It was cool to see so many fellow amateur photographers with their tripods braving the early morning chill. We also commiserated and laughed together as other tourists casually strolled and stopped in front of the barn seemingly oblivious to the dozens of tripods aimed at them.
Gradually, the light shifted from the mountain range to the barn. Once most of the "magic" light had left, we drove back to Wilson for breakfast. Carol and Franz enjoyed hearing our stories from the previous day's adventures. As we ate our frittatas, they shared more advice for trails - not only in Teton, but for the next two parks were were visiting! After breakfast, we hugged our innkeepers goodbye and packed the car. If ever in the Jackson area, we highly recommend a stay at Teton View Bed and Breakfast for great advice, great food, great rest, and great company.
After picking up lunch at Dornan's Deli inside the Park, we drove to Jenny Lake for our hike du jour. From the Jenny Lake parking area, we headed to the Inspiration Point/Cascade Canyon trail. Since we were feeling lazy wanted to enjoy the views from the water and narrated tour, we boarded a boat to head across Jenny Lake to the trail head. If you're in need of additional exercise, you can hike around the lake to the trail head, but that adds another 2.5 miles to your hike. Since our planned hike was already approximately 9 miles long, we decided to cheat enjoy the boat ride.
Once across the lake, we began the ascent. Since just about everyone debarks the boat at the same time, you aren't exactly alone in the woods for the first portion of the hike. But, look at the bright side, there are plenty of people to take pictures for you instead of selfies. The first 3/4 of a mile is basically straight uphill. After about a quarter of a mile, you reach Hidden Falls.
In another half mile, we reached Inspiration Point. We stopped for a snack and enjoyed the view over the lake. As we said before, this was essentially a mile straight up hill and we realized how far we had climbed once we spotted the small boat dock below.
Since this portion of the hike is fairly strenuous, most people stop and head back to the boat once they reach Inspiration Point. However, they should totally keep going! Once past Inspiration Point, the trail flattens as it enters Cascade Canyon. Luckily, our bed and breakfast hosts advised us to continue into Cascade Canyon and promised that the most difficult portion of the hike would be over at that point. They had also told us that people often have good luck spotting wildlife once in Cascade Canyon and away from the crowds.
As soon as we entered the canyon beyond Inspiration Point, the crowds dissipated. As promised, the trail flattened and we enjoyed hike along the river and willow flats while surrounded by the mountain range. Not too far into the canyon, each group of hikers we passed mentioned (warned) seeing a black bear and a moose ahead of us on the trail. Their estimates of exactly far ahead on the trail varied greatly - 100 yards, 50 feet, one mile, etc so we continued our clapping, singing, and shouting strategy. The prior hikers (or all our noise) must have scared off both animals because we didn't see either! Feeling rather confident that the animals were nowhere nearby, we settled on some flat rocks along the creek to enjoy our picnic.
We continued our hike until the 4.5 mile marker (the Forks) before turning around to head back to the boat dock. Some dark clouds were gathering, so we wanted to finish the hike without getting caught in a downpour. On our hike out of the canyon (downhill!), rain started to fall. Just after putting our cameras away in a dry bag, we noticed some hikers clumped together on the trail looking up the hillside with their cameras out - sure sign of wildlife! As we approached, we noticed a small bull moose munching on some leaves. We had just enough time to get our cameras back out of the bag and snap a few shots before he disappeared into the brush. Thrilled that we saw yet another moose - we hiked back to the boat dock. Fortunately, we made it to the dock in time to catch the boat back to our car just as the clouds really opened; that extra 2 miles if we had missed the boat would not have been pleasant!
Due to the inclement weather, we decided to go check into our hotel and grab an early dinner. We enjoyed our meal at The Peaks - a restaurant overlooking Jackson Lake before heading out for wildlife spotting. Signal Mountain Lodge, our hotel located inside the park boundaries, is located near willow flats, which is prime moose habitat. So we set out on an evening "moose hunt" in hopes of spotting more of the giants which serve as icons of the Tetons - we probably sound a little greedy given that we already saw three moose at this point in our trip.
Only a few minutes after leaving our hotel, we saw a few people standing out of the sunroof of an SUV waving at us and pointing towards a meadow. "Oh good, more moose!" we thought to ourselves. But, we were surprised to see a small grizzly bear walking in the field instead! This was our first "official" grizzly sighting of the trip since we couldn't identify what type of bear we saw on the Phelps Lake hike (and have no photographic evidence).
We rolled down the windows to safely observe the bear while snapping photos with a telephoto lens. The people in the SUV who originally spotted the young grizzly shouted over to us that there was a second bear on the other side of the road. Sure enough, we saw a similarly sized grizz emerging from the sagebrush. We couldn't believe our luck - not one, but two grizzlies that we could observe from the safety of our car.
By this time, more and more cars started to pull over along the road to observe the young bears. Fortunately, two park rangers soon arrived to control the situation and serve as bear bodyguards. The rangers focused on keeping tourists a safe distance from the bears while shouting at the bears to ensure they don't become too comfortable with humans. One nice ranger near our car explained that the two bears were siblings and this was their first summer on their own since mama bear had new cubs. Due to their relatively small size, they'll spend this summer together before going solo. Shortly after her explanation, one of the young grizzlies crossed the road right in front of our car to join his brother! Ashley was beyond excited and just kept repeating "OMG" over and over again.
