Day 15

 

July 1 (Grand Teton National Park, WY)

I woke up early and headed over to the laundromat. It was quiet and cold this morning. I had nearly the entire place to myself, and spent the morning reading in the calm mountain morning. It rained last night and into the early morning with unexpected mountain storms.

After laundry and breakfast, we decided to drive down to Jenny Lake

to take a ferry across the lake to hike the Hidden Falls side of the lake (the beginning of the Teton backcountry).

It periodically thundered and was cool how unpredictable the weather can be around here. Cassandra and I reflected on something the ranger mentioned to us in Custer about how the weather is always changing and so dynamic in the mountains. It threatened to storm on our hike back around Jenny Lake, but the thunder just kept everyone's legs moving car-ward.

Our hike from the ferry station to Inspiration Point and back around the lake was about 5 miles altogether, and we were all whipped. It is a steep climb up there, yet every step was worth the view overlooking the meadows and lowlands of the Tetons. We watched a family of martens being adorable on some rocks and young chipmunks rolling around in the ground with each other while we took a snack and water break.

We picnicked at the Jenny Lake Visitor Center, then made our way back to the campsite. We were exhausted and spent the rest of the day chilling at the campsite. Evelyn read a book to me and I feel asleep, which was lovely (and very unexpected: I hardly every nap, and she's never put me to bed before!). We ate hotdogs cooked over the fire for dinner and had a really nice, deservedly mellow evening. Tilda and I went for a late-evening bike ride along the campground trail to Jackson Lake, and she is just so awesome in her adventurousness and excitement for bike riding - she doesn't take her helmet off all day so that she can jump on her bike at any point! It's a beautiful thing watching her grow and mature at this formative time in her life!