Grand Tetons

7-15-2016

DAY 27

Next stop after Yellowstone is Grand Teton National Park. We got up early, packed up our campsite and headed south to the Tetons. New Hampshire is our home, so we are used to our old, worn down Appalachian Mountains (which we love). The Grand Tetons are just about the opposite - new, super jagged, huge, and postcard perfect. We also finally got the liscense plate for Hawaii when Maya's eagle eyes spotted it which completes our liscense plate game.

When I first saw them, they were so inspiring that I immediately wanted to climb them. James, however, is kind of on a hiking strike, so we found a medium length hike without too much elevation gain to Bradley and Taggart Lakes so that he wouldn't be too cranky.

We hit the trail in what seemed like would be just another average hike when all of a sudden a brown bear crosses the trail right in front of us.Well, Papa had the bear spray, but he was behind us (not great planning), so we were essentially bear bait if it got cranky. Luckily, it continued on its way looking for some tastier food than us. It wasn't a big bear, so we decided that it was an adolescent on it's own and crossed our fingers that there wasn't a mama bear around. Maya actually took a few quick pictures which we were able to look at later and discover that it wasn't a grizzly, but a cinnamon black bear.

After the bear excitement, we continued hiking, with Papa and the bear spray in front. The views of the Tetons were breath taking! We stopped at Bradley Lake to soak in some views, eat out PB&Js, take some pictures, and I took a quick dip. It was super refreshing.



Back on the trail again, we hiked to Taggart Lake. Once again, we stopped to soak in the views, take some pictures, eat a snack, and James and Maya joined me in swimming. We took the long way back to the car (much to James' dismay), but met a really nice couple on the way. They were both teachers (art and math) and we talked their ears off which helped pass the time. Before we knew it, we were back at the car.

It was a fairly short drive to hoppin' town Jackson where we met up with Robb, Christa, and Savannah. Papa was on the AMC Trail Crew with Robb way back in the day. They are crazy nice! Before dinner, we played with Savannah for a while. For dinner, we feasted on elk and shrimp kabobs, elk burgers, and some delicious salads. After dinner, we went for a walk to an Osprey's nest and I got some nice shots with the lighting and experimented with taking pictures through a binocular. For accommodations, we got to stay in their camper which was awesome!