withoutwhatifs

As we mentioned previously, we did a night in a Walmart parking lot… I know it sounds kind of “rock bottom” but it’s actually really convenient, and since it was close to midnight, we figured it made more sense to finish the drive to Jackson Hole the next morning. Since we didn’t get to Jackson until about 11am and the campgrounds we wanted to stay at would all be full by then, we found a spot in Gros Ventre, about 20 minutes from Grand Teton National Park and just outside of downtown Jackson. From there we spent some time at the Snake River so Murphy could run around for awhile after being in the car the previous day. After that, we walked around Teton Village, stopping for a couple beers from local brewers and then made a stop at a place called Dornan’s in Moose before calling it a night so we could get to Teton early the next morning.

After a night in Gros Ventre, the next morning we were up at 5am to get on the road and get a camp site at the park (enter Site Stalking from the Lesson’s Learned post).

Site Stalking and persistence paid off. Our campsite at Signal Mountain Campground, well… it’s pretty much the best.

We spent the first day just relaxing… we needed it after a lot of moving around and driving. So, total relax day.

 

Day two, a shuttle boat ride across Jenny Lake and a hike up Cascade Canyon (via Hidden Falls and Inspiration Point). This was a great hike… pretty easy/moderate to Inspiration point. There was one narrow pass which was more like a cliff edge with two way hiking traffic. Just don’t look down.

 

We continued on the trail for a couple more miles and came to a large group of people and realized… Wildlife… One of Tara’s wildlife bucket list items was to see a Moose… a real live Moose… She got three… three bull Moose just lounging by a little creek cooling off. Check that one off.

After we got back from our hike, we headed into Jackson and walked around town for a bit and stopped for a bite to eat. And saw some more buffalo roaming around. We came back to camp to relax by the lake, watch the sunset, and make dinner.

Day three… hike to Phelps Lake and Death Canyon. The name didn’t phase us… though it probably should  have given us an indication that this was not going to be the same as our Cascade Canyon hike…

We set out for a “quick hike” which apparently was no indication on distance. We managed a cool 7.8 mile hike in 83 degrees. 83 may not seem like a lot, but we could honestly feel the heat coming off of the ground and the large majority of this hike was in the sun… no shade. We traversed our way up rock ledges, through thick, wiry brush (which FYI is total “surprise a bear” type stuff), and up switchback after switchback. Start to finish it took roughly 2 hours and 20 minutes. (Tara thinks everything is a race… between us and against others…) It was a long hot hike, but the views and massive rocks towering above us the whole time made it worth it.

We’re now wrapping up at Teton, and will head to Yellowstone tomorrow… Yellowstone, what I’ve been told is the “Disney of the outdoors”… should be a little different.