Trip to Teton Country

Summering in the Tetons is something celebrities and I both have in common. Okay fine, my parents and I went for six days, but we were still able to take in a lot of the sights. We flew in to Jackson airport on Friday night and stayed for two nights in Jackson Lake Lodge, a comfortable lodge with delicious cocktails and a great view. The National Parks aren't far from each other so we jumped around a lot. Here's an overview of our six days:

Day 1: Grand Teton (Jenny Lake)
Day 2: Grand Teton (Colter Bay) --> Yellowstone (Old Faithful)
Day 3: Yellowstone (Lower loop)
Day 4: Grand Teton (String Lake) --> Teton Village --> Jackson Hole
Day 5: Jackson Hole and Grand Teton (Bradley Lake)
Day 6: Jackson Hole (Snake Lake) and Grand Teton (Laurance Rockefeller Preserve)

Grand Teton National Park

Although the smaller of the adjacent parks, Grand Teton was where we spent the majority of our time. This is partly because it's smack in between Jackson Hole (the airport) and Yellowstone, but also because it's filled with things to do.

While we heard of a million bear sightings, we unfortunately didn't see any (likely due to our wonderfully effective bear bells). Alas! We still enjoyed our GTNP hikes from the following trailheads:

Jenny Lake Trailhead: Day one we began with an easy stroll counter-clockwise on the Jenny Lake loop, which took us 4.7 miles to the entrance of Cascade Canyon.

Cascade Canyon includes a rather steep beginning, so we only went about 2 miles RT but captured some pretty awesome pictures.

We headed back down to see Hidden Falls, about one mile RT from the lake loop, and then continued counter-clockwise along the lake for the remaining 2.4 hilly miles to the trailhead (moose and hail included). In total it was about a 10 mile day.

If you want to do this hike, I'd suggest taking the ferry over, hiking some of Cascade Canyon, and then finishing clockwise around the lake.

Hermitage Point Trailhead: Day two was a much less strenuous hike starting at the Colter Bay Visitor Center. There are several short trails from here, but we did a quick 2.2 mile clockwise loop to Swan Lake for part one.

After PB&J refueling, part two started closer to the Colter Bay Visitor Center where an amphitheater leads to a two-mile figure eight trail along Jackson Lake.

Leigh Lake Trailhead: Just above Jenny Lake Trailhead lies Leigh Lake Trailhead, which deceivingly is closest to String Lake. We decided to just do the String Lake loop, which is about 3.7 miles.

Taggart Lake Trailhead: A lovely hike that started us walking counter-clockwise along the Taggart Lake loop. We did the additional 2.5 mile hike to get a glimpse of Bradley Lake. All in, this was about a six mile hike.

Laurance S. Rockefeller Preserve Center: Reached by a windy and, at times, unpaved road, this Preserve is a wonderful place to start a leisurely hike. We began along the Lake Creek Trail and journeyed all the way to Huckleberry Point. But instead of going back around Phelps Lake we turned around and took the Woodland Trail on the way back to the preserve.

That's a wrap on the Grand Teton portion! Up next is Yellowstone and Jackson...