The Tremendous Tetons

A diary style entry about a place ready for exploration, adventure and making memories.

The Tetons. What a beautiful spot. I begin to write this as I sit here in the camp spot we’ve been favoring the last few days, just looking at the mountains and their vastness, thinking that this place was a special one for me to explore. Over a year ago, I was able to sit across from my grandma for the last time and ask her where her favorite place was out of all her travels. She answered, “Oh honey, The Tetons. So much beauty.”

And now I am able to see why she loved it there.

Our time we spent in the Tetons was nothing short of extraordinary. We spent an amazing five days hiking, paddleboarding, fishing, hanging out by the rivers, seeing legit wildlife and exploring the area.

We rolled in the night of July 3rd, just in time to experience the sunset. The sky was the most vivid color of pink and orange. The road down into the park from Idaho was unreal, and I’m not really sure if I mean that in a good way. Can you imagine a 10% downgrade for a solid 15 miles? We couldn’t either until we were traveling them in our 10,000 pound rig, spotting several runaway ramps, some filled with gravel on the opposite side of the road, and others with steel coils, ready to (hopefully) stop you from going off the cliff. As we descended down in second gear, it was natural, as our trip has been going so far, that a light popped up on the dash. What light could it be you might ask? Naturally it was the Brake Wear Indicator. Safe to say that freaked us out a bit! We made it down the massive decline safely and with it being so late and nothing we could do about it, we rolled into camp with the last of the evening light illuminating the Teton ridge.

I was able to sit across from my grandma for the last time and ask her where her favorite place was out of all her travels. She answered, “Oh honey, The Tetons. So much beauty.”

Day One – Independence Day

Waking up the on the Fourth of July was kind of like a dream. The Grand Tetons were looking right at us, telling us it was time to explore. With the break sensor fresh on his mind, Andrew requested the first stop of the day be to some sort of a car parts store to get brake fluid, hoping that was the issue. After stocking up on car materials and food supplies in the city of Jackson, we headed back to hang out at Jackson Hole for the remainder of the day.

Jackson Hole is pretty cool in the summer. At the base you can explore Teton Village, where you will find shops, restaurants, a free disc golf course and plenty of spots to settle down and people watch. Trams were coming and going up the mountain, live big band music was being played and there were hiking trails as well as a mountain bike park for all skill levels to enjoy. Parking was a little bit of a struggle, but luckily we really don’t take up much more space than a large truck and after a bit of maneuvering, we found a spot and was able to start exploring.

The bike park caught our eye and we headed to watch the riders hit the trails over jumps and around twists and turns. Not going to lie, it looked pretty fun, but with this adventure being a new lifestyle change and not a vacation, we felt we couldn’t splurge on getting on the track. Same went for a tram ride up the mountain, which would have cost us $43 a person. With a little research, we found out that if you wait until 5pm, the smaller Bridger Gondola will take you up the mountain for free. So we decided to head back to the van for some lunch and down time before we hit that 5pm mark. Once we got back to the van though, Andrew realized he misplaced the keys. For those of you that don’t know Andrew, this is something that happens quite often. He once lost his keys on the very top ski run of Mt. Hood, only to spend a solid hour boarding around the mountain looking for them, when a good samaritan had turned them into lost and found right after they fell out of his pocket. He has also been skilled enough to leave his phone on the fender of our Jeep on a pit stop in the forrest to then get in the car, drive 45 minutes down a forrest road, and realize his phone wasn’t with him. Mind you, we spent another solid hour looking for his phone on the side of the road there too, but we were out of service and no scouting up and down that road would have helped us find the small black object. Because of his knowledge of misplacement, he ended up putting his keys on a clip he could clip to his belt loop, so we knew the keys could (hopefully) be in one of two places we sat down. You guessed it, they were thankfully by the bike park, untouched. After a bite to eat, we headed to the gondola, rode to the top of the peak, and decided to do Casper Ridge Loop, a small 1.5 mile hike that overlooks the valley, which proved great to get out and see the views from a different angle. After our little hike, we came back down, found a better spot to park, made some dinner, played some cribbage (which I royally won by the way), and climbed on top of our roof rack to watch the fireworks show light up the Tetons behind it.

As you can imagine, busy could not describe that night. After the show, we quickly packed up to head to a spot we would stay for the night. It was on a road tucked into the forrest, deemed ‘4-wheel drive preferred’, and honestly we thought we would get a spot no problem compared to the easy to find spot we stayed in the night before. Wow, were we wrong. This uphill, washboard, massive rut nightmare of a road with plenty of spots turned out to be all full and we were completely discouraged that we may never find a spot for the night. After miles of searching, we finally just made a spot at the top of the mountain, and called it a night at 1am. Only two good things came from this spot. One – the star count was incredible. I’m not sure I’ve seen so many light up the sky. Andrew said he even spotted the Milky Way after I had already gone to bed. And two – we learned a little about the importance of communication to make this adventure a great experience for the both of us.

Day Two – Ziggy’s Paddleboard Success

Zig did decent for his first time on the water!

