Day 17

 

 July 3 (Grant Teton National Park, WY)

This is our last day in the Tetons, and we woke up all a bit bummed because we really love this place. We spent a slow morning at the campsite, then left for our hike to SwamLake and Heron Pond. We rode bikes to the trailhead (just off the dried-up marina), and we stopped at the Visitor Center along the way (Ev and Til had completed Junior Ranger packets to turn in and badges to earn). We bumped into our artist-in-residence friends once again, shared contact information (and had some more fun)...

...then continued on our way to the marina.

Soon after locking our bikes and beginning our hike, we found the Swan Lake loop was closed, so we headed straight to Heron Pond. It was a beautiful alpine hike. The pond was really low, so any chance we had of swimming there was out of the cards. 

We decided to lunch at our overlook spot, then head back to find a swimming spot somewhere on Jackson Lake. A group of horseback riders passed us at one point, and we heard them confuse a dog across the pond (with its owners sitting maybe 10 yards away) with a wolf for longer than I think reasonable (one of them finally set the record straight with authority: haha!).

While lunching, we watched a couple beavers swimming around a dam along the edge of the pond. Above it several feet up was an older dam when the water was higher; high enough from the water line that the beaver had to build another.

After lunch, we hiked to Jackson Lake beach, which was sunny, windy, and brisk (and saw a golden eagle along the way - it was huge and flew around and then directly in front of us, inviting us to stop and hang out for a moment [which we did]).

Arrowroot Flower (aka cowboy's toilet paper) pictured above - not currently in use...

We wound along the trail and made it to a beach composed of small, smooth round rocks. We felt like we were in Alps with the water, dramatic peaks, and breezy air. The kids went in up to their waist, but Cassandra and I went all the way in (briefly) - the temperature was in the 60s. It felt triumphantly shocking, and then we let the bright sun warm and dry us, which was absolutely glorious.  We all had so much fun and couldn't stop singing "The Sound of Music" all afternoon.

 

After basking in the Jackson Bay beach sun for a few hours, we headed back to the campsite to relax before dinner with our new friends. Cassandra worked on painting (she's been getting into a groove with it) until we were personally escorted by Nathan and Lucy for our evening hang-out. Kelly and Robert made mac-and-cheese for the children and chili (with all the fixings you could dream of, even while camping!) for the adults. Kelly brought out a bottle of champagne, and she and Cassandra got at it. That just made the evening that much more special. These four people, celebrating our intersecting journeys and embracing new friendships young and old (and complete strangers two days prior) brought us great consolation. We haven't needed too uplifting or encouragement so far, yet this family filled our cup right up to the brim. The children played games and ran around all evening in pure youthful joy. We adults shared about ourselves with care and understanding. After dinner, scary stories were told, group Madlibs were completed, a few tears were shed, and no one wanted to head back to the campsite because that meant this beautiful day would have to conclude; that we would be waking and leaving tomorrow this glorious place and these wonderful people... This may have been the best day of this trip so far (and one of my favorite camping days ever)!