Tetons

Tetons

It’s hot in our little apartment here in Logan. This last weekend we needed to get away to somewhere a little cooler, so we went to the Tetons. (Sorry I didn’t tell you Mom, but I think everyone’s weekend was a little less stressed this way.) Anyway, it’s a trip we meant to go on last summer but didn’t get to because it was raining when we wanted to go and we went to Moab instead. I was pretty excited for it and a few weeks ago went to the library and checked out every book they had on the area, partially because I wanted the information and partially because I didn’t want any other would be travelers from Logan to get any ideas.

Friday morning we got up super early and drove to Jackson stopping at every one of the 82 construction zones in between here and there and taking a small detour to Bennington?, Idaho. Our goal was to acquire one of the coveted tent-only sites at the “top 40 best campgrounds in America” Jenny Lake campground. However, when we rolled in at 11:00am we could hardly find a parking spot let alone a campsite. Upon looking around it didn’t look all that much different or better than any other campground I’ve ever been to, so when we got one of the last sites at Signal Mountain next to a circus tent and some people from California (no, they weren’t the same people) we were plenty happy enough.

The hiking was great out there even though there were so many people. Friday, after finding our campsite, we went up to Surprise Lake wearing our hiking-appropriate Chaco sandals. In spite of snow and the scoffs of people with their trekking poles, we made it. It’s just so odd to run into that much snow on the ground in July. The little lake was still partially frozen over. The next day we had planned on going up over Paintbrush Divide to Lake Solitude and around back down through Cascade Canyon, but apparently there was avalanche conditions on Paintbrush so we opted for a out and back hike up Cascade Canyon instead. It was absolutely gorgeous up there. However, the first part of the hike up to Inspiration Point is anything but inspirational due to the over abundance of tourists that rode the boat across Jenny Lake to get there. Once past that, the trail up the canyon is fabulous with shady pine forests, high snowcapped mountains, and waterfalls all over the place. Unfortunately while up there our camera decided that all the picture we had taken up to that point should be DELETED, and we didn’t realize it until we got back to camp that night, so there are only a few pictures of that hike and Surprise Lake. Sunday we relaxed and went swimming out in chilly Leigh Lake. (It used to be a glacier.) Monday we saw a moose in the campground in the wee hours of the morning and saw the sunrise from the top of Signal Mountain. On our way out of the park we stopped by the Lawrence S. Rockefeller Preserve and officially communed with nature on a little hike out to Phelps Lake.

When all was said and done we had about half of the pictures we took, a cumulative total of 30+ mosquito bites with some in places I didn’t know mosquitoes could get to, and some fond memories. I think next time will have to be a backpacking trip later in the summer. If there’s anyone who’s interested let me know.

Oh yeah, and the pictures are below.

4 thoughts on “Tetons

  1. Oh man, that stinks that your camera deleted all those pics, I do like the pics you did get though! Looks beautiful up there. That reminds me, last year we lost our camera while hiking Mt. Timp. We lost it when we were almost done with our hike and had tons of cool pics… Mike says we’ll just have to hike it again. 🙂

  2. Aubrey,

    It’s good to hear we’re not the only ones who have a hard time hanging on to a camera. We’re on our third one already. It can be an expensive hobby. That’s a good attitude to take about it though. Losing the pictures is a good excuse to go back.

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