The following day was filled with exploring the park and finding a little road that lead down to a small cove off the main Jackson Lake. Here, we were able to hang out with Ziggy all day and not worry about the floods of people that seemed to be enjoying the smaller lakes of the park. With his little life vest and my paddleboard, Ziggy and I took off for his first successful paddleboard ride in the lake while Andrew fly fished. The little guy was so curious about being on that board, but as soon as we got further away from Andrew, his anxiety started climbing. Having to calm him down and hold him tight so he wouldn’t tip us, we ended up going for an hour float on the board. It made my heart so happy that we made it back without any complications. You could tell his happiness was through the roof as well. We ended up hanging out the rest of the afternoon there, meeting someone from Chicago and a family from Ohio. The family had the best time playing with Ziggy, that we ended up talking with them for over an hour. With the afternoon behind us, we packed up and drove back to the spot of our first camp site, happy to enjoy the evening in peace with a little bike ride around camp and another beautiful sunset.

Andrew’s Favorite Teton Moments: Flyfishing on the lake, spending time on the river and encountering a couple moose.

Day Three – Early Mornings & Some Important Realizations

The next morning we decided to get up early. Like the crack of dawn early. I read about catching the sunrise at Schwabacher Landing , where the still waters of the creek create the most beautiful mirrored reflection of the Tetons. Needing to catch this image for myself, we set the alarm for 5am in hopes to hit the snooze maybe once and get on our way. Well, I’m not the most graceful morning person. I think my subconscious actually enjoys hitting the snooze not once, not twice, but three times on mornings I really should be getting up. This little fiasco made what was supposed to be a peaceful waking a bit of a chaotic mess trying to get to the trail head 20 minutes away. Luckily the process of sunrise isn’t a quick second, so with enough time to put adequate clothes on but not shoes, we ran out in slippers to try and get a spot with roughly 30 other better dressed photographers. But between the views and time to breathe, that sunrise felt quite blissful.

After I got the shots I wanted, we decided to make the most of the early morning and head to one of the lakes we were eyeing in order to get out on the water. We made our way to String Lake, a small lake that connects to the bigger Leigh Lake in the middle of the park (which is always busy with paddlers and hikers in the hours between 10am and 5pm, so we advise everyone to come before or after that window if you fancy a venture here!). We were able to get on the water about 7:30am, with one other paddler out before us, and a few hikers hitting the trail. When we got on the water, and the clearness of String Lake underneath me, all my hopes and dreams for this adventure started to come together. I woke up early to actually enjoy the sunrise instead of rushing off to the freeway towards work. I was able to start the day with my camera in my hands, something I’ve lost touch with in the last year or two. I was able to experience the surroundings in a new way, with a paddleboard I received from Andrew because he knew I would love being on the water in that way. I was able to hear the birds and feel the light on my skin warm up, at a pace where we didn’t know how long we were going to be on the water, or what we were doing the rest of the day. I was also able to take a moment and pinpoint some things I wish to get out of the adventure we are in. All in all, this time spent on the water was glorious and much needed. We meandered the rest of the day, exploring the northern part of the park, and found a secluded river access point where we were able to hang out by the shallow and slow water for the rest of the afternoon and stay somewhat cool.

Day Four – Reliable Wifi is Hard to Come By. Oh, and a Grizzly

Day four was an interesting one. We started the day on String Lake again, but wasn’t able to get out on the water until about 9am, where plenty of other kayakers had joined us. Since it wasn’t as peaceful as the morning before, I opted for a workout on the water instead of a leisurely paddle, while Andrew decided some fly fishing was in order. I was about 45 minutes in, paddling around the small lake, when I decided I would check on how Andrew was doing. He didn’t catch anything but still wanted to try a little longer so I headed towards the wetlands, some 40 yards away from Andrew, where the lake gradually morphed into the shoreline. I was looking around for fish that may have been near the grass and as I looked up, something else thought the fish might be in the grass too. That something was a healthy sized grizzly roughly 75 yards from where I stood on my board. As stocked as I was and as curious as he was, he stood on his hind legs and we made eye contact for a solid 5 seconds until he turned and ran away. Now, I never felt threatened, and maybe that was because I was on the water and he was on land, but startled is a great word that comes to mind.

After the bear sighting, we decided our time on the water was over and decided to get cleaned up and head into the city of Jackson to find some wifi. While in Wyoming as a whole, ‘service’ was ‘available’ but both our phones never actually wanted to work. Frustrating was an understatement on this front, and even more so when we got into town and realized the wifi wasn’t much better. I was trying to upload the last blog and between the free town square wifi and a weak Starbucks signal, the last blog took over 3 hours to get online. Both of us feeling overwhelmed and hangry, we decided it was in our best interest to get out of there as soon as possible and get back to our favorite camp spot in order to relax. One cool thing came from being in town that day though and that was seeing another decked out van parked just down the street from us. Apparently they ended up spotting us too and it just so happened that that van plus several other decked out trucks pulled in next to us as we settled into camp. Curious about each other’s rigs and the fact that we spotted each other in town, we met the Aussies and their families that were behind the wheels. The kids took after throwing balls and sticks for Ziggy, and after talking for a bit about our travels and our cars, their group of 14 invited us for a fire that night, but after a long afternoon of internet troubles, we decided to turn in early.

