Day 33: Grand Teton National Park, WY

It has been a behemoth of a Memorial Day; we have been up and on the go since 5am.  Our early start meant that we scored a prime parking spot alongside the insanely busy Jenny Lake trail. We hiked a 14km portion of the String Lake and Jenny Lake trails to bring us into the Cascade Canyon. Our journey took us past Hidden Falls and Inspiration Point. We were early enough to get to experience each alone. The trails got much, much busier later in the morning, so this quiet time at each spot was really special.

On our journey we saw lots of animals - a pika, a marmot, a moose, and a fox! All of them passed very close to or even walked on the trail, which was pretty incredible.

The views as we hiked through the canyon were spectacular. It was so cool to be surrounded by snow capped mountains on all sides walking alongside the glacier-fed stream. It was truly an unforgettable experience.

We saw many tourists start to arrive on the boat shuttle as we were on our hike out.

After a lunch of flavoured tuna from a packet and pretzel crackers, we headed towards Jackson. Our first stop was Mormon Row to see the iconic barns with the mountains in the distance. There were lots of people there taking their own version of the popular photo but we managed to see the barns and snap a few shots.

We briefly visited Jackson Fish Hatchery. Unfortunately the hatchery was closed due to the public holiday but we were able to toss a few casts into a nearby pond, and Ali came up a winner catching a cut throat trout!

Our visit to Jackson - an hour from our campground - centered on devouring McDonald’s ice cream cones (well deserved after this morning’s hike), a gas fill up (cheaper here than in the park) and getting groceries, including fire wood.  On our return trip to the park, the boys picked up their Junior Ranger badges (Ali was having an epic nap by this point and slept right through this). We also drove along the Signal Mountain Summit Road to see the overlook and some mule deer.

Ali woke up for the summit.

Our evening involved showers, laundry, camper and truck reorganizing, dinner and a campfire. Hollywood, the campground’s resident elk, came by for a visit.

We clocked many miles (and steps) today. It was definitely a day to remember.