4 Nights at Grand Teton National Park
Day 1 Grand Teton – Jenny Lake Hike and Whitewater Rafting
First thing in the morning, take the shuttle boat from the Jenny Lake visitor center and hike to Hidden Falls and then to Inspiration Point. We continued to Cascade Canyon for about 30 minutes and saw moose right on the trail.
Our afternoon was filled with whitewater rafting with Dave Hansen. It was a great experience.
Day 2 Grand Teton – Explore Rockefeller Preserve and surrounding lakes
The Lake Creek Trail to Phelps Lake is a beautiful trail within the Rockefeller Preserve. It is worth spending a couple of minutes in the Rockefeller Preserve after the walk. I love Laurance Rockefeller’s quote, “How we treat our land, how we build upon it, how we act towards our air and water will, in the long run, tell what kind of people we really are.”
After lunch, the plan was to paddleboard the creek connecting String Lake to Leigh Lake. When we arrived, we learned the boards needed to be rented in advance. If I had done more research, I would have rented them from Doran’s or in Jackson Hole. They must tie them to the roof of the car—your homework—search for a company that will drop off paddleboards at Sting Lake for you. Because I dropped the ball, we walked the path connecting both lakes. The mountain views from both lakes were worth the hike, but we were envious of the people paddleboarding, canoeing, and kayaking to get there as we walked.
Taggart Lake is also a nice hike with a pretty view of the mountains at the end.
Day 3 Grand Teton
Unfortunately, it rained, so we went from poor visibility due to the CA wildfire haze to zero visibility. We continued as planned, starting with a rainy walk around the Lakeshore Trail behind the Colter Bay visitor center. I read that the scenery is fantastic, but I can’t confirm because we couldn’t see a thing! We did like seeing how big Jackson Lake is. I wish we could have seen the views.
Then we went to Jackson Lodge to view wildlife, walk the Lunch Tree Hill trail, and check out the shops.
We drove the Oxbow Bend and Signal Mountain Summit Road, both worth doing, but we didn’t see anything because of the rain. After spending the morning frustrated by the rain, we drove to Jackson to shop the square and eat lunch.
After lunch, we attempted our scenic drive again and were happy we did. Although visibility was still poor, it wasn’t as bad as it had been in the morning.
We took Antelope Flats Road to see the famous barn on Mormon Row. Onto Schwabacher Landing, where a mother moose and her baby were eating and drinking from the end of Snake River.
Onto Snake River Overlook for more impressive views, and last but not least, to Cunningham Cabin, which we almost skipped but thankfully didn’t. It was neat to see how J. Pierce Cunningham and his wife lived in such a small cabin in the 1800s.
That’s a wrap, folks. Time to go home! Fly home out of Jackson, Wyoming.