Michelle’s Favorite Teton Moments: Paddleboarding with Ziggy, sunrise + early morning paddle, spotting the bear onshore, and the campfire with AUS + NY because of the sense of community it brought, however brief.

Day Five – The Moose Encounter

Day five was all about relaxing after the tenseness of the previous day. We didn’t really have a plan for the day. We maybe thought we would head out towards Yellowstone, but fighting the crowds seemed like a bit too much for us, so we settled on another day at the river and an early evening back. Ziggy on the other hand decided he wanted to start his day by chasing a deer that had wandered next to our site. Making a big commotion as he always does, he chased that thing into the woods, only to have us yelling and running and our fellow Australian campmates laughing pretty good.

Once Ziggy was recollected, we took off towards our destination and ran across our first herd of buffalo. What massive hairy creatures. Their beards make me laugh. It was pretty cool to get to see these animals up close and personal…from the comfort of our own car. I don’t think I would have liked being like every other tourist there and Yellowstone and gotten out to actually be up close and personal with them. No thanks. After we got through the mild traffic jam, we were on our way to the river spot from day three. We arrived and it was hot, so the only thing on our mind was to get to the water to put our feet in. Now, I’m not sure if we just walked right past them, or if they showed up a second later, but we were maybe at the water for three minutes when Andrew realized he forgot something in the car. Armed with Ziggy and some bear spray, I was fine being left alone for a minute or two, but it didn’t take Andrew more than thirty seconds to turn around and try to tell me calmly there were two moose about fifty yards away from us. Well, as you could maybe imagine, his calm voice did not keep me calm. I gathered my things so fast and took off from our very open spot to hide near a bush, hoping the two 7+ foot creatures wouldn’t spot us. My wish was not granted. They watched us intently while we moved. Luckily, they didn’t have too much interest in us and continued to eat the plants they were munching on. Ten long minutes of me wanting to go back to the car, and Andrew trying to keep me calm, the male and female moose ended up meandering out towards our car, so it’s probably a good thing we didn’t try and go that way. We needed to wait until they completely cleared the area before we left, so we hung out by the river to get a quick dunk and rinse off in.

Once the moose officially cleared, I was over the secluded river spot and wanted to get back to camp early to be able to claim our favorite spot and relax from my not relaxing afternoon by the water. Andrew was on board, so we made our way back through the park to our beloved camping spot to set up for our last night there. When we arrived, we noticed the Aussies from the previous night were set up in the same spot as well, as well as a new car who pulled into our area shortly after we did. We learned that the newbie was a guy around our age from upstate New York, on a 10 day travel around the central National Parks. After some dinner, we decided to take the Aussie’s invite to a fire from the previous night and enjoyed an evening of chatting with some unfamiliar, but splendid, people. What a great way to end our time in the Tetons.

The Tetons surely did not disappoint my curiosity about the place my grandma once loved. The ability to explore and let our imagination guide us through the park was an experience I was hoping for and one that I can now hold dearly. Thank you Grandma Vera for putting this place on the map for me. With Love

The few things we learned during this trip that proved to be important notes:

The van needs to be clean at all times for both our sanity’s sake
The van needs to be deep cleaned every couple days thanks to our very furry 4-legged child. We only wish he could help.
Communication is more important now than ever. Being with your significant other 24/7 in a moving home where you are unsure what each day brings could be a disaster of a day if both of us aren’t communicating our wants and needs.
We might need a cheap tent to secure a camp spot in busier National Parks so we can use the van to get around during the day.
The early bird really does enjoy it’s morning more.

Sand Meets Summit Travel tips for Grand Tetons during the Summer months:

If you want a more pure experience, always get up early and explore before the crowds. This is best advised if you are looking to get out on the water in the Tetons. Crowds will start appearing around 10:30am, so make sure your cruise is wrapping up around then!
Stay free. You can find free ‘campsites’ in the surrounding forrest land. It’s first come first serve, no hook-ups, and will fill up, so we advise claiming your spot between 6-8pm
At Jackson Hole, wait until 5pm for the free Bridger Gondola. It’s worth saving roughly $40 per person and you are likely able to get a gondola to yourself, rather than be sardined with 50 other people. There are still awesome hikes you can do at the top of this lift, and there’s even a happy hour bar as well. Believe us, the views are worth it.
Make friends with your campmates! You never know what can become of a conversation!

Sand Meets Summit Must Experience List – Grand Tetons:

String Lake – Paddle or kayak this amazing clear and shallow lake
Antelope Flats – Stay here for free. Views are incomparable to any other campsite
Spalding Bay – On the south end of Jackson Lake. It’s worth going down the gravel road to be by the lake with just a few others around, so don’t be scared off by the signs!
Schwabacher Landing – Get there for sunrise. You won’t regret it.
River Access between of Moran and Jackson Lake Junctions – Secluded spot to hang out for the day