There's a Reason for the Grand in Grand Teton

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It's the third day of our vacation and today's agenda was the Grand Teton National Park.

A little history...the Grand Teton Range is made up of a series of jagged topped mountain peaks. There are no obstructions to seeing the Grand Tetons because the area around them is incredibly flat. The tallest mountain/peak is the Grand Teton at 13,770 feet with the Middle Teton at 12,804 feet, Mount Owen at 12,928 feet, South Teton at 12,514 feet and several other smaller mountains. Grand Teton National Park also contains Jenny Lake and Jackson Lake which are crystal clear lakes. So beautiful.

We started out our morning entering the park off Teton Village and were surprised to come across two moose (cow and bull) enjoying an early morning water and snack. Even from a distance they were huge. Then, we stopped to hit a couple of the scenic points including one which explained the glaciers visible in the Grand Teton Range. While we were snapping pictures, all of a sudden a mama bear and her cub came strolling by. She was moving fast and her cub was bouncing ahead of her in the grass so hard to get a good picture. We also saw a few bison but never saw any elk. We were pretty impressed with the moose and bears.

We then headed over to Jenny Lake to try to locate Hidden Falls. We stupidly decided to just take off and do the 2.7 mile hike not having checked out whether it was strenuous or not. Well, it was. It took us close to two hours to do the hike and find the Hidden Falls. Once we got to the Falls, we rested awhile and enjoyed them. At the base of the Falls, it felt like an air conditioner was directly turned on our faces. Very, very pretty 80 foot waterfall with clear, clear water flowing. The Falls empty into Jenny Lake. Because we were tired and the hike was a bit more than we bargained for, we decided to take the convenient boat ride across the Lake back to the Jenny Lake Visitor's Center rather than doing the hike back. On the boat ride back, we discovered that we had hiked quite a distance around the Lake and worked ourselves up to some high elevations at some points. Made it a little more worthwhile but next time, I'll take the boat across or be better prepared. (P.S. if you take the boat across Jenny Lake instead of doing the 2.7 mile hike, it's only about a 1/2 mile to the Falls.)

After the Falls, we were pretty hungry and went and grabbed lunch at the Jenny Lake Lodge while we rejuvenated. Spent the rest of the day driving through the Park and checking out the various sites including the Jackson Hole Gondola (see next post).

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Photos

Grand Teton
13,770 feet tall

Moose Eating
Cow and Bull Moose enjoying a drink and snack.

Jenny Lake
At about half way through our hike.

Hidden Falls
We worked to see it.

Glacier
Patch of snow/ice at bottom center of photo is one of the glaciers in the Grand Teton Range.

Bears
Mama bear and cub. We were just standing looking at the Tetons and along she came.

Grand Teton Range
Another view of part of the range.

Be Bear Aware!
And they were right!