then headed down to Jenny Lake.

We went to the Jenny Lake visitor center to talk with the rangers about good places to hike. We decided to hike Cascade Canyon (about a 10 mile hike). We took a ferry across Lake Jenny to the trail head of Cascade Canyon. (this was about $10 per person RT, but cut almost 6 miles off of the hike RT. So, we figured that it was worth it) We hiked up to Hidden Falls and then continued up to Inspiration Point. On our way up to Inspiration Point, we saw a ranger with his binoculars out. He was watching a mother black bear with her cubs that was bedded down near the trail...and seemed somewhat agitated. He let us look through his binoculars so that we could see the bear. We watched her for a little while and then continued up to Inspiration Point.

hidden falls

We had our lunch there while overlooking the lake. It was a beautiful view.

Inspiration Point

After Lunch, we headed into the Cascade Canyon. We had amazing views on all sides with Moutains towering up on both sides of the trail. After we had gone a short way down the trail, we spotted a Moose cow and her calf. They crossed the creek that we were following and then went into the woods, so we were not able to get any good pictures of them. We tried to wait for them for a little while, but then decided that we better continue on because we needed to be back in time to catch the last shuttle back across the lake. We made it to our turn around point at about 3:40 and we needed to be back for the shuttle by no later than 6. So, after a short rest, we headed back toward the dock. On our way back, we met a middle aged woman that was on the last few miles of a 20 mile day hike...it kinda made us feel a little wimpy for only hiking 10 miles that day...although, I do not think that my body would have let me go much further than that. The lady was from the area and gave us some suggestions for hikes to do in the area. Thankfully, we made it back in time to catch the ferry back across the lake.

If you look closely, there is a moose in this picture...

We drove back toward our campsite, but decided to stop at the Jackson Lake Lodge to see if there were any Moose there. Someone had told us that the lodge was a good place to see moose...no luck. There were not any moose there when we were there. We did get to see the Lodge though, which was really a pretty nice hotel. They had an upstairs lobby with someone playing the piano and a back terrace that overlooked the willow lands (which is where the Moose are supposed to frequent).

The willow marsh

We went back to the campsite and had dinner. We had hamburger helper Italian penne with tomato basil sauce. We made it without the hamburger, and I think that it might have been my least favorite meal of the trip.


While I made dinner, Zack was working on getting us a hotel room in Jackson Hole for Friday night. We had just heard on the radio how you should never pay full price for a hotel, but that you should barter with them. So, Zack decided that he would do just that. He called the Park Inn, which had received good reviews online, and was able to talk them down from $165 to $130. He felt pretty good about it since it was his first time to try.

After dinner, we headed to the pay showers!!! YAY!! We had not had showers avaliable in Yellowstone and so we were really looking forward to a nice hot shower. The showers were $3.75 a person for unlimited time...so, we both took REALLY long showers and they were A-mazing!! The only problem is that there were no hair dryers...not even a hand dryer that I could use to dry my hair...and after the night before, I REALLY did not want to go to bed with wet hair...so, after a short period of air drying, we got into our rental car and I used the car heater vents (with the heat on HI) to dry my hair. It worked great...and got us nice and toasty in the process...so we were nice and warm as we headed to bed!

August 27th

It didn't seem as cold during the night as it had the night before, which was a BLESSING!! It also allowed us to get up and going a lot earlier in the day. We grabbed some oatmeal for breakfast and then headed down toward Lupine Meadows. Unfortunately we got a little turned around on our way and thus didn't make it to the trail head quite as soon as we had anticipated. But, we finally did make it...unfortunately, it meant that we were hiking in the hottest part of the day. The hike was a LONG continuous uphill climb. We gained a total of 3100 feet. The hike was not well shaded, and it was HOT. I was feeling a little dehydrated and we made a couple of stops on our trek up the mountain. We FINALLY made it up to Surprise Lake, the first of the two lakes that we were planning to hike to. It was really pretty. Zack and I went about half way around the lake to a large rock where we decided to have lunch.

Surprise Lake

We noticed a few Marmot and Pika while we sat there eating. The Marmot was so funny to watch. He came out of his home with tail wagging. We were laughing at how much it reminded us of a dog. He headed up to a rock that faced an overlook, and there he sat with a smile on his face appearing to enjoy his view.

While we were distracted by the wildlife on the hillside next to the lake, we heard a couple, who had been rinsing off in the lake begin to yell. they were yelling "hey, Hey!" and waving up at the trail..we thought that they were yelling to some friends on the trail until they started yelling "BEAR!!, BEAR!!!" We turned around just in time to see mama and baby running back into the woods. It had been a black bear and her cubs. On our way back to the trail, we stopped to talk to the couple who could not understand how we had remained so calm with the bears being so clse to us...well, the truth is we were calm because we did KNOW that there was a bear and her cub just a few feet from us!

