I haven't been to a lot of national parks outside of Utah, so we could have gone to one of several of them, but with a heat wave punishing the western states, I found the park with the coolest daily temperature ;-) The Grand Tetons were showing at 78 degrees for a high (versus 100+ temperatures everywhere else, including Yellowstone).
We left Idaho and drove two hours to the Tetons. It's magnificent scenery as one nears the park--they just stand out in the middle of the plains. But what a surprise as we neared the closest town of Jackson AND THERE WAS A MOOSE ON THE SIDE OF THE ROAD! Yeah, we turned around as soon as we saw him so we could take some pictures.
Hannah told us that it was good we weren't going to nearby Yellowstone because the crowds would be terrible, but in all honesty, the crowds were pretty bad at the Tetons too. Maybe it's because we always visit the parks during the off-season, or maybe it's because the majority of Americans have nowhere to spend their summer vacations except in the national parks, but it was BUSY! There were lines into the gift shop because they were restricting the number of people who could be in there, lines for the bathrooms (for the same reason), and the trails were full too. And the parking lots. There was rarely an open spot to park.
The girls looked at the maps and chose a trail about 20 minutes into the park, but by the time we got there, there were no parking spots. The ranger directed us to another trail 20 minutes further into the park. I could never remember the name of the trail--it started with a "C" and had seven letters. Coulter Trail maybe? It was a trail around a lake where there were a lot of boaters, so it was fine. It wasn't anything really terrific, but it was a trail and it had parking. There was a rather lovely view of the Tetons behind a lake, and Glo drew a beautiful sketch of it all. We spent about an hour and a half walking and looking.
But it wasn't really what we were looking for.
So Hannah took the map and picked another trail that was back near the front of the park. 40 minutes back. When we got there, there was another line for parking. I sat there about five minutes, and then did my own thing.
We were seriously going out of our minds at this point. We all just wanted to hike, and it was ridiculous that we couldn't even get out of the car except to walk around the closed visitor's center.
There was a hike up a mountain just a few minutes away. I didn't know what the parking situation would be, but as we got off the main road to find the trailhead, we saw a sign "4WD vehicle recommended". I was a bit nervous, but we started up the road with Greenie. We probably went a mile over ten minutes, and the boulders in the road combined with the huge ruts/pits in the road? I imagined that at some point we would pop a tire, or at least separate the tire from the wheel (it happens frequently on the driver's side wheel). I couldn't believe it, but we made it all the way up to the trailhead, and I parked Greenie next to some pretty gnarly looking 4WD vehicles...and people ;-) Supposedly the trail hiked up the mountain to an overlook of Phelps lake. At this point, I didn't care if it overlooked a garbage dump--we just wanted to DO something.
Wow. There are those serendipitous moments where you didn't know what to expect, but your expectation is exceeded on all fronts, and you think WOW! Yeah, this was definitely one of those moments. We just kept climbing up, and climbing up some more, and we came out into one of the most beautiful landscapes I'd ever seen.
And man, after that long hike, I sure was glad Greenie was right there, ready to take us back DOWN the mountain. Again, I wasn't sure he would make it, but c'mon, has Greenie ever let me down?
But golly, by the time we drove back to Jackson Hole (to the Cowboy Village Resort), we were ORNERY.
I mean, bad feelings all around. It had just been a kind of frustrating kind of day where we wanted to do so much but circumstances repeatedly kept it from happening. We were all snapping at each other about what to do for dinner, and Hannah ended up going out to pick up some pizza for us....to get away from us AND to calm down herself. I couldn't move from the chair in our "living room", but after Glo got our of divinely appointed shower and bathroom, she told me to take a shower and that I would feel better. Indeed, we all cleaned up, noshed on $70 worth of pizza, watched The Hunger Games (the irony of the moment isn't lost on me) and regrouped as a little trio of women. And wow, we slept like queens in our little cabin which I had reserved for $400....
The next morning, we were determined to hit a good hike (and not be stymied by the parking situation) so we set out fairly early. Glo wanted to do a long hike, and there was a 3.5 mile one that was supposed to take four hours up to a waterfall. Perfect! I was thankful that as we drove back into the park, the beauty hadn't lost its magic in my eyes, and Ethan called, wanting to talk about the Come, Follow Me lesson for the day. It just set my mind right to remember that it was the Sabbath, and to tie that into the beauty that was surrounding me.
I haven't mentioned this yet, but having the terrific sinus infection I did, I was on a LOT of meds. Meds that make my stomach pretty sick. Steroids and antibiotics. And of course I take them in the morning. Believe me, I tried to clear out everything before we headed up the mountain, but about ten minutes into the hike, my body was doing everything it could to keep everything in. No joke. But once again, Heavenly Father came through for me and helped me stay that way for the four hour hike. I was hoping and praying there would be a restroom at the waterfall, but no. And the trail was on the edge of the mountain, so it wasn't like I could just step off the trail and go.
But it was a great hike. It was shaded a lot of the time, and it was strenuous enough to feel like a challenge. The best part of the hike though was that raspberry bushes lined a huge chunk of the trail, and the raspberries were all ripe and ready for the picking! Of course, I made the connection that we were supposed to be on "bear watch" and I could see why--bears and berries <3 Glo didn't really want to partake, but anytime I saw a red berry, I plucked it off, and let me tell you, they were the sweetest berries I've ever tasted. Fragrant and thick with flavor and so sweet.
It probably shouldn't have come as a surprise then when we saw a bear along the trail AND a mama bear and a baby bear back at the visitor's center. The real surprise came when we saw a moose right off the trail, and as I tried to calmly YEET away from it, it started following me down the trail. My mind immediately pictured the moment from Hatchet and the attacking moose, and I started to run at which point Hannah calmly said, "DON'T RUN!" Thankfully, he skittered back into the woods, but not before I forgot to take a picture. Or just didn't think to take one because I feared for my life.
Man, it was good to be with the girls hiking. So many steps, being outside, and just feeling good. We even took a few minutes on the way back to step off the trail and put our feet in the crystal clear water. There is never anything so refreshing to me as putting my feet in river or lake water. And a bonus was all the butterflies flying around ;-)
The only thing I noticed through all of this was a lack of what I usually love about the national parks. When I visit any park, I always go to the visitor center first to get my bearings--I watch the movie, go on a ranger-led hike, talk to the rangers--but this time there was none of that. In fact, there were many things put into place so that we wouldn't have contact with other people. I guess I kinda missed that sense of community among the rangers and other hikers. But at least I had my girls to stick with me <3
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