1138 September 19, 2024 Mountain Majesty

I took a morning walk through the town of Jackson.  The almost full moon was still up.

Elk is the theme here!

We waited to leave for Grand Teton National Park.  It was very foggy and we were hoping that as the sun came out, the fog would burn off.  When we left, there was still significant fog.  Conditions did seem to improve as we climbed out of Jackson Hole.  We took Moose-Wilson Road.  This is a less used backdoor into the park.

We took the dirt and gravel road to the Death Canyon Trailhead.  We saw a couple of guys with big cameras tracking something in the trees.  It was a grizzly bear!  He was ambling along, further into the forest. 

We chose to hike to the Phelps Lake Overlook.  Tim did carry bear spray.  It was a long hard climb.  We started at 6,600 feet and at the top we were at 7,200 feet. We had gained 600 feet of elevation in a little more than a mile! I was lagging behind and out of breath but I persevered!  There were lots of stone steps and it was a challenging hike for me!

The view of the lake was breathtaking.  The fog was beginning to lift and we could see mountains! 

We saw lots of hoof prints and a paw print or two.   We saw moose poop too. 

There was a young buck in the trees not too far from the trail.  Later, we saw a mama and twins.

As we descended from the overlook, we came upon an area where a bear had definitely been and definitely more than once!  Bear scat!!!

We walked a short distance further and I knew we were headed downhill.  I asked Tim if we could turn around!  I knew that whatever distance we traveled down the hill, we would have to regain that elevation on the way back!

We hiked back to the Jeep and then found a nice spot to have a picnic lunch.

Rose meadowsweet.

Nodding thistle.

Common tansy.

As we arrived at the Inner Park Road, the sun began to come out.

We stopped at several turnouts to take pictures.  As we stood there, the veil of clouds rose and the rugged grey mountains and the snow topped peaks were revealed to us. 

We drove down the road to the Lupine Meadow Trailhead.  Here we were as close to the mountains as we could get, on a road a little less traveled.

We also drove down to the boat launch at Jenny Lake.

More pretty views.

The Jenny Lake Scenic Road was busy and the overlook was so crowded that we couldn’t park.  We decided to head back to the campground.

I loved this park.  It was smaller and intimate.  I think that because we were there just yesterday and couldn’t even discern the mountains and then today, we were able to return and see them in their glory…it felt almost magical.  This is truly a special and magnificent place.