Grand Teton National Park

So after my first day of mountain biking in area around Nederland, CO we hit the road from Boulder for Jackson Hole, Wyoming to pick up Greg. We finally had the crew together for a real hike. Unlike the picnic that was Greg's bachelor party, we headed into Grand Teton National Park for three nights. Despite our overall lack of fitness and aclimitization, we had picked a pretty serious route. About 43 miles and more than 8000 ft. of total elevation gain over a little more than two days.

The first night we hit the trail pretty late, it was probably past 6pm. We hiked in and made camp. The next morning, we got up a bit late and took our sweet time getting ready. The park is truly amazing, and surprisingly empty in the back country. At the designated camping areas you ran into a good amount of people, but otherwise you had the trail mostly to yourself. The valleys were filled with colorful wildflowers. We saw a deer family complete with buck, doe, and baby. The passes were around 10,000', and we had two that day. The second was picturesque was steep drops on both sides. The trail went along the ridge for a few hundred yards before dropping steeply. The wind was blowing pretty good, and it aroused a most breathtaking feeling.




We camped on a ridge above a lake that was surrounded by other campers. The next morning we got up even later. By the time we left camp it must have been past noon, but we hit the trail with a good pace and didn't break until we were over the pass. We stopped for a bit by a glacier lake. It was so cold that the still water was actually freezing. There was some talk about getting in, but no one had it in them. The water was amazing blue color, like that of the arsenic lakes in Bolivia, and the glacier rose above the mountain right behind it.

We made great time, about eight miles, to the trail split, and had a decision to make. Either we go eight more miles very flat or 13 miles and about 2600' of elevation. We chose the latter. It was the right decision. A few miles in we had a big climb ahead of us. You could see it just go up about 1500' straight with no switchbacks over a couple miles. This was the most incredible past of the hike. As you rose, there were great view of the lake we just come up from. After you rose about 500' another lake, completely off any trail, came into view. In front of you the valled dropped several thousand feet into the base of Grand Teton, a rocky giant that towers over the park and constantly reminds you how small we really are. The trail eventually to the mountain at hand, and switchbacks you over the top to almost 11000'. Then comes the long descent. 8 miles, and 2600' feet of just down. By the times we made it to campsite it was nearly dusk. We cooked dinner and walked as little as possible to save what was left of our legs.
The next morning We were all pretty sore. We hiked out a couple miles to the car that was moved for us for $40. We went to Jackson, had a good meal, said our goodbyes to Greg, and headed up to Yellowstone for some touristy sightseeing. The hike was one of the best of my life. And the drive back to Boulder was pretty good too. We took the state highways back as far as we could. There is just nothing in Wyoming. It's so refreshing to see almost no sign of civilization from a highway. I highly recommend you check it out.