Finding America

I got my hair cut this morning near the downtown square in Jackson. Kam decided she’d treat herself to a little manicure action so I went and picked up a coffe and a chai for us from Jackson Roasters.

Once we were all beautified we drove into the park and up to the Teton’s Moose Visitor Center. The ranger suggested a few hikes for us and we settled on hiking to Taggart and Bradley Lakes. The trail head was about halfway between the Moose and Jenny Lake visitor centers.

The parking lot was full of people and we felt a little bothered by it until we realized that no one was there to hike. About 50 tourists were milling about taking pictures and getting ready to load up on their tour bus again, but thankfully they had no intention of hiking.

We had the trails to ourselves. Being in the park this early in the season has it’s benefits. The weather was perfect for hiking, cool but not cold and there were still pockets of snow lurking in the shadows of big boulders and trees.

We couldn’t get a great view of Bradley Lake but we were able to find a nice spot on Taggart Lake to sit a spell and dip our feet in the cool water. It was so peaceful by the lakeside, no sounds of traffic, no other hikers around, just the sounds of nature and the beautiful vista of the Tetons towering over the lake.

Crossing a small bridge at the southern end of the lake we surprised a marmot that was out sunning himself. He scampered down and shot across the bridge at warp speed. Marmots are so much larger than I expected. They resemble badgers with their short limbs and wide bodies. For something that looks so cumbersome it sure moves nimbly enough.

We met a nice family from Mississippi on the hike. You just have to love people from the south. We struck up a conversation as we passed and ended up chatting for about 10 minutes. They filled us in on the best places to hike and their son having just graduated from forestry school gave us a few hot tips on where to see big game.

The rest of the hike we were desperately seeking moose and bear. It was to no avail, however, but the hike was a delight nonetheless.

Returning to Jackson we grabbed some lunch at Bubba’s BBQ near our campsite but were sorely disappointed that they didn’t serve sweet tea. It was actually not a problem because following our gluttonous BBQ lunch we were primed for a nap and the tea might have interfered with our afternoon slumber.

Rested we journeyed back into the park and this tie continued past our earlier hike up to Jenny Lake for a hike around its shores to the Hidden Falls on the far shore. In the summer you can catch a boat here and get ferried across to the falls but we didn’t mind the extra hike.

Again the hiking in Tetons was awesome. The hike to Hidden Falls isn’t strenuous so you have the energy to enjoy the surroundings instead of always watching your footing. The falls are nothing short of spectacular and well worth making the trek to. This area was like a marmot haven and just about every turn in the trail had one of these fury sentinels keeping watch over their territory. Sitting at the base of the falls it occurred to us that this would be our last hike in the West. Whoa we have come a long way baby.

There were a few signs warning of bears and while we didn’t want to come face to face with any it would have been nice to watch them from a safe distance. Jenny Lake was as placid as a pane of glass and the reflection of the surrounding mountains on its surface was incredible.

We returned to Jackson after the hike to fill a hankering for sushi. Unfortunately once we sat down and took a look at the menu we had to pass due to the price gouging. $12 for a basic roll is just plain absurd. A bit further down the road we came across El Gorditos and figured we’d rather have a $5 burrito and save a little cash.

We ended the night watching the Jazz and the Warriors duke it out in their final game. What a spectacle. Who knew basketball so closely resembled the gladiator arena. Yikes. We packed up and cleaned up Kodi for an early departure tomorrow and then it was off to bed.