Grand Teton NP

Next up was Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming. This was the park I was looking forward to most because I have heard glowing reviews of it from my grandparents. Drove along some crazy, winding roads on the way there, after driving through Delaware's larger, mirror-image cousin (Idaho). Upon entering the park, a prairie dog greeted us, perched atop a rock and barking (more of a chirp) in our direction. I am being completely honest when I say that this one one of the high points of my trip. Love the prairie dogs, more on that later. We arrived at this visitor center and received some bad (OK, maybe good) news. We had planned on a three-day hike spanning 30+ miles and climbing to elevations above 12,000 ... basically the major hike of the trip. However, there had been a large amount of snow at the higher elevations and we didn't have the equipment or desire to attempt 16 inches of snow. So the new hike became an overnight, 14ish mile trek. Although it was scaled down, at least we still camped in the backcountry and retained our 'hardcore backpacker" status, and weren't reduced to an Andy style day hike.

The place is beautiful. There was a cool overlook of a lake, which we descended toward and into the Valley of Death (By Mosquitoes). Imagine Pigpen from Charlie Brown, this is what we all looked like due to literally thousands of mosquitoes covering us. It was insane.



My blisters were starting to act up by the time we got to the campsite, as this was the first time since North Carolina in which I wore my hiking boots. The place we camped was perfect. Loud, raging creek to drown out the bear sounds, huge rock formation which afforded a wonderful view (and a climbing playground for Justin), and a late-night thunderstorm which was an awesome spectacle. Laying in the tent, hearing thunder crashing above your head and then echoing throughout the canyons was awesome.

Next morning we set out back through the mosquitoes, which had subsided slightly, and hiked back up to the lake overlook. This would be our last ascent and my blisters were getting bad again. So I decided to count the number of steps it took to reach the top to keep my mind off it. 1,453 steps from top to bottom. Doesn't sound like a lot, but next time you are walking anywhere, start counting and you will be amazed how many steps that is.

Ate our final dehydrated meals of the trip, and with the Tetons in our rear view, we set out for a quick stop to Yellowstone before heading back East.