A Day in Grand Teton National Park

September 8, 2014 Jessica L. Bryant

I'm rather late in posting this, was caught up in catching up after returning home from my residency in Rocky Mountain National Park. I dutifully wrote the following text at the time, but only just today had a chance to go through my photographs from the day (August 28th).

It was a three hour drive to get to the park this morning, then I had some tough choices to make on what to do with only one day here. This is not my style of exploration. I like to have time to really know a place, not just pass through. In the end I chose to try to both drive the roads along the park and do a hike. I drove first to Jenny Lake where I took the boat across to the base of Cascade Canyon. I hiked well past where most visitors stop, following the advice of a ranger who said to keep going until you can see all the way down the canyon. Some of the best views around, in her opinion. It was indeed fantastic, and my only regret was not being there early in the morning, when the light would have been far superior. My hike of 5ish miles was much easier (than others of late) with more oxygen here, but it was still almost 6pm when I got back to the boat dock. My planned drive still happened, but the sun set before I managed to finish, so I missed seeing some of views I hoped for. With just one day, I shouldn't have expected more, really. And of course I'll be back. I finished the day with a nighttime drive through the mountains to Idaho Falls, which had some harrowing moments thanks to a couple drivers having issues. I got in rather late, but it'll save me a couple hours of driving tomorrow and I'll be home before dinner time.