The Grand Tetons, Day 3, Epic Road Trip Day 5

Location: Jenny Lake, Grand Tetons
Attractions: Jenny Lake Hike, Town of Jackson Hole
Date: August 7th, 2018

Recently, while sitting around a campfire, I was asked what my all-time favorite hike was and this hike immediately came to mind. Not because of the beautiful scenery, although it was certainly present, but because of the wildlife we saw while hiking and the manner in which we were able to see it.

This was the third time in my life that I had been to Yellowstone National Park. The last two times, we drove past the jagged, shark-tooth mountains of the Grand Tetons, but didn’t hike them. This time we headed in to Jenny Lake for a ferry ride across the lake and a 3 mile hike back to the parking lot. Originally, we wanted to hike Inspiration Point and Hidden Falls, but since there was falling rock on and above the trails, they were closed.

As we headed down the path, we stopped at a rushing stream to enjoy the view and sounds of the water rolling over the rocks. But as we sat there, we heard something else. Crack, pop, rustle. Sticks breaking in the distance. There was something moving in the distance, and it was big. Another individual that wasn’t in our group heard it too and we focused in on the sound and notified others on the trail. We climbed up on a rock for a better view and through the thick branches of the forest, we could see a black bear sitting under an evergreen tree, munching on whatever it could find. As we told everyone on the trail below that there was a bear close by, it got up and started moving again. I immediately got back on the trail and pulled my daughter close. There were around half a dozen people on the trail, slowly backing away from the noises coming from the forest when a furry black head popped out from the green hallway of foliage. The fuzzy bear split our group, walking right between us, paying absolutely no attention to the wide-eyed people all doing their best to respect the wild animal and keep our distance. What an experience!

Once our heart rate went back down and we all felt safe again, we continued on our hike. When we caught up to the part of our group that was ahead and missed the excitement, we told them of our experience and how intense it was to be so close to the wild animal but still not feel like we were in any danger.

We continued our hike, soaking in the amazing vistas and perfectly clear water below. Temperatures climbed as the day pushed past the noon hour, and water soon became a commodity that was in high demand. Some members of our group started complaining of a headache and we feared that they could be experiencing dehydration or be on the verge of a heat stroke. We took plenty of breaks and made sure we were getting plenty of water to those that needed it.

Back when we were on the ferry riding across Jenny lake, the driver of the boat let us know that some people had seen a moose over on Moose Pond. When we saw the fork in the trail with one sign pointing to Moose Pond, we decided to check it out. As the pond came into view, we could hardly believe our eyes when we saw a Moose hanging out right there in the pond. We were high above the pond, looking down and soon after we started taking pictures, a calf came out from the cover of the bushes and had a little drink of milk, compliments of it’s mama. We sat and watched the two moose for quite some time. When the two had made their way back into the safety of the bushes and were no longer in sight, we continued on our hike, going the opposite direction of the calf and it’s surely protective mother.

The hike was long and the day was hot and we were ready to be back to our vehicles, despite all the wonderful views and entertaining wildlife. The trail crossed over a boat ramp where a few people were enjoying Jenny Lake’s cool water and we jumped at the chance to get our sore, sweaty feet into the refreshing water. It felt heavenly to cool off a bit and end the hike with a fresh water dip in the lake. When we got back to the truck, we treated ourselves to some tuna sandwiches and Lunchables for the kids.

Every other time I had been to Yellowstone, we made the trip to Jackson Hole for some whitewater rafting, but this time we went there just to have a drink. We had been to the Million Dollar Cowboy Bar before and knew it was a really cool place, so that was first on our agenda. They have saddles as bar stools and cool décor all over the bar. As we walked through the first set of doors, a gentleman stopped us and said, “Hold on there buddy,” to my youngest. “If I let you in here, you and me both would have to spend some time over at the cop shop.” At first we thought he was joking, but after a while, we realized that kids aren’t allowed in there anymore. So we scooted down to the Silver Dollar Bar & Grill where kids are allowed.

While we were sitting there, sipping our reward from the long hike we had been on, a couple of cowboys trotted up on some horses and parked them right next to where we were sitting. The crazy thing was, all they did was drop their lead rope on the ground and the horses didn’t move. I couldn’t believe how well they were trained. We are all horse people so we asked if we could pet them and say hi and the cowboys were kind enough to let us take pictures and even let some of us sit on one of the horses. We found out through conversation that one of the guys was the owner of Roy Roger’s Ranch and the other was his right hand man. They had just been to the motorcycle rally at Sturgis and they were making their way back home.

After heading back to our campsite in Yellowstone, we grabbed another drink from the cooler and headed to the showers. It felt good to get a layer of grim off us. When we got back to camp we made some more pie iron pizzas (see more here) and headed to bed shortly after.