Grand Teton National Park – 2017

Grand Teton National Park is incredible. It is famous for its jagged peaks and for Ansel Adams’ famous black and white photo of the range from a distance.

We were able to spend a whole day in the park, which allowed us to complete all the activities that we wanted to do while there. We planned our trip with three main things we knew we absolutely had to do at the park: a hike around Jenny Lake, driving the Jenny Lake scenic route, and stopping at the Snake River Overlook.

Entering the Park

First, we drove in from the North as we were already camping in Yellowstone National Park. (Grand Teton’s campsites are first-come-first-serve, and we didn’t want to chance it since we were visiting on the tail end of peak season.)

Our first stop in the park was at the top of Signal Mountain. It is a short drive up a smaller mountain that leads to a very short hike to the top with an overlook.

Not many people take the time to stop here, so it was fun to see a different perspective of the Tetons.

We also went pretty early in the morning so we saw plenty of wildlife along the road. We saw some deer and a fox on our quiet drive up.

Jenny Lake Trail

Next, we stopped to hike along Jenny Lake Trail. We didn’t hike around the entire lake, but we did hike to Hidden falls, which was about halfway around.

The beginning of the trail was pretty sunny since there had been a wild fire a few years back, but trees eventually popped up about halfway to the falls.

Since we had an early start, there weren’t many people on the trail until our way back to the trailhead which made for a nice quiet morning hike.

The Jenny Lake Scenic Route was beautiful as well. We didn’t get many pictures, but it is an easy drive and well worth the short time out of the way of the main road (Teton Park Road).

One thing we especially loved was that there were so many places to pull over to take pictures! It is so nice when parks have pullout spaces for vehicles, it allows visitors to take his or her time. So great!

 

Snake River Overlook

We also stopped at the Snake River overlook. This overlook was made famous by Ansel Adams and encouraged the everyday American to adventure to National Parks. It was pretty incredible to see this site in-person.

Jackson Lake

Jackson Lake was beautiful! There is a pullout next to the lake for vehicles, but there was also a steep dirt trail that led to the beach. It was such a surprise to walk down and see all these rock totems appear.

Overall, this park was beautiful and peaceful. There weren’t many people on the road during our stay there so the traffic was minimal on the road and the trails. We would definitely recommend this park and would come back again.

Have you ever been to Grand Teton National Park? What did you enjoy?

Much love,

Chelsea & Zach