August 6, 2013 Day twenty-eight

Grand Tetons National Park

We were camping at the Southern end of the park; so we took a leisurely drive north along the road closest to the mountains, catching many beautiful views of the Tetons in the morning light.     

We stopped numerous times for photographs before getting out at String Lake, at the very base of the mountains.  This is one of Dick’s most spiritual places, and always moves him when he is there.  We took a photo there, to bookend the photo we took at our first trip there together 20 years ago. 

After a magical time, we moved on down to Jenny lake which Dick had first visited in 1957.  In early times, the Tetons were more of a hidden gem, but today the parking lots were filled with cars from all over and we got the next to the last license plate, New Hampshire.  Now only looking for Rhode Island.

We purchased a round trip ticket for a boat ride across Jenny Lake to do some hiking.We decided to do this rather than hike an extra amount around the lake, knowing that we wanted to spend our energy on a hike up Cascade Canyon above the lake.  Swarms of people take this boat ride, and hike the first ½ mile to Hidden Falls

Some take a rough additional half mile climb further to Inspiration Point. After these spots, which are truly lovely!!!!  The traffic slims out considerable as you go up the canyon. 

This is Dick’s favorite hike in the world, and we a glorious day to hike it.    The path lead along mountain streams, through forests, over rocks, with the spires of the Tetons on either side.   

Highlights included seeing three different adult bull mosses, and many waterfalls coming off the snow remaining on the peaks.    We were struck by how pleasant and supportive hikers are as a rule, with lots of trail curtsey and encouragement for one another.  We had delightful conversations with many people including hiking for some time with a family form France.  Such great people you get to meet when you travel!

We pushed pretty hard and made it to our goal: the end of the main valley where the trail forked.  This put us at 4.5 miles one way so a totally of over 9 miles by the time we got back down to the boat.  Part of the trail down was pretty challenging, as we were both tired and had pretty sore knees.  We were pretty pleased with ourselves that, at our age, we managed to complete this long of a hike.  And we were very happy to see the boat, rather than continue another 2 miles to get back to the car.

We rewarded ourselves with a delightful dinner in Jackson, WY, the cute town just south of the Park.

We both slept very well that night, and were pleased that we weren’t too terribly sore the next morning.

“The traveler was active; he went strenuously in search of people, of adventure, of experience. The tourist is passive; he expects interesting things to happen to him. He goes 'sight-seeing.' “ Daniel J. Boorstin