We hiked up to Amphitheater Lake. We had heard from some ladies, that we met on our way up to Surprise Lake, that there was a great overlook of the Grand Glacier from Amphitheater Lake. So, we set out to find it. On our way, we ran into a couple that was from Holland (Actually from Friesland, the same province that some of my ancestors are from). They decided to explore with us. We were pretty disappointed with what we saw...somehow we must have miss understood the ladies. We came back down the mountain side to Amphitheater Lake...Zack got it in his head that he was going to hike up the other side of the lake hillside and look for the glacier on that side...I decided to stay sitting bay the lake, but sent him to the top with the camera.

Amphitheater Lake

While he was gone, I met a couple from Pennsylvania. They took some pictures of Zack way up on the mountain side and asked for my email address so that they could email them to me...hopefully they will.

This second venture to find the overlook was just as futile as the first and after a little rest, we headed back down the trail. It was started to get late, and we didn't want to be hiking in the dark.

On the way down, we stopped because Zack wanted to take a picture of some scenery. While he was getting the shot lined up, I started to hear some loud rustling behind us. I said"Zack, I think that I might hear a bear!". I said this a couple times before it sunk in to Zack what it was that I was actually saying. He turned around and sure enough, a little ways up above us there was a large black bear. Zack and I must have past right past him on the section of switch backs that we had just completed. We watched him for a little while, and then went on our way. We passed by a deer and then came upon a crazy chicken looking bird, which we learned was a grouse.


Back at the trail head, Zack and I took some staged pictures of us celebrating our completion of our final hike of the trip. We had such a wonderful time on this trip, and it was such a blessing.



We went back to our campsite STARVING...I made some chicken tacos for dinner and we stuffed ourselves until we were uncomfortable full...but they were good!


After dinner, we headed over to the amphitheater to catch the end of a ranger talk...after having had such good experiences with the other talks that we had gone to, this one was a LET DOWN. The talk was something about Native Americans and was given in a very monotone and dull style...sad..it could have been really good.

We left the amphitheater and headed back to our campsite for our last night to sleep in our tent.

August 28th

It was a lot warmer during the night than it had been...and thus made for a much better night's sleep. We got up refreshed and excited about our breakfast, which we had been anticipating all trip, but couldn't make because we had not had the time or a can opener...so, we were looking forward to our banquet homestyle bake of cheesy ham and hash browns. We were....disappointed. It was AWFUL! It had that terrible processed cheese taste, despite the fact that it claimed to be made with "real" cheddar cheese. We couldn't even bring ourselves to eat it all...even Zack was in favor of throwing it out (that should tell you how bad it was, as my husband hates to waste food)...so, after a couple bites, that is exactly what we did...we threw it in the trash.

So much for a great breakfast. We packed up our campsite and got ready to leave the Tetons to head to Jackson Hole.

The day continued in disappointment when we went to the general store to look around. I had been wanting to try the Huckleberry Ice Cream and had been waiting until today to do it...they were all out! I was so disappointed. What a bummer!

We went to the Moose Visitor center on our way out of the Tetons and we were pleasently surprised by how nice it was. It had an exhibit, much like you would find at a museum, all about the area and the animals that inhabit it. It was really pretty well put together. We spent a little time there before heading on to Jackson Hole.

As we left Moose, we saw a Pronghorn grazing in a field. It was the closest that we had gotten to one of these. So, we had to stop and take a picture or 2.

We left the Teton's and drove to the Jackson Hole visitor center to try to get some ideas of things to do or places to eat. The people at the visitor center suggested a couple of dinner shows. We couldn't make up our minds which one to go to, so we decided to go to our hotel and check in and decide later.

We had gotten reservations at the Park Inn, which ended up being quaint older hotel in a great location. It was right downtown, so after checking in, we went downtown and walked around for about and hour.



We then decided that we would go to the Bar J Chuck wagon dinner. We had talked to several people that had recommended it and had said that the food and the show were both really good. So, we headed over there not knowing exactly what to expect, but looking forward to it no less. We really liked the atmosphere. The meal and show both took place in what looked like a large barn with long picnic tables in it.


They had biscuits that were cooked in cast iron dutch ovens over an open fire that you could eat while you were waiting for the meal to start. We tried one. They were pretty good.


The meal was served camp style. You had a ticket for your entree and you went through a line where they gave you your sides and then served you your meat based on your ticket. Zack got the BBQ chicken and beef combo, and I got the Steak. The meal was served with baked beans, corn bread, baked potato, applesauce, and spice cake. It was all you can eat until all of the food was gone. The food was really good.


The show was a mixture of old coyboy tunes and standup. It was really well done, and Zack and I both really enjoyed it. The performers were talented and pretty funny.

We left the show full and with smiles on our faces...and then we realized that we would need to empty out the rental car to repack all of our bags for out trip back home in the morning...it was quite a mess, but we somehow managed to get everything packed...and only had to throw out a little of the food that we had purchased. I'm still not sure how Zack managed to get all of that food packed...