More and more cars pulled over forming a bear jam - the first one of our trip. The young bears continued to forage in the meadows seemingly oblivious to the bear paparazzi gathering nearby.
Eventually, the bears disappeared into the brush so we headed to the Willow Flats overlook in hopes of spotting moose. However, due to high bear activity, the park service closed all of the paths in that area. We drove back towards the Jackson Dam on our way to the hotel. The young bears had reappeared in the distance so we watched them for a few more minutes.
Thrilled with our continued wildlife good fortune, we drove back to the hotel. We grabbed a table at the hotel bar to unwind. We typed some notes of our amazing experiences thus far in Grand Teton National Park while sipping on Trout Slayer beer (not to be confused with King Slayer - sorry we couldn't resist the Game of Thrones reference).
Miles Hiked Today: 9.6
Total Miles Hiked on trip: 16.6Animals Spotted: moose, Grizzly Bears, and a friendly marmot
Wildflowers in the Tetons
Since we had completed moderately difficult hikes (at a significantly higher elevation that our sea level selves are used to) during our first few days in the park, we decided to take it a little easier today. So, we drove to various scenic overlooks throughout the park to admire the views. The drive took us along US 26/89/191 and the Teton Park Road today.
One of our first stops was at the Snake River Overlook - made famous by landscape photographer Ansel Adams. The trees have grown since Adams took his famous photograph of the Teton Range with the Snake River in the foreground so you can't imitate it exactly. But, it isn't often you see such rewarding views with such little effort - it's literally a small parking area off a main road. No hiking required. This is likely a good area to spot bald eagles and other birds of prey, but we didn't have much luck today.
Although long past what we consider springtime, the wildflowers were beginning to bloom throughout the Park. Bright, yellow wildflowers filled the fields in front of the Tetons near Antelope Flats. We pulled into a small parking area and trekked into the fields to capture the delicate petals in front of the still snow capped peaks.
Ashley was particularity excited because she loves to attempt macro photography and flowers make excellent subject matter. However, the breeze provided a frustrating challenge as any movement in the leaves or petals caused unattractive blur.
After visiting the museum, we stopped by the entrance sign to the National Park. In addition to the Passport stamps, we take pictures in front of every National Park sign in order to prove we were there. We're not exactly sure who will ask us for this proof...but we are prepared if that ever happens. (Fun fact: We have no such "proof" from Zion National Park because the sign was apparently hidden in an undisclosed location because never saw it...oh well, a good excuse to return!). Since we consider ourselves experts in National Park signs, we would like to point out that Grand Teton has a better than average sign since you can see the mountains in the background and it it included a depiction of the Teton range on the actual sign. Some park signs are disappointingly generic. Okay, enough about signs...
Once we re-entered the park, we continued on the Teton Park Road. We pulled over a few more times at various points of interest and viewpoints. One highlight was the Chapel of the Transfiguration, which still holds weekly services. The window over the alter perfectly frames the Teton range.
We also took a detour down the one-way Jenny Lake Drive, which led through a forested area and provided unique views of Jenny Lake. From the viewpoint, we looked straight across the lake into Cascade Canyon, where we hiked the day before! Since our words in the last post were probably inadequate to describe the canyon, this photo provides a better depiction.
Next, we drove a five-mile road on Signal Mountain - our lodge's namesake. The mountainside was covered in wildflowers and the top provided views of the Jackson Lake area.
We stayed long enough to photograph the views, but were a bit rushed due to the swarms of aggressive mosquitoes and approaching storm clouds.
However, on the way back to the car, Ashley did manage to detour for one more frolic in the wildflowers, which reminder of the Black-eyed Susans in Baltimore.
The rain continued after dinner, but we decided to drive around in an attempt to spot some more wildlife. We're greedy. Not long into our drive, we noticed a few cars pulling over along the side of the road in about the same area as where we saw the bear siblings last evening. As we pulled up, we saw the two young bears from a distance. Soon, they darted across the road and seemed to thoroughly enjoy playing in the rain. While we watched from the comfort (and dryness) of our car, the bears wrestled with each other.
After they finished wrestling, they chased each other around the meadow; their movements actually resembled our puggle's behavior at the dog park. Even from a distance, we could sense their joy. The rain sure didn't deter them!
We could have watched them play for hours. However, they must have worked up an appetite with all that playing so they resumed grazing and foraging for roots, which isn't nearly as fun to watch. Eventually, we could no longer see them as they moved deeper into the brush. Thrilled that we were able to see our two favorite bears one more time, we headed back to the hotel.
Our four nights in the Tetons provided an amazing start to our trip. Because of the picturesque views and wildlife sightings, Grand Teton quickly rose to claim a spot among our favorite National Parks. We can't wait to see what Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks have in store for us. Hopefully, they can live up to the standards set by Grand Teton.
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