7-03 Tuesday - The Grand Tetons

New Animal Sitings:
Snake! Ahhh Snake!
Beaver or Groundhog
10,000 Chipmunks
NO Bears!!!!

Today was quite a bit of fun. As a result I'm beat. Pretty much all we did today was go on a long hike.

In the morning after breakfast, we headed out for Jenny Lake, which is one of the lakes at the foot of Tetons. The lake at the cabin we're staying in is a different one; it is much bigger and called Jackson Lake. So we arrived at Jenny Lake, and at first was pretty disappointed because the entrance was just packed full and there was almost no parking. I was pretty sure I had another amusement park on my hands. However, the trail we decided to hike on was pretty steep and very long and we were pretty confident we would lose most of the people before long.

The lay of the land is really interesting here. The Tetons are weird because the area surrounding them is pretty much flat, and then, bam!, mountain. To get to the start of the trail, we had to take a boat across Jenny lake to the base of the mountain. As soon as we stepped off the boat, it was all uphill. The trail actually leads up between two of the mountains, so the whole time you have a mountain on either side. I believe the one on the left as we were headed west up the trail was the big Teton, Grand Teton, or some name like that. After about a mile and half of fairly steep uphill the trail flattens out a good bit and is a bit less work.

Fortunately, we were right at about the people. After about the second site to see everybody seemed to turn around on the trail and go back to the return boat ride.

The trail was really awesome. It had about every description you can give to land. It starts at a lake. Then you have a steep clime. There's spot where you're walking on a ledge over what could be an unpleasant fall. The whole trail follows a mountain river which comes from the snow melting of the mountains. The river itself has every variety: water falls, rapids, slow calm areas, I think there were even some beaver dams. You walk in forests, over tiny streams feeding into the main river, between boulder fields from the mountains. So, in case you can't tell, I definitely enjoyed this hike.

The hike pretty much killed us so we didn't do much else for the day. At the Jackson Lodge, which is full of ridiculously rich folk, and us, dirty from the hike, I was able to upload some earlier post, but the internet speed was so slow that I only got two up. Dinner after that.

Tomorrow, we drive thru Idaho, and should arrive at Fernley, Nevada.