Day 6 & 7 - Grand Teton National Park & Home

Tuesday

Got up early to ensure we would have parking at Jenny Lake. We arrived early enough that there were only a handful of cars in the lot and nothing was open yet, so we waited until 8 am so we could go the store and get coffee and burritos for breakfast.

We headed out around 8:30 when it was still fairly brisk out, so we both had on our hoodies. I made a last minute decision to NOT bring my pants. (I should know better, it ended up being very warm).

We were about a mile into the hike when we stumbled upon two very adorable deer, neither of which seemed at all afraid of us. The smaller one was a bit skittish, but they didn't move far as we walked past.

Checked out Hidden Falls and Inspiration Point (I actually didn't find Inspiration Point all that inspiring - it was just a big panoramic view of the lake).

We then continued on around the lake toward String Lake trail head. I think this section of the trail was by far the prettiest thing we saw the whole time we were at the Tetons. The leaves were changing and there was such stark contrast of colors that I really felt like all of our pictures just looked fake - especially with epic blue skies we had (no clouds for days). I joked with a woman on the trail that I was going to end up with hundreds of nearly identical pictures.

We were both pretty tired when we got done with this one, it was over 8 miles! We made sandwiches at the car and sat on a rock by the lake to eat. Such a gorgeous day, and even our "lunch view" was beautiful.

We still wanted to get in one last hike before heading home, so we drove back up to Colter Bay. A found a hike there, and we were also hoping to find somewhere to get some food later.

A found a short hike called the Lakeshore trail. We stopped and played in the water, skipping stones and looking for heart-shaped rocks, before deciding we were done with walking for the day.

We stopped for drinks - I finally was able to find a dark beer! (After leaving Big Sky there weren't any places that seemed to have stouts or porters...)

We still had some time so we drove up to the Signal Mountain summit. Saw one deer on the drive up, but no other wildlife. We heard that some people had seen (or at least heard about) a bear coming down the mountain, but we didn't see it.

Wasn't too impressed with the view, plus, the road was narrow and a little scary.

Then drove back to Dornans for dinner at the same place. This time we had a giant plate of nachos and a small pizza. Oh, and cheesecake again.

Literally the biggest plate of nachos EVER

We headed back over to the Moose overlook, and saw a Moose SWIMMING. So cool!!

Also saw quite a few elk on the range behind us, but nothing we could catch on camera.

Netflix and bed.

Wednesday - breaking camp and heading home...

We (or should I say, A) took down the tent, while I made sandwiches for breakfast. We started the drive home, which took FOREVER because of the windy roads the speed limit in a lot of places was 45-55. Stopped in Jackson for gas, Rock Springs to to use the bathroom, and Laramie for late lunch at the Iron Skillet. We hit a bit of traffic when we got to town, but nothing major. It started to rain a bit when we got close to home - thank goodness it held off the whole time we were gone!